Busy.

Too little time today. Maybe--perhaps--this evening. Just links until then.

1. Young Catholics. Again.

Bill Cork offers this great (PDF) find on the identity and interests of younger Catholics by William Portier. Entitled Here Come The Evangelical Catholics, it is very rich, thoughtful and full of cautions and insights, especially on the dangers posed by the current cultural dynamic. It also has gems such as this:

In a church whose most frequently quoted theologian has been Notre Dame’s Richard McBrien, how did thirty percent of under-forty Catholics come to think that the Catholic Church is the one true Church? Who are these people? Where did they come from? Are they leftovers or prophets?

You are also welcome to wade through the combination of (some) insight and (much) fatuity that is the response of Richard Gaillardetz, a favorite (1) in these parts, excerpted in Bill's post. I confess to not much liking Gaillardetz, despite his reader-friendly style and seemingly even-handed tone. I think I've figured out why: he adopts a moderate tone, but is a consistent apologist (!) for the progressives, who never get the critical examination he applies to conservatives/traditionalists. A faux moderate, he feints to the center, but runs to the left.

A former student of Prof. Gaillardetz, Bill does a nice job of pointing up the fatal flaws.


2. Overdue thanks!

To Jeff Miller and Mark Sullivan, for shortlisting me as a favored read in the Ignatius Insight article entitled What Do Catholic Bloggers Read? If you've come here from that link, welcome!

Also a way overdue hat tip to Michelle Arnold over at JimmyAkin.org for her link to the fisk of Charles Curran. Much obliged, and it nearly overloaded the counter.

Thanks also to Greg Krehbiel for his kind words on the Mary post.

BTW: Don't take a lack of thanks for a link as anything other than a lack of time to respond. I do appreciate greatly the ones I am aware of, but I am unable to patrol Technorati like a rat in a Pavlov experiment to give all possible credit where it is due.


3. More Blogs Worth A Look.

Gathering Goat Eggs

The Julian Calendar

Anne Elliot

Matthew Meloche (with whom I unknowingly shared a church on Sunday, St. Josaphat. Matt may have seen me: I was the guy trying to reason with the toddler in front of the statue of St. Anthony after Mass. Dale wanted to light several candles.)


4. Support Juventum, if you can.

A fine choir would like to go to WYD 2005, and they will--if they get the support.


5. Two from the Vaults.

Since I don't have time to blog anything substantive, here are two blasts from the past (pretend I just wrote them):

a. Fathers, Sons and the Faith of Our Fathers. A personal attempt to understand Mel Gibson's stalwart defense of his father, a trimmed down version later appeared in the National Catholic Register. My dad is still showing copies to total strangers.

b. Smile Time!
A parody of the see-no-evil diocesan mindset, it was very popular for some reason.

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Footnote
(1) With respect to the criticisms of Bill in that link and the follow up posts, please note the dates they were written. To use the Ron Ziegler term, those statements are "no longer operative." A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, and I'd like to think that Bill and I get along better than we used to.