Weekend Course on Sacred Art and the New Evangelization June 12-14 in Kansas City, Kansas

This offers more than teaching you about the New Evangelization - it tell you how to be part of it, a new person, transformed in Christ and through beauty, and showing Christ to others in our everyday activities Dr Caroline Farey of the School of the Annunciation in Devon and myself will be teaching a weekend course, Sacred Art and the New Evangelization in Kansas City, Kansas for the weekend of June 12 -14. It will include talks from both of us and the praying of the liturgy of the hours through the weekend. Register here.

Pope Benedict said that he believes that the Domestic Church will be the driving force for the New Evangelization. With this in mind and as part of this course we will be praying the Liturgy of the Hours. The intention is that this will do more than simply bring the community of students and teachers together (which it will do); we hope to see those who attend take this away with them and introduce the practice to their families and parishes. The material we use is simple enough that people who can sing it easily and beautiful so that they want to. Anyone who can hold a pitch when they sing and is not afraid to sing in front of their friends can will be able to continue on their own or pass it on to others in their own homes and parishes afterwards and build communities in faith around them. So why not start thinking out of the box...or out of the cell? Take a beautiful simple Vespers into hospitals or prisons in a form that patients and prisoners and will want to sing with you? We can take Christ from the monk's cell to the prisoner's cell so that the two are synonymous.

In conjunction with this, students will be taught how to pray with sacred art so that their icon corner really does become the focus of prayer and the heart of the home. We will learn, for example how the traditional layout of the icon corner reflects in both content and form the themes that Benedict brought out in his essay on the New Evangelization. This adds to the power of the prayer in the home to transform us supernaturally so that, despite ourselves and through God's grace, people see Christ in us and they believe that He can give them what they want most in life.

The price for the weekend which includes room and board is just $250 which is extraordinarily good value.

For more details click link here or go to www.archkck.org/evangelization

The Landscapes of John Constable

There are two difficulties with baroque landscape. First was the inclination in the 17^th century baroque to represent those areas where the colour is muted in sepia. This meant that they very often gave the appearances of very deep shadow everywhere that was not  the primary focus of interest. Second was the technical difficulty in describing the form of trees and foliage. It may sound like a small thing, but anyone who has ever tried to paint trees will know that they are fiendishly difficult to represent. The artist must give the sense of a united form, like a sponge, but also of one composed of many individual leaves. The paintings of trees from the earlier period tended, to my eye, to look to 'feathery'. They focussed too much on the detail and not enough on the overall form. Turner overcame this in an idiosyncratic way by adopting the colour theories of Geothe for his tonal representation and, as far as I can see, avoiding painting any trees at all! Other artists overcame this problem by representing the tonal areas in a muted version of the original colour. So, in landscape this usually means toned down greens - grey greens, blue greens, brown greens although sometimes retaining sepia for deep shadow when the composition requires it. As with Turner, the choice depends upon two factors: consideration of whether or not the area being painted is in sunshine or shadow; and how far in the distance the area is. Distance and degree of illumination both of these factors affect our perception of colour and tone and so these two variable must be reflected in any scheme that the artist devises. John Constable (1776-1837) is happy to use compositions that involve deep shadow in the foreground and he uses sepia for these areas. But he also renders areas in sunshine well. He also seemed happy to turn his hand to a wide variety of landscapes and seascapes. His watercolours or sketches, painted in situ are of interest to the modern eye (or mine at least) because of the spontaneity with which they are rendered. These would not have been considered finished works of art at the time but preparatory works for the pictures done in the studio.

This is speculation on my part, but I wonder if this use of watercolour especially as the means of capturing the moment is influential the form of the finished works of the artists of this time. The finished studio based work will have been a composite of detail from a number of spontaneous sketches - and so in this case oil paint copies of watercolours. Turner almost seemed to use oil paint as though he was painting in watercolour - lots of thin washes.

Constable is one of the first that I know of to be able to render the balance of broad form and detail in foliage and trees well. He simultaneously represents the broad shape through light and dark, and provides some detail without overloading it, importantly, in a way that allows that mind to infer what the whole is comprised of. This is one of a series of article intended to read as such: Baroque Landscape Baroque Landscape: Chinese Baroque! Romantic Baroque: the Landscapes of William Turner Paintings above, from top: Lighthouse at Harwich; Wivenhoe Park

View of Salisbury

Cornfield

Weymouth Bay

Brighton Beach with Colliers

Appearance on Catholic TV to talk about beauty, the New Evangelization and the Way of Beauty online courses

Here's a bit of bare-faced self-publicity (as opposed to my usual more restrained brand of self-publicity!)...I appeared on Catholic TV during the week talking about the Way of Beauty and the New Evangelization. I was invited on to talk about the new Way of Beauty online courses which have the Catholic TV series at their heart. The interview took place in Boston on Tuesday and was aired live.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdpk1kyC7ZY  

Romantic Baroque: the Landscapes of William Turner

It might seem contradictory that the landscapes of the Romantic movement (with which William Turner’s work is usually associated) are so beautiful. The Romantics of the 18^th and 19^th century were responsible in many ways for destroying the traditional forms that preceded them and opened the way to ugliness of modern art. Their emphasis on personal feelings and especially intense emotion of the artist is contrary to the traditional idea of painting in conformity to objective standards for the greater glory of God. There is a desire to communicate emotion in the baroque also, but it is not the emotion of the artist that is emphasized. Rather, it is the emotion of the person painted or sculpted that is portrayed. Bernini’s St Theresa of Avila, for example, reveals her emotional state, not his.

Subjectivity is not necessarily a bad thing however: when those subjective feelings coincide with what is objectively true, there is the possibility of something good. Broadly speaking, this is the case for Romantic landscapes, provided the desire of the artist is to communicate the beauty of nature (and other things being equal). The training the artists received in the 18^th and 19^th centuries was essentially the same as that from the previous period: which was an adaptation of the academic method - originally developed for the study of the human person -for landscape. It transmitted the baroque visual vocabulary of form without departing from core Christian principles (although steadily becoming more and more detached from a Christian understanding of them).

