Perpetual Student said:

warmer stratospheric temperatures helped limit ozone destruction.

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Hey Trump's hot air is good for something after all.

Lily76_ said:

i have addiction issues myself but even if you're drinking, and you kill someone it can understand unclear thinking but doesn't excuse the fact you are the one that took that life, and you have to take responsibly of that

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Regardless of your opinion, or my opinion, on the morality of the matter the fact remains that in some jurisdictions, for certain crimes the intoxication from alcohol or drugs can be considered a mitigating factor. For example, changing from a charge of premeditated murder to one of manslaughter. Moreover, legal systems do not require that individuals take responsibility for their actions, rather that they should face the consequences.

Trump is proposing a $12B aid package for farmers hit hard by his trade war with China​

Farmers appreciate the aid package, but they say it’s likely only a down payment on what’s needed and government aid doesn’t solve the fundamental problems farmers are facing of soaring costs and uncertain markets for their crops.

[China has bought about one fourth of the soybeans that Trump said the Chinese said they would buy by the end of the year.]

essentialsaltes said:

Apparently not. Or at least not yet.

'No more Mr. Nice guy!' Trump erupts as Dem lawmaker he pardoned sticks with party​

President Donald Trump lashed out at Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) on Sunday after learning that the lawmaker – whom he had pardoned this week following bribery and conspiracy charges – still plans to run for re-election as a Democrat, decrying it as “such a lack of loyalty.”

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I have no doubt Trump is using, I mean abusing, the presidential power in a transnational means. More than one person has claimed in Trump's first term through Rudy Giuliani a pardon could be bought for 2M. One one hand that could be just a Rudy thing, but on the other hand Trump is know for demanding compensated in one form or another for his actions. Several pardons are of people who campaign donated or enacted business transactions with his sons.

longhair75 said:

Our old friend Sylverpiano had a pretty serious stalker. I....intervened. He did leave her be after that.

She is living in Calabria Italy now.

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Incredibly scary!

That was so tragic!

longhair75 said:

I really miss my friend Rabbi Abe.....

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longhair75 said:

My struggles with the Catholic Church have been well documented here in OBOB. Despite this, I return here for fellowship. Y'all are my friends

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You know you are always welcome Longhair.

Scrip

reddogs said:

"Tradition" is what they teach it comes from...

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Scripture and Tradition are taught but not regarding private apparitions

iluvatar5150 said:

The case is still ongoing, but according to the indictment, they paid Poole $100k per episode. In media production world, the title "producer" is annoyingly ambiguous and can have a bunch of different meanings with one of them being "financier."

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I know. I once watched the credits for a 22 minute TV sitcom. There were 3 executive producers, 12 producers, 27 co-producers, and 139 assistant producers, lol. The show was probably produced by more people than watched it. I suspect people are having lunch, and one of them says "Hey I'm starting a new project. If you pick up the tab I'll give you a producer credit".

But Tim has complete editorial control. He's seen enough to not be a dupe.

iluvatar5150 said:

I don't know. The indictment didn't say.

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I just don't get what your beef is. The aim of Russian and Chinese propaganda is to sow division to bring down America and the West. That's what your side of the aisle is already doing 24/7 anyway.

iluvatar5150 said:

Without knowing who did the shooting, it's impossible to know why. Maybe it was just some randos getting drunk and firing out their windows. Maybe it was somebody with a vendetta against guys in knit hats.

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I heard him say they had received death threats in October which were deemed credible by the FBI. And the threats came from some person(s) who are already "on their radar" for making threats to other conservative figures.

..

RocksInMyHead said:

Can you name the car with four-wheel drive, smells like a steak, and seats 35?

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... Canyonero!

Some of these Christmas messages I’m seeing aren’t right. The right message is what you & God want are different & God knows what’s best for you

essentialsaltes said:

Sportswear boss offers his £3billion firm to anyone who can prove Earth is flat​

In a video posted on Columbia Sportswear’s YouTube channel on Tuesday (December 2), the boss, dressed in a casual navy quarter-zip and red and white checked shirt, challenged conspiracy theorists to prove him wrong


But by about 300 BCE, educated scholars overwhelmingly accepted that the Earth is a sphere

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They was all part of a Satanical conspiracy.

Many recognize Dec. 7, 1941 as the date the Empire of Japan attacked the US. And we, quite rightly, remember that date. But there is another date coming up, that represents events equally or more horrible.

