Reading for Friday, Jan. 20

We'll read Simeon Leiva's article from the Fall 2011 issue: "Are You Afraid of the Thief?" We'll start at 6 pm. Light snacks and drinks. Hope to see you there! Write for the Nelson address if you're interested in coming and don't know where they live yet; it seems best not to post addresses here: communiokansascity gmail. All are welcome!
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Update: Apologies for the date confusion: the email with the date of Friday was correct. Thank you to all!

David L. Schindler's new book, Ordering Love: Liberal Societies and the Memory of God

Looking for a little Advent reading? Communio editor David L. Schindler's latest book is out from Eerdmans, and Amazon, here.

Anthony Esolen's article on the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program at KU

From Touchstone Magazine (Summer 2011): Anthony Esolen, "Pupils Delighted."

. . . He was moved to write to me, a stranger, to tell about his experience. I trust I am not revealing a confidence. This person, this former student, sent to me a copy of the brochure that he received when he entered something called the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program, at the University of Kansas, in 1974.

I can hardly look at the cover page without wanting to weep, it is so achingly sweet, so emblematic of how much we have lost. An old man in the foreground, mounted on a swaybacked and skinny horse, wielding a lance and a buckler, looks up at the stars—at Ursa Major and Polaris. It is clearly Don Quixote and poor old Rocinante. The stars are framed by a Roman triumphal arch, whose frieze is decorated with scenes from ancient Greece: a man teaching a youth to play the zither; a naked sprinter; a chariot race; a woman dancing; and two Muses with stringed instruments. Below them, on the sides of the arch, are two medallions, one depicting a medieval monastery, the other, what I’m guessing is the cupola to Independence Hall.

The Pearson Integrated Humanities Program must have violated every educational truism of our time. Two hundred freshmen and sophomores, for six hours a week for two years, sat in the company of three professors, John Senior, Frank Nelick, and Dennis Quinn, who discussed art, poetry, music, history, philosophy, and Scripture with one another, while the students overheard them and eventually learned to participate in the discussions themselves. The students also recited poetry, learned to waltz, and were introduced to such words as truth, faith, honor, love, courtesy, decency, simplicity, and modesty, not words much used in an Age of Iron, but then, Don Quixote was sent into that time precisely to bring back something of the Age of Gold.

The motto of the program was Nascantur in Admiratione, “Let Them Be Born in Wonder.” One of the pages of the brochure explains why. . . .

Read the full text: http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=24-05-021-v#ixzz1WkyneCKg

Cardinal Burke in KC July 23

Would anyone like to meet to hear this lecture? --ER

Here's the information from NCR: 

Cardinal Burke coming to Kansas City

by Dennis Coday on Jul. 07, 2011

NCR readers may want to attended the July 23 conference, "Being Faithful, Even Unto Death: Catholic Wisdom on the Treatment of the Disabled and Dying," where Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signa (the Vatican's "supreme court") will be a keynote speaker.

The conference is sponsored by the St. Gianna Physician's Guild and is billed as presenting "medical, legal and doctrinal analysis of Catholic care of the disabled and dying."

Cardinal Raymond Burke in February Cardinal Burke is to speak at 9:15 a.m. July 23. The title of his talk is “The Mystery of Human Suffering and Dying.”

Other speakers on the bill include: Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Vitadamo, the brother and sister of Terri Schiavo, and Gianna Emanuela Molla, the youngest daughter of Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962).

On Sunday July 24, the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese will host a special Mass celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Burke in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City, Mo., at 9 a.m.

The youngest daughter of St. Gianna Molla will be present and deliver some inspiring words about her mother following Mass. Several relics of St. Gianna will be displayed for public veneration and a special blessing will be given with a first class relic of the saint.

A reception will follow at the Catholic Center located a few blocks from the cathedral at 20 West Ninth Street. All are invited.

About John Senior at KU

This is a beautiful tribute to Professor John Senior, whose teaching of the classics at KU 30 years ago did so much to influence the face of the Church in Kansas City. The article is written by Bro. Philip Anderson, now Abbot of Clear Creek Monastery.

Reading for Lent and for our next study circle: Aldana on the Scriptures

For the next Kansas City study circle, we will read Ricardo Aldana's article from the Fall 2010 issue:

Ricardo Aldana, The Triune God as the Unity of the Scriptures

Communio 37, no. 3 (Fall 2010). (pdf)

The article poses the question, If Scripture is the Word of God, who is the recipient or "hearer" who can receive this word adequately? Jesus came as fulfillment of the Scriptures and received them perfectly. But if the Scriptures are a loving conversation between the Father and the Son, where does humanity fit in? Aldana gives a fascinating account of how humanity enters into the dialogue of the Scriptures. 

Articles are up!

The articles for the May study circle are up on the Commuio web page here, if anyone needs them. See you soon!