What vocations "crisis"?

There's a vocations "crisis" in Spain. According to a Catholic News Agency article there are only 20 Jesuit novices, 5 Franciscans, and 2 Vincentians in the entire country.

How is it, then, that there are over 135 Poor Clares (average age 35) in a single convent in Lerma with 100 more on the waiting list?

Much of it is thanks to the amazing charism of one remarkable nun: Sister Veronica Berzosal. When Sister Veronica entered the convent at the age of 18, there hadn't been a vocation in 23 years. She became vocations director at the age of 28 and since then, the number of nuns at the convent has quadrupled. The Spanish newspaper El Pais calls her, "the biggest phenomenon in the Church since Teresa of Calcutta." Here's a bit more about her from the CNA article:

Sister Veronica joined the Poor Clares Convent of the Ascension founded in 1604 in Lerma (Spain) at at time when it was going through a vocations crisis. It was January 22, 1984, and Marijose Berzosa - Sr. Veronica's name prior to entering the convent - decided, at age 18, to leave behind a career in medicine, friends, nightlife and basketball.

"Nobody understood me. There were bets that it would not last, but they did not feel the force of the hurricane that drew me in," says Sr. Veronica. "I was a classic teenager looking for a way out ... and I made a decision in just 15 days."

I have always found stories like this one to be so remarkable. Who else but the Holy Spirit could inspire a young person to do something this dramatic?

Thank God for women like Sr. Veronica. God send us more of them!

The Literate Octopus

Here's a site that's been put up by a dear family friend who has just gone off to college. The purpose of the site is to be a resource for Catholic parents who are looking for quality reading/viewing/listening material for their kids. Here's what the site's creator says in her own words:

I am a homeschool graduate, a compulsive doodler, an aspiring author, a Catholic, and a lover of nature, literature and science.

I am also a student at an authentically Catholic college and I set up this website to help me actually afford to go! Each time you buy something on this site, I get a commission. I've selected books, movies, and music that I have enjoyed or have some way helped in my spiritual development. I hope you like them too!

So check it out. If you have kids, the stuff she has listed on here is gold--I know, because I've seen and read most of it myself! Plus, you'll be helping to put a very worthy and excellent young woman through a real Catholic college.

And one trick--if you click through one of her links that leads to Amazon.com and buy something there that's not on her list, she still gets a commission on it. So I've made it a point to click through the Literate Octopus every time I buy something on Amazon. It's a really easy way to lend a hand to a very deserving person.

The Obama Nation

(This is an article I wrote back in March for the 2009 issue of the Tarpeian Rock literary magazine. Just getting around to posting it now. I'm a little behind schedule...)

This past November, the major news outlets triumphantly reported that Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential elections was due in no small part to the “youth vote”. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that over 68% of voters age 18-29 cast their ballots for Obama.

For many outside that age bracket, this was seen as a disheartening turn of events. Ridiculous optimist that I am, however, I choose to see the glass as 32% full.

Even the more honest Obama supporters will openly admit that their candidate was the recipient of the most massive deluge of media-driven idol worship in American history. Yet, despite this, millions of young Americans were able to slice through the hype and vote against Obama.

Of course, within the first few months of his administration, Barack Obama has turned out to be every bit as divisive and retrograde as his critics warned he would be. His solution to every problem we face is not just big government, but colossal government. What those young voters who came out so strongly for Obama don’t yet realize is that the bill for the trillions upon trillions of dollars in government spending that Obama has already proposed will fall squarely upon them. They effectively voted themselves a gigantic promissory note.

On the issue of life, Obama has already been a catastrophe. During the campaign, he famously pronounced that he wouldn’t want to see his daughters “punished with a baby” and declared that the question of when human life begins was “above his pay grade.” Yet his supporters piously assured us that Obama cared deeply about the unborn and that his policies would actually reduce the numbers of abortions.

Anyone who voted for Obama thinking he was pro-life is eating a big crow sandwich now. Among his first acts as president was a repeal of the Mexico City policy which forbade US taxpayer dollars from funding abortions in poor countries.

Worse, Obama supports FOCA, the ill-named Freedom of Choice Act. If this travesty becomes law, every hard-fought restriction on abortion would be swept away—including the right of parents to be informed when their minor child attempts to procure an abortion and the right of doctors not to perform them.

Abortion has claimed the lives of nearly 50 million “youth voters” since 1973. One would think that outlawing this hideous practice would be a major priority for the fortunate survivors.

Finally, there’s the issue of the recently passed GIVE Act, part of which authorizes the federal government to determine the feasibility of a “mandatory service requirement for all able young people.”

There’s a word for government-imposed “mandatory volunteerism”—serfdom. I don’t think many young people voted for that when they pulled the lever for Obama. An excellent take on Obama’s “youth service corps” was filmed by students at John Paul the Great University entitled “Who do you serve?” I encourage you to check it out on YouTube:



But what do I know? I’m an old guy. Pretty soon, most of these issues won’t even affect me directly anymore. I’ll be too old to worry about procreating. I’ll be collecting government entitlements, while all those Obama-voting youth will be paying massive taxes required to keep said programs afloat. And I’ll be too decrepit to be drafted into some government-run youth slavery program.