On December 13, 1937, the Japanese invaded the city of Nanking. The defending forces scattered, and General Iwane Matsui in command of the Japanese Central China Area Army entered the city. The course of that army was marked by appalling atrocities, including killing contests and the massacre of whole villages. When they entered the city, it got worse. For example -

...the Nanqiantou hamlet near Wuxi was set on fire, with many of its inhabitants locked within the burning houses. Two women, one a 17-year-old girl and the other pregnant, were raped repeatedly until they could not walk. Afterwards, the soldiers rammed a broom into the teenager's vagina and stabbed her with a bayonet, then "cut open the belly of the pregnant woman and gouged out the fetus". A crying two-year-old boy was wrestled from his mother's arms and thrown into the flames, while the hysterically sobbing mother was bayoneted and thrown into a creek. The remaining thirty villagers were bayoneted, disemboweled, and also thrown into the creek.

Prince Yasuhiko Asaka was installed as temporary commander in the campaign. He issued an order - "kill all prisoners".

Estimates of the number slaughtered range from the most common of 100,000 to 200,000. And then there were the rapes. Tens of thousands of them.

Japanese soldier Takokoro Kozo recalled:

Women suffered most. No matter how young or old, they all could not escape the fate of being raped. We sent out coal trucks to the city streets and villages to seize a lot of women. And then each of them was allocated to fifteen to twenty soldiers for sexual intercourse and abuse. After raping we would also kill them.[86]

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The women were often killed immediately after being raped, often through explicit mutilation,[87] such as by penetrating vaginas with bayonets, long sticks of bamboo, or other objects. For example, a six-months pregnant woman was stabbed sixteen times in the face and body, one stab piercing and killing her unborn child. A young woman had a beer bottle rammed up her vagina after being raped, and was then shot.

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Pearl Harbor was bad enough, but at least it was a military target. Nanking wasn't war. It was demonic.

There were other casualties. Minnie Vautrin was a missionary in Nanking, who tried desperately to save as many as she could, sheltering them in the school she headed. She saved many, but she could do nothing for the others. In 1941, she was able to return to the US after 28 years of missionary service in China. But, haunted by the memories of those she could not save, she took her own life.

Over the entrance to Dachau it says, "Forgive, but never forget". On December 13, let's forgive. But we must never forget.

Regards,
Shodan

Valletta said:

“The evil of human trafficking cannot be overstated. It’s modern-day slavery. By leaving our borders open and even encouraging people to come here illegally, Biden enabled the largest human-trafficking operation in modern history,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said after a rescue operation this past July.

NEW: Immigration Agents Have Rescued More Than 60,000 Children From Human Smugglers

Federal immigration agents under the Trump Administration have rescued more than 62,000 migrant children from situations involving sex trafficking and forced labor, White House border czar Tom Homan announced Sunday. “Over half a million children were smuggled into this country under Joe Biden,”...

trendingpoliticsnews.com

May God bless continued efforts to rescue victims of human trafficking.

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Here’s what was actually said about the 62,000 children by Tom Holman. “SOME OF THEM were in sex trafficking, SOME were in forced labor”.

Login to view embedded media
So after hearing it from Tom Holman himself, would you agree that the article you posted in the OP is incorrect?

A2SG said:

Well, that is certainly new.

-- A2SG, maybe it will start a new trend....

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His "base" would never stand for that.

Thank you for your service.

Around 2,000 Christians from across India gathered in New Delhi to protest rising, sustained and systematic violence against the religious minority community. Speakers at the gathering called attention to a 500% rise in reported violence since 2014, and largely with impunity.

Representing over 200 denominations, civil society groups and legal advocates, the Christians rallied under the banner of the National Christian Convention on Nov. 29, affirming their faith in the Indian Constitution, and calling for unity, justice and hope.

From 139 reported cases of violence against Christians in 2014, the number rose to 834 in 2024, with nearly 5,000 incidents documented over the past decade, according to the United Christian Forum, one of the organizers of the convention.

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Bob S said:

And when a change in the priesthood happens there are changes in the law.
Hebrews 7:12
For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the l

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Yes, Bob. One of the most deceiving tactics used by deceivers, "Who come in Christ's name", is to quote some of God's Word to promote a philosophy or doctrine that would not stand if more of God's Word is considered. I have observed for many years, the promoters of this world's religions use "some" scripture, but omits the weightier parts because to include them would actually expose their religion as wrought in man, and not God. One of the more egregious examples of this evil tactic is concerning Hebrews 7:11. where the Spirit of Christ in the Hebrews author details for us the truth about the Old Priesthood covenant, and the New.

