Bill Kassel's Blog - Occasional reflections on religion, culture, politics, and anything else that comes into my mind...

Rome on Its Own Terms

November 13, 2019 By Bill Kassel 5 Comments

WHEN YOU GO, EXPECT A
MASS OF CONTRADICTIONS

The standard cliché about travel is that it’s “broadening.”

I’m not sure this is altogether true. It may suggest too much about the impact of mere tourism on one’s character or one’s view of the world.

But going to new places definitely provides glimpses of how life is experienced in different settings. And those impressions, no matter how shallow and fleeting, at the very least raise questions worth pondering.

My wife, Kathy, and I have just returned from Rome.

Columbus Day 2019

October 13, 2019 By Bill Kassel 5 Comments

AGAIN WE NOTE AND DEBATE
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

Anti-Columbus fever is becoming virulent here in Michigan. State Senator Jeff Irwin has introduced legislation (Senate Bill 568) to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.

No surprise he would take the lead in such an effort. Irwin is a Democrat from Ann Arbor, which adopted the awkwardly named celebration in 2016. Home of Irwin’s alma mater, the University of Michigan (and referred to frequently as “Berkeley on the Huron”), Ann Arbor is one of eight Michigan cities that have tossed Christopher Columbus overboard.

I recently read historian Hugh Thomas’ trilogy on the Spanish conquest of what would become Latin America: Rivers of Gold (2003), The Golden Age (2010), and World Without End (2014).

It’s a fascinating book series that offers a comprehensive, balanced assessment of the goods and the bads of this world-changing historical event (a process, really, carried on over more than two centuries).

Thomas’ work makes especially evident the contrast between the U.S. experience — rooted mostly in decentralized, entrepreneurial colonialism — and what unfolded to the south, which was an importation of royalist medievalism which Latin America has never fully transcended.

At this particular moment, when slavery is much discussed, these books also make clear how limited a portion of this vast human tragedy unfolded on the soil of what would be the United States. Indeed, most — an overwhelming majority — of captured Africans were taken to Mexico, Central and South America, and the islands of the Caribbean.

I mention all this in anticipation of Columbus Day, which this year will be observed on Monday, October 14. Likewise, I offer the thoughts below, first posted on this blog back in 2017…

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Division and Disorder

September 27, 2019 By Bill Kassel 6 Comments

IMPEACHMENT IS THE
NEXT PLANNED TACTIC

During this now-past summer in which I’ve kept a low profile, blogging-wise, I’ve been reading, scanning the web, speaking with people, and working on a new project (to be announced soon).

And I’ve been thinking.

All that thinking — which tends to make my head hurt — has confirmed me in the opinion that the country is indeed divided.

No surprise there. That’s a pretty easy conclusion to reach.

The most obvious divisions run along left-vs.-right, Trump-vs.-anti-Trump, religious-vs.-secularist sorts of lines. But there are many other ruptures as well.

The Memes of Summer

August 25, 2019 By Bill Kassel 1 Comment

WRAPPING UP THE SEASON
WITH A FEW CHUCKLES

Travel and domestic concerns have kept me pretty much off blogging as the summer has flown by. And maybe that’s for the best. I would have just gotten caught up in the political madness and the tragic idiocy that’s marked the past couple of months.

I have more immediate things to focus on anyway: preparations for new endeavors which I’ll be talking about soon.

Meanwhile, I can’t help pausing to share a few moments of humor that punctuate our accumulating national angst. Here’s a collection of recent memes (at least they’ve come to my attention recently). I hope you’ll find them as engaging as I did…

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A Medal for My Book

August 8, 2019 By Bill Kassel 2 Comments

MY NOVEL ABOUT JESUS’ FAMILY
RECOGNIZED BY INDIE BOOK AWARDS

I’m honored to receive the medal shown at left for MY BROTHER’S KEEPER.

It indicates that my novel about the family of Jesus was listed as a finalist in the Religious Fiction competition held by the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest not-for-profit awards program for independent authors and publishers.

