Pessimisms

Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.   Lily Tomlin

Today’s Quote 6/19/09

“Realism has never been a mean achievement. It is a hard-won asset. And it differs from cynicism, with which it is sometimes confused, by only a slender thread — the thread, I believe, of God’s grace. . . . We are thinking of the person who can say, on the one hand, ‘I am an incredible idiot,’ and at the same time, ‘Life is good and the future holds out hope.’”

Paul F. M. Zahl, Who Will Deliver Us?, pages 47-48.

When a forest grows, no one hears anything OR the real difference the church is making

From The Catholic Education Resource Center

The Times Literary Supplement had a positive review of Ian Linden’s new book Global Catholicism in it’s Easter issue. In the June/July issue of First Things, Jody Bottum alluded to the book and to the Times review:

“It’s a book that begins with this Chinese proverb: When a tree falls it crashes with a noise, but when a forest grows no one hears anything. The same can be said of global Catholicism: The world only hears about condoms and clerical scandals, but in the meantime the real story is being ignored.”

That story, told in Global Catholicism, is summarized by the Times reviewer:

“Secularists might be surprised to learn that the Church is the largest single supplier of healthcare and education on the planet, the principle glue of civil society in Africa, the strongest bulwark of opposition to the caste system in India, and a leading player in global campaigns for sustainable living. It provides almost the only charitable presence in Chechnya, and other black spots often forgotten by the rest of the world.”

It is global Christianity which is a bulwark against the waiting darkness. Western culture is closing its eyes to the good the church has done and imagining a flirtation with other worldviews. We have grown tired of God, not even guessing what awaits for us on the other side of belief.