Heb. 7: 11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) "what further need was there" that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called "after the order of Aaron"?

In the Old Priesthood, a person received God's Laws and forgiveness of transgression of God's Laws through the Levitical Priesthood, that Abraham wasn't under because it wasn't ADDED until 430 years after him. But this was only a temporary Priesthood Covenant with corruptible Priests and animal sacrifices given them on Mt. Sinai that was Prophesied to change.

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

The deceiver stops right here, and says, "See, we don't have to submit to God's Laws we don't like". Refusing to show others what is specifically spelled out in the very next 7 verses, which shows perfectly, in great detail, exactly what Law changed, out of necessity, and the reason why it was changed. This exact same evil tactic was used by the very first deceiver, "who professed to know God" in the beginning with Eve.

Gen. 3: 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat "of every tree of the garden"?

And sure enough, when I go back and read God's Word for myself, I find:

Gen. 2: 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden "thou mayest freely eat":

So the deceiver preaches, "By God's Own Words", "See. God Commanded the man to eat of "EVERY Tree" in the garden".

And a man can be deceived by this, unless they follow Jesus instruction and consider Every Word inspired by God.

You don't have to fall for this tactic Bob. Read what Law changed in the New Priesthood Covenant. Set yourself free from the deception promoted by the "course of this world".

Bob S said:

Is that something new? That is what I was taught and as far as I know most of Christianity believes that, so where is the lie you say we are living under?

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The "LIE" is the popular deceitful practice of quoting only "Some" of God's Word for the purpose of defending and promoting a falsehood. In this case, that a man can reject any Law of God they don't like, and live after the imagination of their own hearts, and they "Shall surely not die". The Spirit of the Christ, "of the Bible" warns us of this in Jeremiah 23.

16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one "that walketh after the imagination of his own heart", No evil shall come upon you.

Bob S said:

The "old Priesthood Law" you are referring is was the Sinai Covenant.

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To make this statement true, it should read "The "old Priesthood Law" you are referring is was the LAW that was ADDED "Because of Transgressions" on Sinai Covenant. And it is the Covenant that changed. As the Scriptures just laid out for you.

Bob S said:

No, it was the Law that was the schoolmaster not some priesthood as you have implied. Be careful what you are trying to teach.

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All men have sinned, and are in need of salvation. The Levitical Priesthood sacrifices for sin, was to lead men to the Prophesied Christ, without whom there is no forgiveness.

I will ask you another question and see if you will answer. Were Zacharias, Simeon and Anna, (Luke 1&2) led to Christ for their salvation before HE was even born? Was David not led to this same Christ?

This temporary Law was designed in the very beginning, to foreshadow Christ's saving Life (Blood), and put in place, "Till the Seed Should come".

You don't know this Bob, because you are taught by the religions of this world.

Bob S said:

What does all you have written have to do with where we stand today?

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You are promoting a philosophy that God, His Son Jesus, and the Apostles God gave to His Son, all promote a religion where men are free to just reject any of God's Laws they don't like, and as long as they offer to God the Blood of a perfect innocent being, as per God's Law even to this day, they are justified.

The Pharisees religion was exactly the same. They full well rejected God's Commandments that they might live by their own religious traditions. They rejected God's judgments and definition of Holy and Righteousness, and went about establishing their own. And yet every week they would offer the blood of an innocent life, as per the Law, to justify their sins. There is no flesh justified by "works of the Law".

Bob S said:

Today we are under the New and Better Covenant Jesus ordained at Calvary, What the priesthood did or didn't do has nothing to do how we can come directly before Jesus and get remission for breaking His Law of Love, the command He gave all mankind to live by.

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That sounds all churchy and all. But according to what is written, mankind's love and God's Love are two different things. Just as mankind's definition of Holy is different than God's definition of Holy. All I advocate for is submitting to God in search of HIS Righteousness, not submitting to this world's religions who have gone about establishing their own.

But none of this matter unless a man has a repentant, AKA, "Circumcised" heart.

CoreyD said:

When I read the Bible, what I see is that none of the wars God waged had anything to do with the soldiers. ‘Not by valiant troops, nor by might, but in my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6

In fact, God didn't even want them to think it was due to their mightiness that they won, because God was the one fighting for them. Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Judges 7:2

These righteous wars were either God's judgment on wicked people, or his delivering his people from their enemies... his enemies.

