De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

In this talk, which is so worth listening to, Bishop Barron traces the thought that had formed the society we are living in today through history.  I've attended a lecture Barron gave first hand and he is a fantastic teacher, he teaches without notes, holding all this information in his head. He knows what he wants to say and doesn't miss a beat. This talk is a presentation given to the Knights of Malta about this convulsive time in our history, demonstrated by the global pandemic, unstable politics, and outbursts of violence.    Few people understand the ideologies that stand behind the rioting and deep unrest that we see on our city streets. But these ideas are so recognisable if you know a bit of philosophy.  In this brief presentation, Bishop Barron steps back a bit from current events and explores four thinkers who have had a profound impact in shaping the world that we are confronting: Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Michel Foucault. Once ...

The wonderful School of the Annunciation, at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, UK, are now booking students in for their Autumn Courses in the faith.  The School affords an unprecedented opportunity to study in a beautiful, prayerful, Catholic environment, experiencing the ebb and flow of the liturgical day with the monks as well as their legendary Benedictine hospitality.  Book now to avoid disappointment!

In January 2009 the British Humanist Association paid for an advertisement to be carried on the side of London buses as above. Perhaps the biggest consequence of this action is that it seems to have been the catalyst for the former Chief Rabbi, Dr. Jonathan Sacks to write an extraordinary book: The Great Partnership . It is for this reason that I will be eternally grateful to them. Sacks seems to have been incensed by the poor logic of the statement "because it raised the greatest of all existential choices: How shall we live our lives? By probability? Or by possibility?" (p. 267). Lord Sacks was Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from September 1991 until this year. He was educated at Cambridge where he obtained first class honours in philosophy. He went on to gain a PH.D in 1981 and rabbinic ordination from Jews' College and Yeshiva Etz Chaim. He also holds 14 honorary degrees including a Doctor of Divinity conferred by the Archbi...

It's difficult to blog about contentious issues. Yesterday, ministers cheered as it was announced that royal assent had been given to the Same Sex Marriage Bill, paving the way for the first same-sex weddings next spring. The Queen, who is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, gave her formal approval to the Bill. I am astonished at that fact alone. What does it say about our Monarch? It surely confirms the titular nature of her position? And that being the case, one has to wonder what the point is? The divisive nature of the bill is reported by the Telegraph which tells us that its passing...  ...marks the end of the centuries-old understanding of marriage as being solely between a man and a woman in the UK. The Roman Catholic Church described it as a “watershed” in English law and said that it marked a “profound social change”. Ben Summerskill chief executive of Stonewall, said the move would “bring joy to tens of thousands of gay couples and thei...