This piece excellently demonstrates where I agree and disagree with the postliberal/integralist project. I'm going to highlight one specific disagreement in this thread. 1/
postliberalorder.substack.com/p/the-conserva… Mr. Prathap asks: “Why is a more technocratic form of rule instinctively perceived as inherently despotic?”

The answer is that technocracy is inherently despotic by virtue of its philosophical presumptions, which are neither liberal nor conducive to the common good. 2/

Today is the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947), a saint for whom I have a particular fondness. 1/ Born in Darfur, she was captured by Arab slave traders at age 7 or 8, and sold five different times over the next 5-6 years. Her body was scarified and she was whipped and beaten by her various owners. 2/

Seen on Facebook:

“Never attach yourself to a place, a job, or another person. Attach yourself to your dreams, your vision, and your purpose. Attach yourself to things nobody can take away from you.”

What an appalling “inspirational” meme. 1/ First, let's deal with the obvious: the Christian is first of all to be attached to God, and God alone. All other attachments are ordered accordingly.

My vision and purpose are to know, love, and serve God in this world and be happy with him forever in Heaven. 2/

In _Liturgy and Personality_, Dietrich von Hildebrand frequently mentions that the personal formation bestowed by the liturgy can never be acquired when aimed at directly, but only indirectly through giving oneself over to the act of worship. 1/

https://twitter.com/JoshHochschild/status/1458051462404190211

(All quotes will be from the Sophia Institute Press translation published in 1993.)

In the chapter on response-to-value in the liturgy, von Hildebrand says this (p. 63):

"When this egocentric type encounters a value (as in beholding something beautiful or meeting...

2/

The Roman Church assigns to the month of November meditation on the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell.

I wish to spend a moment on the first of these things, and one of its misconceptions. 1/ When someone dies, one often hears the bereaved talk about how "heaven gained another angel today." While this is felt to be a consoling sentiment, it is false, and in one sense even sadder than the death itself. 2/

Several of my Jewish follows have objected to people using yellow Stars of David either as actual symbols of not being COVID vaccinated, or as analogies for such.

I want to unpack this particular phenomenon and look at it from two angles. 1/ First, I understand the potential for insult here, and the concern about trivalizing genocide. "Never again" is much harder to achieve if the original event becomes a tool for scoring points, or a stick for one's political enemies. 2/

Two years ago, after celebrating the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, my family went to the vigil Mass at our parish, which uses hymnals from Oregon Catholic Press. Evidently, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" was sung that evening, giving rise to this rant: 1/ "The OCP rewrite of “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” is odious. Charles Wesley had a great lyric gift and knew exactly what he was about when he chose his words; removing thee/thy/thou/art changes the whole soundscape of the text." 2/

“My man on the inside (not a man, not precisely on the inside, but with visibility inside) tells me that it’s stupidity not malice: to be exact the highly demanding form of stupidity that comes with computer programming.” 1/ accordingtohoyt.com/2021/05/16/wer… This in re the Amazon listings problem which has affected @SohrabAhmari and others. I trust Sarah, as she has no reason to love Amazon.

I want to unpack that last clause, though, because the stupidities of computer programming rule us all now. 2/

1/ I never tire of re-reading Richard Feynman’s personal appendix to the Rogers Commission (Challenger explosion) report. It is a mine of wisdom and good sense.

science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missio… 2/ On management whistling past the graveyard: “Since 1 part in 100,000 would imply that one could put a Shuttle up each day for 300 years expecting to lose only one, we could properly ask ‘What is the cause of management's fantastic faith in the
machinery?’”

1/ At the end of the liturgical year, the Church asks us to meditate on the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. While not intentional, I think it's entirely appropriate that Americans get to hear those readings after Election Day. 2/ Modern politics makes totalizing demands, and for some, it is a religion in its own right, making credal and moral claims that direct the lives of adherents.

1/ The common rebuttal to the theory that COVID hysteria is about getting Trump is that the whole world is doing it, therefore it can't just be about the American election. I think there are multiple levels of rebuttals to that.

https://twitter.com/ShidelerK/status/1318546657181650948

2/ The United States of America is the most powerful country in the world, with the most capable military, the broadest economic influence, and the US dollar is the world reserve currency, the one remaining settlement from Bretton Woods.

1/ As properly understood, social justice is about the ordering of society in accord with the natural law. Analyzed this way, COVID-19 restrictions have been unjust from the beginning.
edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2020/10/lockdo… 2/ The natural right to labor is sadly neglected in modern Catholic circles. It is better to give charitably than to let a man starve, but it is better still to enable him to provide for himself than require him to subsist on charity forever.