As mentioned before, baroque landscape employed control of focus and intensity of colour that corresponded to the way that the human person naturally perceives the world around him. The inclination in the 17^th century baroque was to represent those areas where the colour is muted in sepia. This meant that they very often gave the appearances of very deep shadow everywhere that was not  the primary focus of interest. This of course, is not always appropriate. To overcome this artists started to become more sophisticated in the range of colours they used for those areas rendered tonally.

The great English artist, William Turner developed a striking answer to the problem. Drawing on the colour theory of Goethe, he developed a system in which he rendered form tonally, but in a variety of colours rather than just sepia. It is not easy to discern a strict format, but broadly speaking and as best as I have been able to discern it, in the foreground he used yellow for those areas in sunlight, and red through to deep red ochre and finally sepia for shadow.  Then those areas that are in the distance he used blues for sunlight and, violets and blacks for shadow. All this is varied subtly dependant also upon the natural colour of the objects. The skill needed to combine all of this and yet still give the painting an impressional unity is immense. What I have described applies to land, building and trees. His skies are rendered in blues, greys and if painting sunsets, red and yellow; and seas in this system seem to sit between the two because the water reflects the light of the sea and land.

It appears to me that in many of his watercolours, which would be painted quickly, he relies on this more (perhaps he is developing and perfecting the technique through them). In his oil paintings he uses this variation but the control is more subtle – after all the background areas, which these are, should be subordinate to the main foci of interest, which are going to be rendered more literally.

Another feature of Turner’s art is the reduction of the area which is sharp focus (with a corresponding decrease in the areas which are painted blurred. The out-of-focus areas are painted as though in peripheral vision. Turner used to practice painting his peripheral vision. This accounts for the looseness of many of his works. However, he never abandons the points of focus altogether. The oil painting Snowstorm, left, for example, is almost all blurred blizzard, there is, nevertheless the sharp line of a mast and a daub of bright colour for the boat, so that the eye has somewhere to rest. Many of his later oils are painted as thin washes of colour, mimicking his watercolour method there are many of these in Tate Britain museum in London - I am not sure if Turner considered all of them finished although to the modern eye they look splendid.

What is interesting is that to my knowledge the colour theory of Goethe is not consistent with ideas of modern physics, yet it works well in Turner’s paintings. It may be a lucky inspiration (or perhaps there is something to Goethe after all!). Regardless of the validity of Goethe’s theories, the success of the paintings is a tribute to Turner’s great skill and intuitive sense of what works once he has painted it.

The paintings shown are watercolours except for Snowstorm, above and the two at the bottom of the series below, which are oils.

Two 11th century opus sectile floors in Jerusalem

I was contacted by an archeologist who is working on sites in Jerusalem who wondered if I knew anything of the origins of two opus sectile floor patterns that appear in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and were laid in the 11th/12th century Crusader renovations of the church. The architect, Frankie Snyder tell me that the first shown below appears in 4 places:

1. Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Chapel of the Apparition (just north of the Rotunda) -- late 11th century (with 20th century repairs to the starburst patterns)

2. Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Chapel of the Franks -- 12th century

3. St. John the Baptist Church in Ein Kerem, under central dome -- 12th century

4. St. John the Baptish Church in Ein Kerem, grotto, birthplace of John the Baptist, home of Zachariah -- 12th century

5. Tile remnants of these tiles have been found on the Temple Mount, so there was evidently another chapel with this same floor built by the Crusaders on the Temple Mount during the 12th C.

And the second appears in 2 places:

1. Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Latin (Franciscan) Chapel of Calvary -- 12th C (20th C replica of original)

2. Inside the Dome of the Rock -- used by Crusaders as a church during the 12th C

 All are made of local black bituminous limestone and hard red limestone, and imported white marble. All tile sizes seem to be based on the inch.

If anyone has any information please let us know. You can email Frankie on frankie.snyder@gmail.com

Two Beautiful Newly Completed Icons of Western Saints by Marek Czarnecki

I have just been sent images of these two beautiful icons of St Cecilia and St Hildegard of Bingen painted by Marek Czarnecki. Marek is a Catholic iconographer based in Connecticut. (www.seraphicrestorations.com). They were another pair of commissions for Our Lady of the Mountains in Jasper, Georgia. Fr Charles Byrd the pastor and the congregation have been working together to commission a whole series of new works of art in their little church.

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, and all interested in contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'. 

Why All Catholics Should be Interested in the American Constitution

A book that explains why the American ideal of ordered liberty is consistent with a holistic view of human flourishing that is described in Catholic social teaching: Tea Party Catholic: the Catholic Case for Limited Government, a Free Economy and Human Flourishing, by Samuel Gregg  (www.teapartycatholic.com)

If you want to know what this book is about, at least read the whole of the front cover. If you got no further than Tea Party Catholic, it would be easy to mistake it as a piece of current affairs and contemporary social commentary. This is much more than that.

Although not unconnected with the values of the modern Tea Party movement that the title evokes, it is more a reference to the original Boston Tea Party and describes the influence of the sole Catholic signatory to the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll.  Through papal writings especially those of Leo XIII, John Paul II and Benedict XVI he demonstrates that the free market, liberty, limited government  and other ideas that characterize the American conservative mindset are consistent with Catholic teaching on the human person, freedom and capitalism. I suggest that it is important enough that it should be standard reading in the general education of all students - not just Catholics and not just Americans - for years to come.

For Catholics it is a great introduction to the basic principles of Catholic social teaching, freedom and the human person and the nature of a society in which the human person can flourish.

For American Catholics and especially those who doubt that the American constitution and characteristic American values are consistent with the Catholic worldview, he demonstrates the harmony between the two visions of society. I have often felt that some are  too quick seize upon the fact that each defines the terms 'freedom' and describes the human person differently and use it as a reason to dismiss the principles upon which America is founded as contrary to Catholic thinking.  As Gregg explains although some of the language of the Founding Fathers is characterized by that of Enlightenment thinking - the principles that they are describing can be shown to be consistent the Catholic thought, developments in CST which occurred much later.

