Well, if you’ve been watching the weather, you know most of the country’s midsection is experiencing a deluge. Here in Bismarck we ducked the brunt of it, but still got (and continue to get) some good rain. But last night I thought I was smart. South of Mandan at a place called Graner Bottoms on the Missouri River, it looked like it was going to be clear enough until roughly 9:00pm, and I’ve found the websites I check...
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As a New Testament scholar, I feel this acutely, with some caveats. On one hand, interpretation is inevitable (even reading a grocery list is an exercise in interpretation), and so the question is not whether we’ll interpret but whether we’ll be good interpreters. Take for instance what he says below about the rich young man who was told to sell all he had and follow Jesus. Is it a command intended for all Christians? What do you do...
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Today is World Organ Day, celebrating what Pope Benedict called “the king of musical instruments”, and to which the Second Vatican Council gave pride of place for the Latin/Roman liturgy (the one almost all Catholics in the west attend, usually Ordinary Form). The organ has always been considered, and rightly so, the king of musical instruments, because it takes up all the sounds of creation…and gives resonance to the fullness...
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The Pope’s general prayer intention for May is: “That administrators of justice may act always with integrity and right conscience.” His mission intention is: “That seminaries, especially those of mission Churches, may form pastors after the Heart of Christ, fully dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel.”
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Saturday morning, for the first time in ages, I took a few hours to fish. Either I’ve had a speaking engagement or some other obligation or extremely bad weather since early March. It was also the first time I took out my new-to-me but very old and used boat, an old 17-ft Crestliner Angler with a 90hp and 15hp kicker motor, typical ND/MN walleye rig. Turns out taking the boat out for the first time each season is an adventure, or so...
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Res ipsa loquitur: Q. I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask about my favorite phrase you’ve coined — “The Pink Police State.” To what are you referring? And why should it worry us? The Pink Police State is a more extreme version of a regime I use to taunt my libertarian friends in my essay on ‘The Sex Vote’ that’s just been published in Doublethink. I worry, and I think we should all worry,...
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