MH - Home Grown

Two more blogs with Minnesota roots – The Seventh Age and The Weight of Glory. Sorry I’m late coming to the party, guys!

Clayton at The Weight of Glory includes an insightful exchange of emails with a writer from one of our local papers who thinks the Church needs to “re-evaluate our views on human sexuality.” (This writer also took part in the Sash demonstration on Sunday.) Clayton’s post indicates, liberals are often quick to call for “dialogue” when it comes to demanding changes in Church teachings, but they don’t seem quite as interested when it means actually entering into a serious discussion of the points they raise. Clayton is absolutely on the mark, though: we have to be willing to engage in discussions like this, even if it turns out the other side doesn’t want to debate. And in order to be willing, we also have to be ready, which means we have to know what we’re talking about. One of the great things about the internet is its ability to educate – not only through the massive amount of source material out there, but also from the blogosphere, where we can gather (electronically, at least) to exchange ideas, thoughts, and information; where we can challenge, reinforce, and enlighten; where we can, in some small way, participate in the ministry of the Church.

The writers at The Seventh Age also provide analysis of the situation here in St. Paul/Minneapolis. (Although I have to take exception with your description of the Strib; I think cats deserve better than that!) There’s a discussion on the Jonah Goldberg’s question “What is a Conservative?” which started over at NRO, and an excellent post regarding the labels “liberal and conservative,” which I wish I’d seen when I was writing my own post on the same subject (both of us referring to the Ignatius essay by Fr. James Schall. Having been in politics one way or another for a majority of my life (though not now, thankfully), I admit I’m still fascinated by the interaction between faith and politics, and the inability of so many (both liberal and conservative) to understand the idea that your faith has to inform every aspect of your life, including your political life – it isn’t like a switch that you can turn on and off at your convenience. Jesus constantly tells us that His ways are not the ways of the world, and it reminds us that the terms “liberal and conservative” frequently are just that. It’s like trying to translate a French opera into Russian for an English-speaking audience. You have to know the right language, and when it comes to the hereafter, the language of the here-and-now often doesn’t cut it.

I’m looking forward to adding these two blogs to our links at the right.