First Entry in a Decade

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I just discovered that I've had a blog for the last ten years, a blog that began in 2002, and for which I managed to write a total of 26 words (see below). I think I will try and improve on that during the next decade. To be honest, I forgot about the blog after its first, rather terse and procrastinating entry. Even then it was incomplete.

Now it was a traditional Jesuit habit -- oh yes, I became a member of the Society of Jesus since I last wrote -- to write something every day, even if it is only for 10 minutes. I can't be sure that I will write every day, but I hereby commit to posting items that I think merit public sharing. I hope these are found to be fruitful. Was WYD Toronto really 10 years ago?


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Ten Secular Songs with Religious Themes

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While preparing songs for our retreats and coffee house ministries this summer, I have come across many by secular artists -- that is, musicians who don't self-categorize as belonging to genres of religious music -- which were nonetheless powerfully spiritual. This is my top ten list from past and present.
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Albert Borgmann The German-American philosopher Albert Borgmann is professor at the University of Montana and author of several books on the effects of electronic media on the human person. He rejects both technological determinism -- the view that technology is a irresistible force that forces our hand as we shape our culture, and technological instrumentalism, which sees technology as a mere collective of neutral processes and structures that can be used either well or badly. Like Marshall McLuhan, Borgmann is aware that the medium “is” the message, highly transformative in and of itself, and requires critical analysis and understanding. For example, he writes: Using or not using the interstate highway system is not a matter of choice anymore for most of us, and neither are the moral consequences of long commutes and the neglect of family, neighborhood, and inner city. When we finally come home, late and exhausted, greeted by a well-stocked refrigerator, a preternaturally effi
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