Orthodoxy in America

is attracting new members, especially young, conservative men. I would be interested in Jack's take on this story in the NYT. I have attended many services with my Greek friend. I have found some asoects of Orthodox theology to be more in line with my thinking than RC theology, but also that some aspects of Orthodoxy are as bad as or worse than in the RC, such as in its treatment of women. The attraction to young men apparently includes its approach to male and female roles, saying Orthodoxy "affirms their masculinity". I wonder how they define " masculinity"? The conservative young seem to be taking over the the RC, and Orthodox churches as well. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/us/orthodox-christianity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.3U8.5h3e.uwLkLhTzY8ZO&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Fort Necessity and Braddock Road

The hard cover book for the PBS series is $43/34; Kindle is S19.99

The American Revolution: an Intimate History

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MATERIALS

Prelude To War In North America

Jumonville Glen: The Beginning

National Park Service Fort Necessity Site

has two videos (BOTH CAPTIONED)

INTRODUCTION TO THE FORT NECESSITY CAMPAIGN

13 MINUTES

ALONG THE BRADDOCK ROAD

34 MINUTES

Young George Washington

This is the beginning of a series of posts in comic book format, aim at young people

Ken Burns' The American Revolution

 The American Revolution premiers on PBS tonight, November 16, at 9:00 PM. 

The US Bishops' Special Message on Immigration

 In their Plenary Assembly this week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a Special Message on the topic of immigration.  

A Special Message is a specific type of statement which is issued by these twice-annual assemblies.  Not every assembly issues a Special Message; the last one was issued 12 years ago, on the federal government's contraception mandate.

According to the USCCB website, a Special Message is one "which the President of the Conference, the Administrative Committee, or the general membership consider to be appropriate in view of the circumstances at the time."  This week's Special Message was issued by the general membership.  The vote to approve it was 216-5, a remarkable display of unity.

The text of the brief Special Message is below the break.  It is found here at the USCCB website.

The End to the Shutdown

 Heather Cox Richardson has a good article on the measure to end the government shutdown, which at 41+ days is the longest in US history: November 10, 2025 - by Heather Cox Richardson

Online a lot of people have excoriated Chuck Schumer and the seven Senate Democrats and one Independent who voted to advance a measure to end the shutdown; saying that they caved, and that they are sellouts.  I am not on that bandwagon. The shutdown is going to end because it is not sustainable. The ones who voted to advance the measure are providing an off-ramp.  It is not a coincidence that none of the eight are facing re-election in the immediate future, and two of them are retiring.

Heather Cox Richardson has this to say; "News of the terms of the deal to end the shutdown hit the country rather like a cue ball hitting a rack: lots of balls started to move in wildly different directions."

From the article:

USCCB elects a new president

MSW analyzes the candidates

Who Will be the Next USCCB President?

Five of the 10 nominated would resist the path charted by Pope Francis and now embraced by Pope Leo. Instead of the popes' more holistic approach to moral theology in the public square, these five candidates are associated with the culture war approach, stigmatizing opponents, emphasizing the unique importance of the abortion issue for all elections and downplaying the importance of Catholic social teaching. None of them could unite the conference.

What to make of the nomination of Bishop Robert Barron? Many bishops appreciate Barron's ability to communicate and many others worry about the increasingly strident content of his communications. All recognize that his heart is in his Word on Fire ministry, not in diocesan leadership. I can't imagine he would be an effective administrator and, besides, in Rome he is seen as too much of a showman.  

The only nominee who screams "Pope Francis" is Detroit Archbishop Ed Weisenburger. He rightly addressed the scandal of not just dissent from, but animus towards, the papal magisterium of the late pope at Detroit's Sacred Heart Seminary. He joined with other clergy in the Motor City on a prayerful procession to the Immigration and Customs' Enforcement agency office to protest their indiscriminate raids. But precisely because Weisenburger is so closely aligned with the Francis agenda, he could not unite the conference, which is Job No. 1 for the next president.   

Four of the nominees strike me as more middle-of-the road bishops who might have a shot at uniting the conference more than it is today. Archbishop Nelson Perez of Philadelphia has not had the kind of high-profile culture war involvement as the others, but he is very conservative and he also lacks experience in Rome. Archbishop Richard Henning had the unenviable task of following the universally beloved Cardinal Sean O'Malley in Boston, and I hear good things about how the new archbishop is doing, but Boston is a huge archdiocese and I suspect Henning still has his hands full learning the ropes there. Both Perez and Henning are proteges of Bishop William Murphy, former bishop of Rockville Centre.

Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis and Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville are both smack dab in the center of the conference and both would have a better shot at uniting it than the other eight nominees. Thompson and Flores are both quite conservative on issues of sex and gender but also deeply committed to the church's social teaching. That is to say, both sides in the divided conference find things they like about them. Both have been in their posts for many years, so they could carve out the time to serve as president. Thompson has no Roman experience, whereas Flores was deeply involved in the synodal process and I suspect that many bishops like the idea of electing a Hispanic during Trump's second term just as they elected Gomez during Trump's first term.

Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran: Virtual Tour

We observe the feast of the dedication of this church, which is the Cathedral Church of Rome, tomorrow.

Link to the Website of the Virtual Tour of the Archbasilica

You can read about the history of the Basilica here

A brief All Souls thought

The Catholic church urges us to pray for those who have died; and urges us to look forward with hope and expectation to meeting God face to face.

I do the former, although probably not as often as I should.  As for the latter: I'm not there yet.  I love many things about my current life, and I'm not ready to let go of it yet.  

And I dread death; I suspect, if I were put to the test, e.g. by standing up to someone in a dangerous situation, for the sake of another or the sake of a principle, I'd be anything but heroic.

And the death of a loved one leaves me bereft.  Even the death of a stranger, if it confronts me (as when I'm assisting at a funeral) can leave me emotionally wrung out.  I often remark that I don't know if I could be in a funeral ministry, because I'd be an emotional wreck after two weeks.

And too many people who have loomed large in my life, once they die, are mostly forgotten by me after a brief period of time.

I get, intellectually, what the church teaches about death and what comes after.  But my heart hasn't caught up yet with my brain.  So today I pray: Lord, please change my heart to accept what you teach us about death.