Please let me express my sincerest thanks to the judges — many of whom are distinguished figures in the publishing industry — for their acknowledgment of my book’s unconventional retelling of the Christian story.

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Corporate Censorship II

August 4, 2019 By Bill Kassel 6 Comments

A REPLY TO SOME ARGUMENTS
IN DEFENSE OF AMAZON.COM

(This essay refers to my last post, below. If you haven’t read that, scroll down and give it a look, then come back to these current observations.)

My last post elicited several comments in defense of Amazon.com’s right to refuse carrying products its managers deemed objectionable — specifically, books by the late Catholic psychotherapist, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi.

A reader named Eric suggested…

Corporate Censorship

July 29, 2019 By Bill Kassel 3 Comments

BIG MEDIA APPROVES
THE BANNING OF BOOKS

Some years back, a reader complained that Christians were always whining about being discriminated against and having their views marginalized. “You’re the largest religious group in the country,” she wrote “Nobody’s persecuting you.”

It was a sentiment that shimmered with ignorance. But it could perhaps be explained by how hard press outlets were working to obscure the many ways traditional religious ideas are systematically excluded from public discussion. At that time, suggesting people of faith weren’t able to express their opinions freely would have brought derision from across the media spectrum.

These days, making any sort of moral pronouncement that reflects a traditional faith perspective is very likely to get you called a bigot, a Nazi, a purveyor of hate — or worse. It can also get you banned from Facebook and other online platforms.

And it’s become harder to cover up that reality.

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Following the Right Map

July 1, 2019 By Bill Kassel 3 Comments

THE NATION’S FOUNDERS
GAVE US GOOD DIRECTIONS

The following reflection is adapted from an essay I posted on this blog for Independence Day 2014…

One summer during college I worked for the Bucks County Historical Tourist Commission. My job was to drive around eastern Pennsylvania and nearby portions of New Jersey, stocking the map racks of gas stations, restaurants, motels, and other tourist haunts with copies of “Highways of History,” a large, folded map highlighting places of historical and cultural interest in Bucks County.

My favorite place to drop them off happened also to be the best-known site on the map: Washington Crossing. This was the riverfront location from which George Washington launched his fabled Christmas-night foray across the ice-bound Delaware to attack Trenton and Princeton, turning the tide of the Revolutionary War.

The focus of Washington Crossing Historic Park (located about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia) was the Visitors Center. This modest structure contained a museum, the requisite gift shop, and a small auditorium where tourists could view the famous painting, “Washington Crossing the Delaware.”

To Whom Shall We Go?

June 16, 2019 By Bill Kassel 11 Comments

WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE
TO OUR TROUBLED CHURCH?

The scandals and turmoil that continue to rock the Catholic Church put believers in a position not unlike circumstances described in the Gospel of John (sixth chapter).

In that account, many of Jesus’ followers have turned away, unable to accept his description of himself as the bread of life and the idea that they must somehow eat of his flesh.

The Lord asks the apostle Peter if he intends to leave as well. Somewhat perplexedly Peter replies…

“To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life.”

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The Temptation to Change

June 9, 2019 By Bill Kassel 3 Comments

LORD’S PRAYER IS PERFECTLY CLEAR
WHEN IT’S READ MEANINGFULLY

It seems changing that line in the “Our Father” about leading us into temptation proved too tempting to Vatican linguists.

As reported by the online news service, uCatholic, in Italy…

“The Lord’s Prayer will change from ‘and lead us not into temptation’ to ‘do not let us fall into temptation.’”

This reflects offhand remarks by Pope Francis two years ago in which the Holy Father observed that the famous passage was inaccurate. The move is also the product of…

“a 16 year undertaking with aims to ‘contribute to the renewal of the ecclesial community in the wake of the liturgical reform.’

“Bishops and experts worked on improving the text from a theological, pastoral and stylistic point of view, as well as on fine-tuning the presentation of the Missal.”

For now the change applies to dioceses in Italy. Will it go worldwide? Time will tell.