If you could get any of them to read it, it would be an eye-opener to the large numbers of Europeans who are like I used to be:  anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-business and pro-socialist; who are taught to believe that the interests of business are fundamentally opposed to the good of society as a whole and the well being of the poor in particular; and have no knowledge of the principles upon which America was founded or any sense that they were even worthy of investigation.

This book will counter these prejudices on two fronts.

First, Gregg clearly articulates how Catholic social teaching describes the principles by which society can be ordered so that it is prosperous and the human person can flourish. Furthermore, CST is quite specific that this cannot include socialism and that a society that favors markets, the free economy, business and entrepreneurs, and is built on a culture of faith, morality and trust is the one that offers the greatest hope for all people, especially the poor.

Second, his description of the meaning of traditional American values demonstrates, I believe, that America offers hope to the West in a time of crisis. The cultural foundation upon which so much that is good in the modern age and upon which the West is founded is more than Christian, it is Catholic. This being so, these American values which are so smugly rejected by many - especially the university educated -  in fact represent a beacon of light in the West that is otherwise throwing away so much of its Christian heritage. If this is not stopped we are on a path to disaster.

This last point could be noted as well, I think by many Americans who are, as I was surprised and somewhat dismayed to discover when I moved here, ashamed of their own culture and starry-eyed about Europe. Perhaps because I am English, it seems to bring this side out of them and they will quickly find a reason to apologize for their own culture and praise that of Europe, which they view as inherently superior. They identify European culture, I am guessing, with that which produced the beautiful buildings and art they see in European cities and do not seem to realize that modern European culture is far removed from the one that created these wonders.

If you want hope for the future it is not to Europe we must look, but  to that part of American society that still espouses its traditional values and therefore, whether they know it or not, Catholic Social Teaching. That is not to say the American culture is perfect (although it is far better than most of these negative Americans and Europeans give it credit for). Rather it is that American society still has far more of what is necessary for such a transformation. From this starting point there is still, in my opinion, the possibility of infusing it with more so that it can be culture of greater beauty and in which the human person can flourish. My conviction about this arises not from a deep knowledge of the history of the founding of the United States, of which still am no expert, but from personal observations of American society. But I see support for this view in Gregg's book.

As Gregg put it it: 'Subsidiarity tells us that the primary responsibility for limiting the temptations associated with the affluence generated by market economics lies with non-state organizations, especially families and churches. Parents are usually better placed than government officials to teach their children how to value material goods, to use mass media, and apply their minds critically to what they see and hear so that they can make clear judgments about what they are being told in advertising. The long-term goal is to root free markets in a moral culture that enables us live in societies akin to the Florence of the High Middle Ages and the Renaissance; communities in which widespread commerce, banking and trade went hand in hand with the literature of Dante and the art of Michelangelo.'

Well I might say Duccio or Giotto rather than Michelangelo but I don't want to quibble! The point is very well made.

To read more and to buy the book go to www.teapartycatholic.com

Sam Gregg will be teaching at Acton University - the annual conference of the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 16-19 which is open to everyone, and thoroughly recommended to all.

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, and all interested in contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'. 

Lenten Art Meditations on streaming video by Fr Michael Morris

This is great stuff...but how do we make best use of the information?

Here is an excellent series of recorded commentaries on works of art by Fr Michael Morris of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. Fr Morris, who is on the full-time faculty of the school, heads their Religion and the Arts program and writes the sacred art meditations for the monthly Magnificat magazine. He has been posting one a week during lent and they call be viewed here.  I encourage readers to visit this site watch these videos. At the end of this article is his meditation on the Ecce Homo by the Flemish artist Quentin Massys. The original painting is in the Prado in Madrid.

This does raise the question of what is purpose of such meditations? How do we make use of all the great information they contain? Do they help our participation in the liturgy? If so, how? If we cannot answer these questions satisfactorily then perhaps what we have here is just a bit of pious relaxation, one step up from vegging out in front of a documentary on the television - Catholic PBS!

The first point for each of us to ask ourselves, I suggest, is this: am I doing this as an exercise in understanding the work of art, or treating the work of art as a means for enhancing my knowledge and understanding of the Word. If it is the former then, and I speak for myself here, I am indulging in intellectual pride or a cultural affectation. I might as well be be taking a benign secular art history course which, while acknowledging the Catholic intentions of the artist, is detached from them.

Even if my goal is the latter - enhancing knowledge and understanding of the Word - then unless it is conformity to the ultimate end, it becomes another form of intellectual pride in which I am seeking theological knowledge and understanding, rather than artistic.

The answer has to be that, like all other human activity, it can be ordered to the purpose of deepening my participation the Sacred Liturgy, But how? Here is my approach:

I suggest that it is analogous to the study of scripture, which when done well internalizes what is learnt so that our worship of God is more worthy. This last point raises yet another additional question. If meditation of art is analogous to study of scripture, why bother with the study of art at all? Why not just study scripture directly?

The answer is given to us in the Catechism. In the first item that comes under the heading Truth, Beauty and Sacred Art, we read: 'Truth is beautiful in itself. Truth in words, the rational expression of the knowledge of created and uncreated reality, is necessary to man, who is endowed with intellect. But truth can also find other complementary forms of human expression, above all when it is a matter of evoking what is beyond words: the depths of the human heart, the exaltations of the soul, the mystery of God.' (CCC 2500)

This suggests then that the words of the art meditation are just a first step. They lead us into a receptivity of those aspects of the work of art that is not said in the mediation, and which are 'beyond words'. This is a passive, contemplative mode of study. It is, when understood in this way, a sort of visual lectio divina. This is not a new idea, Claire of Assisi, for example, is often credited with the development of a technique of meditating art in this way. I suggest that in fact, unless art is studied in conjunction with this contemplative mode, then one might as well just be reading the theology truths contained from a written script. For we are not gaining beyond the words by looking at the picture.

And then we must go further still. Just as Benedictine spirituality as outlined in the Rule does not end with lectio divina but rather with the Opus Dei, the work of God - worshiping him in the Sacred Liturgy - so our meditation and contemplation of art must be directed towards this higher goal.

There are two ways in which this can be so, I suggest. The first, is an intellectual process that transforms us - those aspects of the Word that have been internalized by both meditation and contemplation are brought to the altar and affect our response in the Eucharist.

