-
Monday, August 06, 2012
Responses to my reflections last week on “Chicago values” fell into two camps. There were almost universal plaudits for recognizing that the government should be concerned about actions and not about thoughts and values. The media, of course, are in this camp, because they are concerned about the free speech that is at the heart of their profession.
Read more...
-
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Recent comments by those who administer our city seem to assume that the city government can decide for everyone what are the “values” that must be held by citizens of Chicago. I was born and raised here, and my understanding of being a Chicagoan never included submitting my value system to the government for approval. Must those whose personal values do not conform to those of the government of the day move from the city? Is the City Council going to set up a “Council Committee on Un-Chicagoan Activities” and call those of us who are suspect to appear before it? I would have argued a few days ago that I believe such a move is, if I can borrow a phrase, “un-Chicagoan.”
Read more...
-
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Read more...
-
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Read more...
-
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday of Holy Week brings us face to face with Judas Iscariot, who engineered Jesus' death by betraying him to his enemies. In recent years, there have been a few attempts to "rehabilitate" Judas, to explain away his apparently evil intentions and paint him as someone who really only wanted to force Jesus to show his power in extreme danger.
Read more...
-
Monday, December 21, 2009
Today we take it for granted that words should be produced and reproduced electronically, as in this blog. Young people, I’m told, go to electronic sources for news, for research, for conversation. For four hundred years, words were mostly reproduced mechanically, by printing press. Before that, for many centuries, they were reproduced manually. Before that, they had to be repeated only orally, from one storyteller to another.
Read more...
-
Monday, October 19, 2009
The recent publication of my book of essays, The Difference God Makes, has made a difference in my life. People seem interested in what I think, and that is very satisfying if somewhat surprising. I’ve participated in explanations of the book to the media and to others in Chicago, and it has been presented at the Lateran University in Rome and at an event organized by The Crossroads Cultural Center in New York.
Read more...
-
Monday, June 08, 2009
St. Paul preached the Gospel where people gathered. As he went from city to city around the Mediterranean Sea, he began speaking in the town squares for the whole society to hear, even as he continued to speak in the synagogues for his own community to hear.
Read more...