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You remember that time when God chose 300 of the Israelites?

CoreyD said:

So, what wars are you fighting?

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Like I said, Reformation era or the Sack of Constantinople (First Crusade/Calling of the Varangians) would be fun. Given the right historical sources.

Edit: the right historical sources:

CoreyD said:

That is a question I would ask myself if I were playing FPS games.
In fact, when I was playing a turn based strategy game, shooting and killing aliens, and my brother was playing a FPS, hearing the gunfire, the slashing of flesh, the screams and groan, caused me to ask myself, 'What's the difference between what he is playing, and what I am playing"'
The only difference was third person, as opposed to firs person.

I stopped playing. Why?
I asked myself two questions:

1. How does God feel about these games, and would I feel comfortable if Jesus came to my house and saw me playing these games?
   
   I did not have to guess at the answer. It was right there in Psalm 11:5 The LORD examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence.
   
   
2. Paul wrote at Romans 2:21-24 21 you, therefore, who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who [a]preach that one is not to steal, do you steal? 22 You who say that one is not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast [b]in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.
   
   So, how can I be witnessing to people about what the Bible tells us about God, and at the same time not doing what it says? That's hypocritical.

That did it for me. I did not try to rationalize playing the games.
I know it's hard letting go pf the things in Satan's world. After all, he is a skillful bird catcher, and knows what the bird will enjoy nibbling on.
However, as I was saying in the other thread, it's really commendable that persons really make the effort to gibe up things they cherish, just to please God.

You sure you don't want to make a game instead?
Adventure games are fun.

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I’m probably sick, but Soldier of Fortune: Payback is my favourite game right now.

That being said, I think a medieval FPS game has a lot of potential for adventure, history and a lot more.

The Liturgist said:

You must be confusing me with someone else, I never said Chatgpt was the authority, God's Word is and always will be.

I never said you did. You have however posted the output of an AI as an appeal to authority, in this thread:

AI understands the Sabbath and Col 2:16

Great question — Colossians 2:16 is often cited in discussions about whether Christians are still required to keep the Sabbath commandment (the Fourth Commandment). Let's look at the verse carefully, in its full context, and then assess whether it refers to the weekly Sabbath from the Ten...

www.christianforums.com

Indeed, you specifically made this argument, when I pointed out the problems of using AI in this manner:



Asking AI to enumerate denominations by sized based on subjective categories, including the category of “denomination” which is itself subjective, is exactly the kind of question I was trying to warn you about. And in this case, it generated an answer you disagree with, by classifying your denomination as non-Sola Scriptura when you clearly believe that it is Sola Scriptura. This is my point. AI is not an oracle that can be used.

If you want to make a point, cite books, articles and research papers, not the output of an AI. The AI can help you find those materials, but what it says is sufficiently random and hallucination-prone to make it the literal epitome of an unqualified authority in the Appeal to Authority fallacy.

Indeed I would argue asking AI a question and then relying on the answer without verification is only about 50% more reliable than attempting to use systems of divination, for example, the I Ching. Indeed AI could be used for purposes of divination, which is of course forbidden in Scripture.

And I say this as someone who professionally develops AI-based applications. AI is reliable for pattern matching - that’s it, and even then its output should be human-verified as a sanity check due to the risk of malfunctions such as hallucination, sycophancy, biased training data and non-deterministic replies.

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Please stop trying to make me add words that I never said. I never said AI was the authority or even appealed to its authority, I said AI came up with what I have been studying from the Bible for years. I can post my own Bible study that I have personally studied on Col 2:14-17 before I even heard of AI that I posted on this site a long time ago. Never once did I say AI is the authority or spoke of its authority over the word of God. I have said the opposite on several occasions, which you seemed to conveniently not quote. So best not to add words to someone who never said them.

SabbathBlessings said:
Its clearly written in our Bible

Confession lines reveal both our impatience and our devotion — and whether our faith runs so deep that even our faults take place within it.

You’d think Catholics would be on their best behavior waiting to go to confession, but they aren’t always. Our pastor missed confessions before the Mass one Wednesday night and stayed to hear confessions afterwards.

Someone was already in the confessional when I arrived. I was second in line, up the center aisle, nearest the door for anonymous confessions. The door for face-to-face confessions was next to the outside aisle.