The second is that the meditation and contemplation of the art has developed our faculties of meditation and contemplation to a higher place. So when our worship is done in conjunction with appropriate holy images we use those faculties within the context of worship and are more engaged with that imagery in a way that raises our hearts and minds to God in our worship. Those truths that are beyond words are with us in the liturgy too.

This last point presupposes, of course, that there is some decent liturgical art where the liturgy is taking place!

As students we are more likely to make this connection right up the hierarchy of ends and put it into practice if we are made aware by our teachers and develop the habit of using art work in our prayer and especially in the liturgy. Without this there is a real danger that such meditations will be just the empty intellectual exercises that give academia a bad name.

The Church tells us that when it offers a Catholic education, 'A school is a privileged place in which, through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance, integral formation occurs.' ( The Catholic School, 26; pub. The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, 1977) This encounter with our cultural inheritance is not a 'living' encounter that provides 'integral formation' unless it is in conformity with its highest purpose - the worship of God in the Sacred Liturgy. It is the job of those us who teach to transmit this to our students how to use the information we give well, in conformity with our ultimate end, otherwise we let them down...and waste many wonderful resources such as those provided by Fr Morris.

https://youtu.be/1Aw0c1SgC8Q

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, and all interested in contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'. 

The New Evangelization and the Domestic Church - Pope Benedict XVI on the connection between the two

Why the beauty of the prayer corner in the family home is crucial to the New Evangelization

The New Evangelization has become a buzzword of the age. Used by Pope St John Paul II it refers to the need to reach the faithless in the West whose parents and grandparents were Christian. But how do we reach these people who have no faith, but think they already know enough about Christianity to be hostile to it.?

In a short and clear paper written in 2000  Benedict XVI outlined what he believes is the answer to this question. If people are to convert they must believe that the Church has the answer to the fundamental question: 'Which is the path to happiness?' We do not tell people the answer to this question, he says, so much as show them. By the example of our own happy lives and loving interactions we show Christ to others. And the only way we can do this is to strive to be walking icons of Christ supernaturally transformed so that we participate in the 'light' of the Transfiguration.

There were two aspects of the Christian message that Pope Benedict felt would resonate today particularly when communicated in this way. First is that we demonstrate Christian joy that transcends human suffering so that in our own small way (or sometimes not so small) we bear suffering joyfully and with dignity as the martyrs did.

Second is that we should communicate the fact of life after death and a just and merciful judgment by Christ. When we have joyful hope for a future that reaches beyond death, fear is dispelled and we are given a purpose in this present life (anticipating themes discussed later in Spe Salvi in much greater depth). Again this is more powerfully transmitted in the way we are than by us telling people directly that we are joyful and free of fear.

How can we possibly live up to this ideal? The answer is that left to our own devices we can't, but with God's grace we can. The foundation of such a transformation says Benedict, is prayer.

Benedict describes prayer life that is a balance of three different sorts of prayer all ordered to the Eucharist. These are, first, the Sacred Liturgy - the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours; second, 'para-liturgical' prayers which are devotional prayers said in common such as the rosary; and third personal prayer which is said alone and in private.

Most of us do not know how to pray well without being taught. Even the apostles asked Christ to teach them how to pray and Benedict tells us that we need 'schools of prayer' where we may learn to pray this transforming prayer.

The most powerful and ideal school of prayer is the domestic church - the family home - where children learn by seeing the example of their parents (and I would say, especially fathers) praying to God, visibly and audibly to the image corner. Benedict tells us that the domestic church is an essential aspect of the new evangelization:

'The new evangelization depends largely on the Domestic Church. The Christian Family to the extent it succeeds in living love as communion and service as a reciprocal gift open to all, as a journey of permanent conversion supported by the grace of God, reflects the splendor of Christ in the world and the beauty of the divine Trinity.'

So, he seems to be saying, if we did not learn to pray in our own home (perhaps because you are a convert like me), we have a responsibility to learn and then to pray at home so that we each create our own domestic churches.

Outside the family, a spiritual director is the best way to learn. These are hard to come by and so the next best thing is to look at books on prayer, Thomas Dubay's for example are good and of course one of the four sections of the Catechism is devoted to it.

The book, the Little Oratory, A Beginner's Guide to Praying in the Home was written by myself and Leila Lawler with this aim in mind. (The word 'oratory', incidentally, derived from the Latin orare - to pray - means literally 'house of prayer'.) In this we pass on the guidance we were given when we asked of others that question, 'teach us how to pray'. It describes how to order prayer in accordance with the hierarchy that Benedict describes so that it lightens the load of daily living rather becoming a burden. It addresses directly how to arrange the images for the icon corner in the home and how to pray to visual imagery.

The traditional layout for the core imagery of the icon corner is as follows: in the center should be the suffering Christ, that is Christ on the cross; to the left should be an image of Our Lady; and to the right should be an image of the glorified Christ (perhaps a Veronica cloth or Christ Enthroned with angels).

It seems that nearly every aspect of the Faith is contained in some way in just these images and there simply isn't room to talk about it all here. However, it is interesting to note that they speak directly to the concerns that Benedict brought out in regard to the new evangelization: Christ on the cross is the most poignant symbol of consolation in our suffering; and all images of Christ glorified communicate to us the glory of heaven and what is in store for us through deification. This is the transformation by which we participate in the divine nature through Christ. It happens by degrees in this life through participation in the sacramental life.

Iconographic images of the face of Christ are always painted with an expression of compassion tinged with a slight sternness. This enigmatic combination tells us that Christ is a judge (hence the sternness), but that he is a good and merciful judge.

Finally, the role of Mary is crucial in the new evangelization, I believe. All that the Mother of God does is directing us to her son. We see this portrayed directly in many images of Our Lady - she engages us with her eyes while gesturing towards her son.

