The quote below is from Saint John Climacus: A man who takes pride in natural abilities — I mean cleverness, the ability to learn, skill in reading, good diction, quick grasp, and all such skills as we possess without having to work for them — this man, I say, will never receive the blessings of […]
Archives for April 2011
Saint John Chrysostom on fasting
Here are a couple of quotes from Saint John Chrysostom on fasting: Fasting is a medicine. But medicine, as beneficial as it is, becomes useless because of the inexperience of the user. He has to know the appropriate time that the medicine should be taken and the right amount of medicine and the condition of […]
Wisconsin and calculating a living wage
Yesterday I commented that an answer to calculating a living (or “just”) wage is found in one of the place where people least tend to look, and that is at missionary societies who send workers overseas. Why these missionary societies? Let me speak out of personal experience as a former multi-term missionary. Missionary societies have many […]
Oh, how we delude ourselves
The comic above is from my favorite cartoonist Pithless Thoughts. As he says, it is a reprint of a “classic” and classic it is. During this period of Lent, we are called to examine ourselves and to stop deluding ourselves. And it is so easy for me to do that. Every year most Orthodox parishes […]
On Wisconsin and a living wage
Father Jensen’s answer to my post included so many references to a living wage, that I urge you to go back to my post, “The withheld wages cry out . . . ,” and re-read his comment. Let me again state that it is very good. As Father Jensen deals with the idea of a […]
Cell phone fail
I had to adopt the practice of making sure to leave my cell phone in the sacristy, even though I had had it on vibrate. You see, back when I had not realized that the buzzing of vibrate could actually be heard through a cassock. And, it is no the least bit helpful if during […]
Medical errors and approaches towards workers
This post is an aside from the ongoing discussion of Wisconsin and Catholic Social doctrine, but one that will perhaps feed into it. You may not know that since 10 years ago, there has been a significantly increased emphasis on patient safety in hospitals. A study published back then, Crossing the Quality Chasm, began a […]
Wisconsin and Catholic Social doctrine
I received a highly thoughtful reply to my post on the withheld wages of workers from Fr. Gregory Jensen, who has his own blog, called Koinonia. And, though he was objecting to some points I made and asking probing questions about others, it was a pleasure to read him because he had gone to the […]
Some insightful quotes on American Christianity
I will be writing on Wisconsin and some objections raised by a fellow priest today or tomorrow. My schedule has been a bit crowded lately. So, let me leave you with two quotes. The two quotes below are from a Southern Baptist pastor named Michael Spencer. He was the original InternetMonk (go to http://www.internetmonk.com). He died […]
A simple comic that explains the “rich” problem
Father Orthoduck does not have time to write this morning. But, the two comics above point out what part of the problem is. Yesterday, Father Ernesto pointed out that wages have stagnated or dropped while business owners are getting ever larger bonuses. The comic above points out that wealth is being increasingly centralized in groups […]