I’m Next​

The line was much longer than usual, a benefit of the priest changing the schedule. As soon as a woman came out of the anonymous door, another woman dodged into the face-to-face door from the outside aisle. Another was standing there as if in line. The woman in front of me said to her, peevishly, “I’m next.”

The woman said, pugnaciously, “We always go back and forth,” waving her arm between our line and hers. I had gone to confession there many times at that point, 50 or more over about 15 years, on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings, and never, ever, never had there been a second line along the outside aisle. People lined up in the center aisle and then chose the door they wanted. The woman was inventing a custom that got her a few people ahead.

Continued below.

An excerpt from ‘Family Faith Under Fire’ by Dr. Ray Guarendi

This selection appears courtesy of EWTN Publishing. The full book is available here.



Dear Dr. Ray,

My sister has little to do anymore with the Catholic Faith, in which we were both raised. When the subject comes up, she says, “I’m spiritual, not religious.” What do I say?

—The Religious Sister



Some declarations spread because they soothe the human psyche on many levels.

• They sound smart. The words alone seem to offer both a pithy and a profound insight.
• They sound superior. They profess a “more genuine, enlightened” way to be.
• They sound self-evident, beyond dispute. They need no scrutiny as to how much sense they truly make.

At their core, such declarations are platitudes — superficial but with little substance. They are verbal viruses that multiply rapidly through the cultural body because they suit the self.

People in counseling often introduce themselves with traits. “I’m a passive person.” “My spouse is aggressive.” “My child is stubborn.” To move therapy forward, I must put specifics to the generic. “What exactly do you mean by ‘passive’? Give me some day-to-day examples.” “What, in particular, makes you think your child is stubborn?” In other words, I pursue the what, where, and how of the descriptions. Only then can I get a better picture of the why.

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Lauren Moore — whose beautiful voice accompanied the National Eucharistic Congress and who was struck with a debilitating syndrome in early 2025 — now graces the stage once again.

“I now sing from a new place of hope.” ~ Lauren Moore

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“He wants our hearts more than he wants to use us.” ~ David Moore

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Back in April, after being struck with the debilitating condition of Guillain-Barré syndrome, which had left her partly immobilized and with intense nerve pain, Lauren Moore prayed for an Easter miracle: simply to attend Mass in person and receive Jesus without assistance.

Seven months later, on Nov. 4, in her home city of Dallas, Lauren walked gracefully onto the stage of the Meyerson Symphony Center, decked out in a glittering, rose-colored evening gown, her beautiful voice, once threatened, golden and soaring once again.

Lauren, who, with her husband David had helped lead thousands of Catholics in song as a cantor during the National Eucharistic Revival (NEC) in Indianapolis in 2024, had reached a height of her singing career that summer, only to be taken out by the condition just months later, following a bout of flu, as reported in the Register last spring.

Continued below.

Her intense and joyful waiting for her Son to enter the world is a model for all...

We cannot celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas without Mary. Nor can we observe Advent without the Blessed Mother.

“Among creatures, no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother,” wrote St. John Paul II in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (The Most Holy Rosary).

During Advent, then, as we get ready to welcome Jesus at Christmas, we also must joyfully take the time to celebrate and prepare with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her intense and joyful waiting for her Son to enter the world is a model for all who want the fullness of Christ’s presence in their lives, as reflected in a quote often attributed to St. Teresa of Calcutta, “No Mary, no Jesus.”

These Advent days are marked by Marian devotion.

The Directory of Popular Piety notes that, during Advent and Christmas, the liturgy frequently celebrates the Blessed Mother, and popular piety devotes many pious practices to her.

Continued below.

Great Books and the Humanities Prompt Us to ‘Look Up’ With Wonder

Editor’s Note: This story is part of literary special content. Find related stories here.



I was led to the Catholic Church during my undergraduate years, when I was a student in the famed Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas (KU). The program was a four-semester “Great Books” program for freshmen and sophomores and flourished during the 1970s and 1980s.

It was somewhat modeled after the “Great Books” programs at St. John’s University in Annapolis, Maryland, and the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. But it was different in that it was an “integrated” program where the students not only read the classics of Western civilization, from Homer’s Odyssey to Francis Parkman’s The Oregon Trail, but also memorized poetry, wrote calligraphy, went stargazing and learned to waltz.

It was an attempt to get the students to “look up” and gaze at the world with fresh eyes; to try and see truth, goodness and beauty in all things.

Continued below.