How will the domestic church evangelize the un-churched? At first sight it is not clear - it is possible that the images of the domestic church might communicate these truths to the faithless directly, who are invited into our homes, for example, but it is unlikely. That is not the point. The idea is that they are placed in the homes of the faithful for the effect it has on us. The beauty of sacred art communicates something that words alone cannot. When we pray with holy images, especially liturgical prayer as in the Divine Office, what we see impresses itself on our souls and we are raised up to the ideals they portray . Despite ourselves in many cases, we are transformed, partaking in the divine nature so that we may show Christ to others. As we leave our homes and go about our daily business, engaging with our fellows in a secular society, people see in us something greater, the divine person. It is Christ who affects those people, through us. It is a lay 'in persona Christi'. In so doing we emulate also, in our own diminished way, the life of Our Lady showed her son to us and prays for us to Him constantly.

I painted the images below as examples that would be appropriate for an icon corner in a Domestic Church. In addition to the three core images - the face of the glorified Christ, Christ on the cross and Our Lady of Merrimack. The first is in a traditional iconographic style and the other two are in a Western gothic style.

In addition is the image of the Knight of the New Evangelization which I have painted as a symbol of the mission of the Church today. He portrays the need for chivalry and virtue in today's culture which is hostile to Christianity. The battle in the West is spiritual but nevertheless requires courage. The image is based on one from the 13th century Westminster psalter painted by Matthew Parris

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, and all interested in contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'. 

Commentary on Hieronymous Bosch's Christ Carrying the Cross by Dr Caroline Farey of the School of the Annunciation

Here is an audio commentary on this beautiful painting by Dr Caroline Farey of the School of the Annunciation in Devon in England. It is on the newly posted Sacred Art Resources page of their website and was recorded to introduce Module 4 of their Diploma in the New Evangelization, which is one of their newly launched online/distance learning courses.

 You can watch the video by going to the Sacred Art Resources page, here

Dr Farey is one of the best that I know of those who consider the symbolism of the of content of paintings. She explains the significance of each figure in the painting one by one. As well as the placement of the city and the trees in the background.

For example she tells us how just one figure in the crowd, in the red pointed hat, looks beyond to the two small figures in the background, who are St John and Our Lady, taking the narrow road to the New Jerusalem in the distance.All the others are participating in the leading of Christ to his death. This was painted at time when the Church was not at its purest (at the end of the 15th century prior to the Reformation). The figures on the left, characterize the flaws in humanity and in the institutional Church. The figure on the right of the cross, a soldier, has a crescent moon on his shoulder and represents Islam. So the greatest threats to the Faith at this time were Islam outside Christendom and the waywardness of the Church within it...plus ca change.

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses 

• 3 College-level transferable credits,    $900. 
•  Audit the college-level course,      $299
•  Take a reduced version for 25 hours continuing education units (fewer video classes, less material, less interactive teaching)    $99

Accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, available through www.Pontifex.University. To sign up go to the www.Pontifex.University Catalog here.

For artists, for architects, for priests and seminarians, for educators, for all undergraduates! And for everyone who seeks what every Catholic education should offer - a formation in beauty through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance.

Talk tomorrow on the Iconography of St Thomas Aquinas in Berkeley, CA - watch live streaming on the internet

The subject of the annual Aquinas Lecture of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, CA will be the Iconography of St Thomas Aquinas. It takes place at the school campus in 2301 Vine Street, Berkeley at 7.30pm, tomorrow, on Wednesday, March 18th.

It will be given by Fr Michael Morris who is on the faculty at the DSPT and Professor of Religion and the Arts. Fr Morris will be better known by many as the writer of the sacred art commentaries for Magnificat magazine.

In what promises to be a fascinating talk, Fr Morris will describe pictoral representations of the saint and explain why he is portrayed as he is, connecting the iconography of the saint to the 'fables and the facts' of his life.

It is free to attend but if you wish to go you must register in advance, see here,  At the time of writing there are still a few places left. If you are not within striking distance of the campus and can't get there then it will be streamed live. Go here for more information.

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses 

• 3 College-level transferable credits,    $900. 
•  Audit the college-level course,      $299
•  Take a reduced version for 25 hours continuing education units (fewer video classes, less material, less interactive teaching)    $99

Accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, available through www.Pontifex.University. To sign up go to the www.Pontifex.University Catalog here.

For artists, for architects, for priests and seminarians, for educators, for all undergraduates! And for everyone who seeks what every Catholic education should offer - a formation in beauty through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance.

Venezuelan Cardinal Speaks Out About the Violence

Pray for us, Our Lady of Coromoto I noticed this little news piece on Catholic World News recently. The Archbishop of Caracas was addressing the violence in the country following the shooting of a 14-year-old boy. In a couple of paragraphs he sums up the problem and the answer in Venezuela, as highlighted in my earlier articles, here: How a Loss of Faith Can Lead to the Decline of a Culture and an Economy and Lead to Political Violence, and here: Faith is the Only Hope for a Country in Disarray.

The cause is a lack of faith and the answer lies in upholding Catholic social teaching. Notice that while he directs the condemnation of the violence to the agents of the government, his appeal for a transformation in faith goes beyond the government and is extended to the society as a whole. This I believe is what is necessary. Anyway here is the CWN piece:

The prelate called upon the government of President Nicolás Maduro to ''stop murderous violence'' and t o “prohibit the use of lethal force to control demonstrations,” according to a Fides report.

“We must overcome attitudes such as the desire of easy wealth and corruption, political pride, arrogance and lust of power, selfishness, laziness, hatred, and violence,” Cardinal Uroso added. “And we have to save the principles of legality, legitimacy, and morality that support the fabric of social life.”

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses 

• 3 College-level transferable credits,    $900. 
•  Audit the college-level course,      $299
•  Take a reduced version for 25 hours continuing education units (fewer video classes, less material, less interactive teaching)    $99

Accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, available through www.Pontifex.University. To sign up go to the www.Pontifex.University Catalog here.

For artists, for architects, for priests and seminarians, for educators, for all undergraduates! And for everyone who seeks what every Catholic education should offer - a formation in beauty through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance.

What's Going to Happen to the Children When There Aren't Any More Grown Ups?