If youth voters want real change, you’re not going to get it voting for a guy who has repackaged failed socialist ideas from the mid-20th century and slapped his own personality cult seal of approval on them.

And a politician who gets 100% ratings from the abortion industry isn’t peddling hope, for without life, there is no hope.

On the other hand...

Here's a review of another book which purports to deal with the life and times of Constantine: The Age of Constantine the Great by Jacob Burckhardt.

Don't bother with this one. Burckhardt was a 19th century academic with an ax to grind against Constantine and a mission to rehabilitate the Christian-persecuting Diocletian. He pursues both of those ends with blind and tedious enthusiasm.

The book takes about 240 pages just to get to Constantine at all, as Burckhardt loses his focus amid 60 page digressions on pagan practices in the ancient Mediterranean world.

Perhaps most annoyingly, the modern translator has seen fit to strip out all of Burckhardt's references which makes the book into an unverifiable manifesto as opposed to a serious scholarly work.

There are much better and more accessible works out there on Constantine and his times than this one, such as Constantine and the Christian Empire mentioned below, just to give one example. Or, if you prefer to go straight to the primary source, try: The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine: From AD 306 to 337 (Christian Roman Empire Series, vol. 8).

Review of Constantine and the Christian Empire by Charles M. Odahl

I have now read, in whole or in part, about a dozen biographies of Constantine the Great, from the original Vita by Eusebius Pamphilus written over 1,600 years ago, to several penned by excellent modern scholars. Hands down, however, Constantine and the Christian Empire by Charles M. Odahl is the best of them all. Comprehensive but never dry, dense with facts and references but also with relevant illustrations, this book draws the clearest and most compelling portrait of Constantine of any that I have read.

When researching an historical figure whose role remains the subject of intense debate to this day, it can be difficult to sift through the historical bias to find the real man. In the case of Constantine, we have a great majority of ancient sources which laud the man, and an even larger majority of modern commentators who vilify him. Odahl, however, avoids both of these extremes. Though obviously an admirer of Constantine, Odahl presents a balanced portrait which neither excuses the emperor's faults nor ascribes evil motives to even his overtly pious acts.

Specifically, I was impressed that Odahl:

• Presented Constantine as a human being--not as a saint or, conversely, as a soulless politician.

• Took the account of the vision of the Cross in the sky seriously, without ascribing it to some bizarre natural phenomenon or claiming that Constantine simply made it up.

• Didn't make Constantine out to be a false Christian who only embraced the faith based on some political calculation.

• Gives a very detailed and compelling account of the great tragedy of Constantine's reign--the execution of his son Crispus and his wife Fausta.

• Dismisses neither the effusive biography of Constantine written by Eusebius of Caesarea nor the vicious attacks of the pagan historian Zosimus, but incorporates both into his narrative.

• Has such an impressive grasp of the numismatic evidence -- including some illustrations of Constantinian coinage that I had never seen before.

So in short, if you are looking for a readable, accurate, fair, and intriguing biography of Constantine, this is the one. It may be just a tad heavy for a general reader, but for someone with even a passing interest, it will be an enjoyable read. If you're anything like me and like to go to the original sources after reading a book like this, I heartily recommend The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine by Eusebius Pamphilus, bishop of Caesarea.

YIMPED

YIMPED is an internet acronym which stands for:

You're
In
My
Prayers
Every
Day

It's good as a closing for an email.

Never heard of it? That's because I just made it up.

Review: For the Love of Literature

I met Maureen Wittmann at a Catholic homeschool curriculum fair and found her to be a delightful lady, full of anecdotes and ideas. Her book, For the Love of Literature, reflects her wisdom and enthusiasm fully--it posits that you can teach practically every subject on the curriculum using good literature.

The book begins with some useful introductory insights on how to use your local library, how to build your home library, and how to design a literature study unit. It also provides a basic introduction to classical education and the Charlotte Mason method--both of which mesh well with Ms. Wittmann's ideas.

The bulk of this book, however, is made up of a literary guide broken down by subject. Areas covered include art and music, math, history, and science. The history section alone covers over 100 pages and is replete with hundreds of excellent suggestions. A kid who worked their way through all of the books listed would have a better grasp of history than 99% of adults.

But of course, this reading list is not intended to be followed from start to finish. Indeed, unless one were a voracious speed-reader, it would be a nearly impossible task. The strength of the book is that it can be used as a handy reference that the homeschooling parent can dip into as needed.

Imagine--rather than teaching the Elizabethan period by a dry recitation of facts and dates, you start your child off reading, Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal; or you begin a study of the crusades by having the child read an exciting tale like The Blue Gonfalon at the First Crusade. Using this method is sure to stimulate interest while helping the child build their reading skills at the same time.

Simply put, if you're a homeschooling parent, this book is a must-have--a gem. I fully endorse this method of teaching because it worked on me as a kid. Even though I was in traditional private Catholic school, I recall clearly how the books that made the greatest impression on me were literary works that put major figures into their historical context. This often inspired in me a desire to do more research on the figure in question or their time period and was the beginning of my love of history in general.