I will be teaching one of our advanced sacraments courses, and I need today to update the outline and add new sources, so I don’t have a full Wednesday entry. But like manna from heaven, a very interesting link fell into my lap as I opened my email during “Morning Joe.” I heard from First Things, the conservative ecumenical/Catholic journal available in multiple formats including email (free, as far as I can tell, along with a daily newsletter I subscribe to.) This most recent email newsletter/essay is compiled by George Weigel, the noted Catholic author and biographer of Pope John Paul II. Weigel reports that the Synod of the Family, which begins on October 5, will be covered for First Things by Xavier Rynne II. There is great historical humor in this, as the original Xavier Rynne reported under the Rynne pseudonym during Vatican II. In that instance it was a progressive observer reporting on a Council controlled by conservatives; in this instance Rynne Junior is a conservative covering a synod that many conservatives believe stacked in favor of progressives. I can’t wait to begin reading these reports, and you may wish to subscribe to daily updates or connect First Things to your “favorites” tab. Rynne II’s second installment is here…I just found it.
Weigel also writes today about a new memoir from Vatican II by the theologian and noted peritus or Council advisor Henri de Lubac—you will recognize the names of some of the players from our own look at Vatican II here at the blog—and he includes an excellent thought on John Paul II’s vision of the family. While I occasionally disagree with some editorial positions of First Things, it is a strong academic, literary and orthodox contributor to Catholic thought today that I never ignore.
Thursday’s Catechism Analysis on Paragraph 19 is nearly finished and should go up tonight or early tomorrow.