This the title of a satirical song written by Noel Coward, the English. Like all that he does, one wonders at his sharp wit and brilliant use of language. In describing the self-indulgent behaviour of a small number of very rich in the 1920s, he seems to predict whole course of the 20th century and now the 21st in three verses and a chorus with an accuracy that makes one shudder. When writing an article about new numbers of Brits going walking in Spain, I quoted the title of another of his songs, Mad Dogs and Englishmen Go Out in the Midday Sun. As I was trawling around for the link, YouTube offered a series of other Noel Coward performances and curiosity took my cursor to this one.

In this song, Coward is brilliantly making fun of the hedonism of the upper classes in 1927 (although some of the references make me wonder if has updated the lyrics for this recording in the 1950s). In his characteristically English and erudite way, he describes how the adults behave like children right through middle age and and on to old age.

The pleasures that once were heaven, look silly at sixty-seven,

Does it amuse the tiny mites, to see their parents high as kites?

One day you'll clench your tiny fists, and murder your psychiatrists'

He describes excessive drinking, drug taking (he lists the drugs), plastic surgery, undignified drunken 'jiving' by the elderly trying to stay young, people seeking distraction through radio and television in order to avoid the responsibilities of life and then trying to assuage their consciences by running to the psychiatrist's chair. My guess is that this song was popular at the time because those to whom he refers would take a perverse pride in being wealthy enough not to have to behave like responsible adults; and then many of the rest of the population would genuinely like the idea of poking fun at wealthy for their childishness.

It would not have been known at the time just how truly destructive this behaviour is to the person and society and so this is one reason perhaps why he could get away with references to such things at the time. I imagine also the brilliance of the way he has crafted the song and his wit would mean that he was probably given more slack than his contempories.

Listening to it today we know the degree to which the lives he describes are worse than superficial, they are irresponsible and destructive. This bitter truth contrasted with the whimsical manner in which he delivers it,  it gives the  experience a macabre edge. Another surprise is when it was written, in the late 1920s. It is so accurately prophetic that it sounds like a jab at the hedonism of the sixties, not the twenties. What was true for a small part of the upper classes then, steadily became the standard for behaviour for a large minority perhaps even a majority in society later.

There is an element of self-parody in this song, for Coward was firmly part of the world that he is revealing to others. To hear him articulate so well all the consequences of such behaviour it sounds as though he knew full well where it was leading him. One wonders how troubled he was personally? If that were me, I couldn't live with myself.

http://youtu.be/IqZDroXkwdM

This article was first published in 2012. I was reminded of it by hearing someone talk of importance of the family for nurturing the faith. The hope for the children, one feels, is that they know that there is one who is truly and dependably grown up, Christ. They will learn this through seeing their parents humble themselves before God, kneeling or bowing in prayer. Then though mum and dad are less than perfect occasionally (though one hopes not as bad as those that Coward describes), they will know that there is a greater standard to look to and to rely upon.

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses 

• 3 College-level transferable credits,    $900. 
•  Audit the college-level course,      $299
•  Take a reduced version for 25 hours continuing education units (fewer video classes, less material, less interactive teaching)    $99

Accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, available through www.Pontifex.University. To sign up go to the www.Pontifex.University Catalog here.

For artists, for architects, for priests and seminarians, for educators, for all undergraduates! And for everyone who seeks what every Catholic education should offer - a formation in beauty through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance.

Start your own Alpha and Omega Group!

Meet for Vespers and Compline; plus a meal and conversation...and if you have a Dominican from the Western Province to hand all the better!

I remember that the Anglican Church in England designated the 1990s as the 'decade of Evangelism' with the goal of evangelizing the whole of the nation prior to the millennium. This seemed an absurdly optimistic goal to me, but I suppose if we remember that strictly to evangelize means 'to show' people Christ rather than to convert them then they might have come close, depending on what you consider showing people Christ means.

One thing that did come out of this energetic push to carry the gospel was the proliferation of 'alpha groups'. This was based upon a series of recorded talks about Christianity. Parishes set up groups in which people brought along food for a potluck meal, they watched the video and then had a discussion based upon it, perhaps guided by a series of questions that came with the video. I don't know how successful it was in converting people, but it was certainly successful at reinforcing the faith of existing Christians, which is a very good thing too. It was good enough for many other churches including the Catholic Church to follow the format and add additional videos that filled the gaps in the presentation of Christianity of the protestant Evangelicals.

My father ran one at his local Methodist church and I attended one the evenings he lead. It was popular enough that they repeated for several years and what was interesting was that quite a number of people came to the alpha groups each year that it took place, even though the materials were repeated. What they enjoyed I think went far beyond what they were learning intellectually, it was the fellowship with like minded people.

As far as I recollect, the hub of this evangelical (and Evangelical) push was Holy Trinity church in Brompton ('HTB'). This is the epicenter of guitar-strumming Evangelical Christianity in the UK. Readers in London will be aware that ironically it is is situated immediately adjacent to  a church which is at the other end of the spectrum, the traditional Catholic and very liturgically minded Brompton Oratory. In fact, when I was living in London and attended the Oratory regularly, a group of us used to go and sit in the grounds of HTB on pleasant summer afternoons and have a picnic after attending Solemn Mass at HMO (Holy Mother Oratory).

I do remember one of the Fathers at the Oratory joking that the name of the group - alpha - indicated that they had made a start but it was incomplete; he was referring to quotation in the Book of Revelation: 'I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.' The Oratory even started a series of talks of their own and they called it the 'Alpha and Omega Group'. If there is one church in England that understands evangelization it is the Brompton Oratory and they do not need to do it via organized talks or alpha-type sessions. Many, many converts have come to the Faith as a result of its mission of beautiful liturgy and spiritual direction from the Fathers. I am one of them.

I wanted to play my part in the evangelization of the Faith and so all I had to do was invite them to attend Mass their with me - perhaps with the promise of beautifully sung polyphony even if they didn't like the rest of it. A number of those converted including one his death bed a few months later (at the age of 40, when dying of cancer, may he rest in peace). All I had to do, I reckoned, was get them in there and the Fathers of the Oratory and the Holy Spirit would do the rest.

