Among the songs that I remember from my parents’ collection of phonograph records of Yiddish folk music was a melancholy and poignant melody whose lyrics expressed the lament of a poor and humble tailor that the holiday season and its celebrations were coming to an end and that he would soon be returning to his […]
religion
Posted inCommunity & Lifestyle
On love for the poor
Care for the poor is both “the burning heart of the Church’s mission” and the heart of Pope Leo’s first message to the world’s Christians. The apostolic exhortation, released earlier this month, is called Dilexi Te – I have loved you – and subtitled On love for the poor. To take in its message, I […]
Posted inCommunity & Lifestyle
Haman, hatred and a hangman’s noose
The seeds that men plant bear their own fruit. Hatred is one of those seeds. Enter Haman. The Persian kingdom was under the reign of Ahasuerus, who, for whatever reasons, had appointed Haman over all of the nobles and princes of Persia. Now Haman was a descendent of Agag, the king of the Amalekites, whose […]
Posted inNews
Rooting out systemic racism
SCODR co-chairman Kenley Wade. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE The Dominican Sisters of Springfield have a long history. Their congregation was founded in Jacksonville in 1873 and moved to Springfield in 1893. However, some of the women who founded the congregation came from the much older Convent of St. Catherine in Kentucky. That group formed well […]
Posted inOpinion
Exclude me in your prayers
I have long wondered why God, who for decades has been routinely invited to watch over the General Assembly and guide its deliberations, has asked Mike Madigan to do that job for him. Now I know. The prayers recited by invited clergy to open legislative sessions in Illinois weren’t specific enough to make clear which […]
Posted inOpinion
God lets Ingersoll off
Robert G. Ingersoll PHOTO COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION. BRADY-HANDY PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION. Atheists don’t expect to rise from the dead, but one famous dead agnostic came up, as it were, when I was reflecting last week on the fear and loathing that atheists excite among some Illinoisans. Attorney Robert G. Ingersoll, blasphemer […]
Posted inNews
Illinois approves same-sex marriage
The “score board” in the House shows votes on SB10, the same-sex marriage bill that passed the House today. Patrick Yeagle Gay and lesbian couples in Illinois will soon have the right to be married, following the passage today of a highly contentious bill that was years in the making. House sponsor Rep. Greg Harris, […]
Posted inOpinion
Arts of the patron
Mary Lee Leahy died Dec. 12, after a busy life working for good causes as an attorney and public servant. Perhaps unfairly, she is remembered mainly as a Holy Warrior against patronage in public employment. This alone made her passing notable in Springfield, where patronage has been a way of life since they unloaded the […]
Posted inNews
Civil union adoption fight gets heated
More than nine months after Illinois’ civil union law took effect, state lawmakers are still arguing over what it means. That’s because of a controversial measure to exempt religious adoption agencies from the law. Sen. Kyle McCarter, R-Lebanon, sponsors Senate Bill 2495, which would allow a religious adoption agency to not place children in a […]
Posted inOpinion
True unbelievers
In February, the New York Times’ Timothy Egan nominated Roger Williams as the true founding father of America’s religious freedom. It was Williams who, in 1636, established a new colony at Providence to which he invited Jews, Quakers and unbelievers. These were the sort of people whose presence had offended the Massachusetts Puritans, who had […]
Posted inOpinion
Gizmo-maker as god
Steve Jobs is dead, and the world talked about little else for a week. By now we have arrived at the transitional moment that was neatly described by columnist Rick Polito in the Pacific Sun – the one between “He was a genius who will be sorely missed” and “The battery has to be replaced […]
