by Joseph Stoutzenberger A professor of mine at Temple University, David Harrington Watt, insisted that it is important in scholarship to let readers know who we are and what has influenced the positions that we are expressing. In my writing, I have always stayed away from talking about myself. If I wrote about, for instance,Continue reading “Know Thyself”
Category Archives: Catholic
What Peaches and What Penumbras!
by Joseph Stoutzenberger Many years ago, I sat in on a class on sacraments at LaSalle College, now a university. During a lunch break, I sat at a table next to an old professor. I’m not sure what his subject area was, but he asked me what I was studying. I told him I wasContinue reading “What Peaches and What Penumbras!”
What about Brokenness?
Then I realized that life doesn’t happen in museums and never-opened cabinets. Living, becoming real, always brings with it the danger of being broken. Kintsugi and The Velveteen Rabbit remind us that there is beauty in brokenness.
Sanctuary or Supermarket: Where Is the Church?
What’s missing? How about the everyday, commonplace expressions of love happening in families, in friendships, in schools, in businesses, in supermarkets, in the simple exchanges Catholics make throughout their lives?
What Does It Mean to be Anti-Racist?
by Joseph Stoutzenberger When Ibram X. Kendi, a fellow Temple University Ph. D., published How to Be an Anti-Racist a few years ago, I immediately got the point. Someone can say, “I am not racist,” or “I harbor no animosity toward members of other races.” Given conditions in the world today, that is not enough.Continue reading “What Does It Mean to be Anti-Racist?”
Woke Catholicism
I realized that I could not write about “Catholicism” without recognizing the reality of sexual abuse that has taken place in the church in the recent past and today. I looked at other books that described themselves as offering an introduction to or an overview of Catholicism. None that I found addressed this dark side of Catholicism.
Are We Misreading “The True Spirit of Christmas”?
By Joseph Stoutzenberger, December 24th, 2023. A Christmas Eve morning news program ended with a panel discussing “the true meaning of Christmas.” At the heart of the discussion was, of course, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” One commentator railed against the materialism underlying all the shopping and gift-giving. Another suggested that doing random acts of kindnessContinue reading “Are We Misreading “The True Spirit of Christmas”?”
Children and Visionaries
by Joseph Stoutzenber I was sitting in a newly redecorated university chapel next to an artist friend of mine. I asked him what he thought of the ornate crucifix behind the altar. He responded, “It pretends to be art.” Despite the many failed attempts at artistic expression intended to open one’s gaze to the holyContinue reading “Children and Visionaries”
The Art of Seeing
by Joseph Stoutzenberger In the 1970s, I taught religion in a Catholic suburban high school. An older man, part of the janitorial staff, cleaned the bathrooms and emptied the overflowing trash cans in the cafeteria after lunch. Generally, he was one of those invisible people, like wallpaper or one of the fixtures he cleaned, thatContinue reading “The Art of Seeing”
Creation Spirituality
It is rather interesting that the longest chapter in this slender volume is the introduction, where the author outlines his premise that Saint Francis of Assisi remains an example to the global community in the 21st century, especially when it comes to the Catholic Church’s very recent shift toward care for creation.
Joseph Stoutzenberger 