A beautiful Mass is always going to be what draws most powerfully to the Faith, but I think that there are things on the line of the alpha group that we could do to support that. My brother and his wife have just started a regular group in Berkeley, California that meets for Vespers, a potluck meal and then Compline. It involves minimal organization and runs at a relaxed pace from about 6.30pm to 9pm. They just invite friends and because they and they are lucky enough to have a large enough room in their home to accommodate perhaps 20 people, they encourage friends to bring others along. This is not an official parish event, it's all done through their own networks. There is no need to have a priest involved or use church space if they are not available.

When Rob and Anna described it to me he said it was a great success. The great thing is that the liturgy gives the evening a purpose, inspires conversation if they need it and engenders deep fellowship through the Holy Spirit. Also there is enough repetition so that people who are totally unused  to what is going on will pick it up over the course of each evening and subsequent evenings (they meet fornightly); and enough variation so that it distinguishes one evening from another and maintains interest. We have been encouraged in recent times by the popes since Pius XII (to my knowledge) to sing the Office in the domestic church and here is a simple way that it is being done.

They sang in the vernacular and were lucky enough on the first couple of occasions to have a local Dominican priest come along. The Western province of the Dominicans in the US has done a lot of good work in working out good and singable chant for the English language (apologies to other Provinces if I'm being unfair and you have contributed too!).  Before he moved to where he is now, Rob used to live walking distance from St Albert's Priory in nearby Oakland and whenever I stayed with him we used to go down and pray with them. I made use of much of what I heard either directly or indirectly in the singing of the Office at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts.

It was one of the recently ordained priests, Fr Dominic David, whom we used to see there when he was a student who came to these first evenings. He helped people by explaining what the Liturgy of the Hours is and taught people the tones. Some had never done anything like this before in their lives, but they happily joined in once things got going. They have some simple Anglican style, four-part harmonies and there were one or two others present who were experienced choristers who could easily pick up the simple harmonies. Rob told me that it was a wonderful thing to be part of this especially all those praying were chanting.

Benedict XVI told us that the domestic church ie prayer in the home centered on families is crucial to the new evangelization because of the effect that it has on those who pray and their participation in families and in society in general so establishing a 'culture of love' (cf Address to Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Thursday, 1 December 2011). 

Provided that the ultimate purpose is the worship of God so that the liturgy isn't instrumentalized, then fruits will ensue. Then as sacred liturgy it is showing us the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end and, to quote Sacrosanctum Consilium, the source and the summit of all.

So perhaps think about this at home...start your own alpha and omega group.

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses 

• 3 College-level transferable credits,    $900. 
•  Audit the college-level course,      $299
•  Take a reduced version for 25 hours continuing education units (fewer video classes, less material, less interactive teaching)    $99

Accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, available through www.Pontifex.University. To sign up go to the www.Pontifex.University Catalog here.

For artists, for architects, for priests and seminarians, for educators, for all undergraduates! And for everyone who seeks what every Catholic education should offer - a formation in beauty through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance.

Do the expanded, college-level Way of Beauty online course for a third of the price

You can audit the college level course for just $299 (full price for credit is $900); and if you have done the cont. ed course already, then we will deduct what you have paid already and you can take that next step up for just $200 A number of people have been asking me about the difference between the  differences in the content of the college level course and the one for continuing education. The answer is quite a lot! There are 21 more videos to watch, including a whole history of Western art from the Greeks to the present day, so you can put all the theory presented into context much easier. There are also videos showing how modern astrophysics is compatible with ancient cosmology; how both are in harmony with the cosmic symbolism of the liturgy by taking you through the day of worship at a traditional Benedictine monastery; and giving greater detail on the nature of beauty itself. Furthermore there are opportunities to take part in interactive seminars after each new video which guide you to greater understanding of the information you are receiving.

For more information go to the Online Course page on this blog, or direct the Catalog at www.Pontifex.University

Furniture design in harmony with the cosmos

Here is a video demonstrating how furniture makers used to incorporate the musical harmony into furniture design. Some might remember that I featured the book that this promotes, By Hand and Eye on this site some time ago. http://youtu.be/MaUP_K2sW5A

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses 

• 3 College-level transferable credits,    $999. 
•  Audit the college-level course,      $299
•  Take a reduced version for 25 hours continuing education units (fewer video classes, less material, less interactive teaching)    $99

Accredited by Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, available through www.Pontifex.University. To sign up go to the www.Pontifex.University Catalog here.

For artists, for architects, for priests and seminarians, for educators, for all undergraduates! And for everyone who seeks what every Catholic education should offer - a formation in beauty through a living encounter with a cultural inheritance.

New recording of the Lord's Prayer by Jernberg with scrolling score for choirs

Paul has just sent this to me. It is the Our Father from his CD so the quality is much higher and also he has loaded it on YouTube so that the score srolls as the choir sings. This means that it will be easy for choirs to learn. Every choir should start with this - it is amazingly easy to sing and as you can hear from the recording sounds great. Also, in this recording you get a sense of how the whole Mass is sung - the priest is intoning the parts normally spoken. For more information go to pauljernberg.com.

http://youtu.be/aFlrmie-MhM

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online course www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'

Why Did They Ever Make This Tea Pot?

You cannot separate true utility and beauty, the two are connected. Some things have both...and some have neither

Anyone from the UK will recognize this 1960s design of teapot. I remember first seeing them as a boy at a rest stop on the M6 motorway which runs from Birmingham to Glasgow through the northwest of England. We were struck by how modern they looked in gleaming stainless steel. Everything in the 1960s looked modern and at the time I thought it was great. As a 7 year old I was enthusiastic about it all, from concrete shopping malls through to 100% nylon shirts that always untucked themselves spontaneously because of the static they generated. We went out and bought one of these new teapots.

This design is still knocking about. I was reminded of them when I went for a cup of tea in a cafe in England and the milk was served in a jug of this design. The milk jug had exactly the same design flaw as I remember in every teapot like this - it was very difficult to pour without dribbling milk, or tea, onto the table. On this occasion, I  spilled milk onto the cafe table (I didn't cry over it in case you're wondering, although in my irritation I did mutter a few choice words to myself).

