Fr. Brankin's background:
Biography of Author: Father Anthony Brankin was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1975, having received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology. He spent six years as associate pastor at Our Lady of Charity Church in Cicero, IL In 1981, Cardinal Cody sent him to Rome to further his studies in art and theology. He simultaneously attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome (studying both sculpture and painting) as well as the University of St. Thomas Aquinas where he pursued doctoral studies in theology. He returned to Chicago in 1983 and was appointed Vice President of the Catholic Church Extension Society, a position he held for three years. He was appointed pastor of St. Thomas More Church in 1989, in which position he remains today. (St. Thomas More parish is an Indult parish where the Ancient Latin Mass is celebrated every Sunday at Noon.)* In 1998, Cardinal George appointed him chaplain for the Chicago Chapter of Legatus International, an organization of Catholic CEOs and their spouses. Father Brankin has written articles for Homiletic and Pastoral Review, the New Oxford Review and The Wanderer. He comes from a police family, if such can be said. His father retired as a Captain from the Chicago Police Department and two other brothers are involved in law enforcement: Philip, the Director of Northeast Multi-Regional Training; and Joseph, a Patrol Officer for the town of Bolingbrook, Illinois.
*Fr. Brankin became pastor of St. Odilo in March 2006.
Catholic ping!
Thank goodness.
I thought for sure someone would beat me in here with a Helen Thomas picture.
Excellent post.
Some things about creation that have always intrigued me:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html
http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sb5xy86ooqA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JX3VmDgiFnY&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jiMmWnHpFyU
Yes, it is a good read. Sometimes I wonder, how parents can send their children to schools that look like prisons and expect them to be happy to go there for the day. Is it any wonder that since we are bombarded with ugliness, there is so much depression?
just as theological modernism denies the objective reality of the supernatural, saying that all dogma, all revelation, is just your experience and, therefore, the truth is what you think is the truth, so too, artistic modernism tries to convince us that whatever anyone thinks is beautiful is beautiful for that person.
Spot on.
Lost me, honey. People's buying food and fuel, and then having a place to live, is "ugly." I haven't made it through the whole article, but this sounds like "crunchy-con" aestheticist elitism.
Modern art, -- or, rather, the first half of the 20 century art -- tended to be ugly but not all of it was bad. We had an ugly century and we had art showing so. Some 20c art did it with ugly pithiness, but inasmuch a there was truth in it it was art.
The author sound like Prince Charles - another effete human being who lives several doors away from necessity and risk. Why are religious so useless save as social workers?
The church is missing a bet by turning the priesthood into a clan of social workers without a clue on real life survival strategies and techniques. Face it, these guys dont need to balance check books, make payroll on Fridays or do much more than show up and smile in order to keep a job....
Do the Uglybuck, do the Uglybuck
If you don't know how to do it, man, you're outta luck
Fortunately, there's enough people left with class, discriminating tastes and strength of character....and who bring up their children to chose beauty over the seductive enticements of the ugly.
Leni
EXCELLENT column, thanks...
Ed