On this week's podcast, Drew Christiansen, S.J., offers an introduction to Reinhold Niebuhr, the mid-20th century theologian and public intellectual who has been invoked by David Brooks and others as a major influence on President Obama's foreign policy. Father Christiansen argues that the pundits generally focus on one or two books by Niebuhr and neglect to consider his entire corpus. A closer examination of Niebuhr reveals not only a foreign policy realist but also a skeptical critic of American exceptionalism.
Listen to "Searching for Reinhold Niebuhr."
Edward Schillebeeckx, O.P., who died in December, has been a major influence on Catholic theologians for the last 50 years. Among his students is Roger Haight, S.J., who here offers a video appreciation of the Belgian Dominican.
Tim Reidy
Last year he got a package from the Vatican, and what was in the package but red shoes! We laughed and laughed. Obviously it was a joke, but we haven't seen the pope wearing the red shoes lately!
I hope to listen to the podcast about Niebuhr at the gym today.
Michael: Yikes....Does not sound good, does it? We are shocked,simply shocked, aren't we? Round up the ususal suspects.
"Father told the story during an evening of recollection at Saint Ignatius Church in Manhattan in March of 1980 about a married woman he had encountered on an airplane. SHE HAD APPROACHED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS WEARING HIS COLLAR (and Father stressed the fact that a priest is always "on duty." "There are no days off for priests. I was ordained to be bothered, even when I am dog-tired"). She questioned him about contraception. She wouldn't have approached him unless he was had been recognizable as a priest. Father patiently explained to her why contraception was wrong. And then he said to her, "Now, the next time I see you, young lady, I want to see you pregnant." She later wrote to him to tell him that she was indeed carrying her first child".
Hmmm.Seems like priests are not supposed to "blend in" for a reason. Something for the Society of Jesus to ponder...