It was just like the pot we had at home all those years ago. There was rarely a clean line of liquid going from minimalistic-lip spout to cup. Usually there was a dribble as well that ran down the front of the pot to the base then and onto the table beneath. It didn't spill every time. Some could develop the knack of a clean pour. I can remember that some of my family (not me) developed this skill. However whenever I or my mum or one of my brothers poured, onto tablecloth and table it went. This was particularly troublesome in our family home years ago because we had a french polished dining table. This meant that wherever hot tea hit it, there was a clear white stain on the deep chestnut coloured table. French polishing is beautiful when pristine, but it is awkward to repair. So in the end my dad stripped the table and put a layer of more durable polyurethane varnish on it.

The question that always comes to my mind when I think of these teapots is how did something that is so manifestly unsuited for its purpose, pouring tea, ever get to the stage of being mass produced? Didn't somebody along the way investigate whether or not it actually works before they put it on the market? Didn't somebody try to make a cup of tea with it first? There is a string of other artifacts that come into the same category for me. There is the design of cheap travel mug which no matter how hard you screw down the lid, even when brand new, always leaks and drips coffee onto your shirt when you tip it up. Then there is the automatic hand dryer that is set off by light sensor so your hands trip of the light sensor as long as they are in the stream of hot air so you get a swift, continous dry...or that's the theory; in fact the air jet goes on for a few seconds and then you have to trip the light sensor again to keep it going. The only problem is that your hand doesn't trip the light sensor while it is in the air jet, so you have to move it away to the right place in order to restart it. The drying process therefore become of annoying process of many five second bursts rather than being continuous and swift. And there is the toilet seat that stays up for precisely 11 seconds, just long enough so that you are confident it will stay up permanently and remove your stabalizing hand, and then when your not expecting it, falls back down again with a clatter (men will understand the annoyance of this one).

Going back to making to making tea in England, we used the the more traditional silver teapot that was supposed to be just for guests, because it poured perfecty. It had the traditional spout as we see in the following teapots, which are based on the 18th century English design.

Here we have utility and beauty. In the past it was assumed that you could not have one without the other. First of all, beauty was itself a utility in the sense that anything that participates in the divine beauty - and yes even a teapot can do that - raises the soul to God, which should always be consideration regardless of the primary use of what we design. Second, it was assumed that the most efficient design in terms of use was also the most beautiful. Gothic masons created beautiful cathedrals because this was an indication of the most structurally sound form (other things being equal - its not the only indication).

Well, that's my rant about teapots...I'm off for a cup of tea and a biscuit out on the patio, with elegant teapot. Next week I will discuss the aesthetics of biscuits...

In the mean time here's some elegant china:

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online courses www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, and all interested in contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'. 

A Mass in an Ancient Church in Wales with Restored Gothic Wall Paintings

Here are some photos, courtesy of David Woolf of a Votive Mass of St Teilo that was celebrated on February 7th in the Extraordinary Form in the Church of St Teilo, at St Fagan’s National History Museum, Cardiff, Wales, UK.

David told me: 'The Mass was hosted by the students of the Cardiff University Catholic Chaplaincy and was celebrated by their Chaplain, Fr Gareth Jones.

'The Church of St Teilo is of particular historical interest. Having become redundant in 1970, it was moved, brick by brick, from its 12th century site at Llandeilo Taly-Bont, near Pontarddulais, and reconstructed at the St Fagan’s Museum. Prior to its removal wall paintings, dating from the 15th century, were uncovered beneath the wall plaster. These were removed and preserved in the National Museum of Wales. When St Teilo’s Church was reconstructed it was decorated as it would have appeared in the 1530s.'

St Teilo's feast day was two days later on February 9th. St Teilo is is a 6th century British saint, who studied under St Paulinus at Llanddeusant, in the Brecon Beacons and, as a monk, with St David at Mynyw in west Wales. He founded his own monastery at Llandeilo Fawr, again in the Brecon Beacons, where is probably died.  A later tradition has St Teilo accompanied by St David and St Padarn make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He spent some years in Brittany. At Llandaff he is venerated as the founder of the see (which contains the capital of Wales, Cardiff).

I don't know what readers thing about the paintings? When I look at them, it tells me that we should not always be so starry-eyed about paintings from the period before the Englightenment. It is of great historical interest to see the church as it was in the 1530s so I am very glad that this was done. The images look to my inexpert eye as though they are older than that, probably gothic. What I would say is that the artist was no Matthew Parris or Fra Angelico. In the medieval period many small churches would have been painted by the parishioners or local artists and they took pride in matching or surpassing the local village churches. It would not have occurred to them to have bare walls.

Information on St Teilo from www.universalis.com

Photos: Dr David A Woolf

 

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online course www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog) for college credit, for continuing ed. units, or for audit. A formation through an encounter with a cultural heritage - for artists, architects, priests and seminarians, contributing to the 'new epiphany of beauty'

The Tragedy of Detroit

After my article on the tragedy of Venezuela, here is Harry Veryser, economist and native of Detroit talking of the reasons for the decline of the city that in the 1950s had the highest standard of living in the world. I have visited Detroit several times and my memory of it is of a city that has been abandoned. There is block after block of empty and very often burnt out shells of buildings. I would say that it looked like a bomb site, but in many cases Detroit city hasn't even had the money to flatten the ruined buildings. They are a standing monuments to economic mismanagement.

The enormous once beautiful railway station is greatest (or perhaps I should say least) among them, see below.

In the reasons that Harry cites, there are parallels with the decline of Venezuela in which government tries to control the economy centrally with disastrous consequences.

Harry, who heads the Masters program in economics is an advocate of the school of Austrian economics. His book, It Didn't Have to Be This Way - Why Boom and Bust is Unnecessary portrays a compelling case for an economic system that allows the human person to flourish. He stresses constantly the importance of the culture and for local communities to be strong for the economy to prosper (we hear this in his remarks about Detroit too). He is also a committed Catholic and he draws on Catholic social teaching as the moral underpinning for the policies that he advocates. My review of his book is here.

Don't forget the Way of Beauty online, for college credit, for continuing ed. units, for audit www.Pontifex.University (go to the Catalog after you follow the link)

http://youtu.be/gymEHKS3_10