Mirror of Justice

"Pope Francis Wants You To Be Holy Online"

Here's Michael O'Loughlin's take, at America, on the new apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate.  Here's a bit:

Reflecting on the beatitudes, Francis says that when Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers,” Christians often think of “many endless situations of war in our world.” But, he asks, what are the more personal situations that could benefit from a peacemaker?

“I may hear something about someone and I go off and repeat it,” he writes as an example. “I may even embellish it the second time around and keep spreading it.”

Though Francis does not point to social media specifically, he writes that people who gossip seek to harm the target, which leads to the gossiper taking even “more satisfaction” in the slander.

“The world of gossip, inhabited by negative and destructive people, does not bring peace,” he says. “Such people are really the enemies of peace; in no way are they ‘peacemakers.’”

Certainly, there's a lot of nastiness in "St. Blog's" and "Catholic Twitter."  Those of us who participate in these "spaces" need to do better.  And, of course -- as with calls for "civility" or "bipartisanship" in politics -- it's human to find it easier to see others' missteps than to confront one's own.

"The Dignity of Politics" event, featuring Prof. James Stoner, at Lumen Christi

Video available here!

Nothing New Under the Sun

Past:  East German Soldiers at the Berlin Wall, Circa 1961

Future:  American Soldiers at the Trump Wall, Circa 2018?

MOJ 14th anniversary (observed) . . . and a question

I neglected to mention, a few weeks ago, the occasion of the 14th anniversary of the launching of Mirror of Justice.  Tempus fugit, and all that.  It's fun to read the old posts . . . and also to note how the multiplication of social-media platforms and conversation-vehicles (and argument vehicles) has affected the way we blog here (and the frequency of our posts!).  By my count, we have -- among all the MOJers -- put up about 15,800 posts.  (I'm sure you've read every one, dear reader!)  Have we "moved the ball" in terms of the "development of Catholic legal theory"? 

Reflections welcome!  

Ten-Year-Anniversary (for MOJ) reflections, revisited

Back in 2014, our own Rob Vischer posted these thoughts, ("What has changed . . . what hasn't?") reflecting on what was then this blog's ten-year anniversary.  Worth re-reading!

Douthat and Kronman at Villanova This Month

Building on Villanova's astonishing basketball success and national championship victory, the McCullen Center for Law, Religion, and Public Policy at Villanova will be hosting two events over the next few weeks of interest to MOJ readers in the Philadelphia area (both events are free and open to the public):

Next Tuesday, April 10 at 4:00pm, Ross Douthat from The New York Times will speak about his new book on Pope Francis and the future of Catholicism. Details here.

Then on Tuesday, April 24 at 3:00pm, Anthony Kronman, Sterling Professor of Law and former Dean at Yale Law School, will deliver the annual Giannella Lecture on "Nicholas of Cusa: Prophet of Modernity." Details here.

 

 

Pope St. John Paul the Great, Pray for Us!

It's been 13 years.  I remember the moment, sitting in a classroom at the Indiana University during a conference about the jurisprudence of William Rehnquist, when I learned that the man whose work, thought, writing, and life I admire more than pretty much anyone had gone to his reward.  Here is a link to a link to a whole bunch of "John Paul II and jurisprudence" posts at MOJ.