“But if, as time goes on, the same people become so corrupt as to sell their votes, and entrust the government to scoundrels and criminals; then the right of appointing their public officials is rightly forfeit to such a people, and the choice devolves to a few good men.”
I don’t know whether to be excited we are headed to the moon for the first time in my lifetime or ashamed that it’s the first time in more than 50 years. What a total failure of imagination.
It was with real sadness that I learned that the monks of the Abbey of La Trappe in Normandy are considering closing down their operation. As the name suggests, this monastery is the mother house of the Trappist Order, a reform of the Cistercian movement and a particularly intense form of Benedictine life, famous for its austerity and silence. I came to know of La Trappe through Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, whom I read with great passion when I was a young man. La Trappe shaped Merton, who in turn opened so much of the spiritual life to me. Founded over nine hundred years ago, La Trappe has survived the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, and the world wars of the twentieth century. That this venerable monastery cannot find enough vocations to keep it alive is, in my judgment, a sign of the spiritual disaster that has befallen Europe in the last hundred years: an ideological secularism that is rotting the soul of the West. Let's redouble our prayers that the monks of La Trappe might find a way to preserve their great Abbey. It is needed especially now.
Growing up in South Bend, Coach Holtz attended my grade school football game with Rocket Ismail, Tim Brown, and Anthony Johnson to watch Anthony’s little brother—my teammate. I threw a TD pass while he watched, and it was the highlight of my childhood. Coach, you’re the best.
It’s a shame I had to stumble across Jack London’s incredible book rather than seeing it exalted in classrooms, on library shelves, or talked about in literary circles. “The Star Rover” should be championed as one of the finest books ever written.
@CoachLouHoltz88 Thank you coach, you’re the best. Growing up in South Bend you attended my grade school football game with Rocket Ishmael, Tim Brown and Anthony Johnson to watch Anthony’s little brother (my teammate). I threw a TD pass while you watched and it was the highlight of my childhood.