My Point of View

Joseph Fromm, at his encouragingly entitled blog, “Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit” (I, his recent post seems to imply, am one of the latter), says of me, “People read his blog and can get confused to his point of view.” Well, many of you have been reading my blog much longer than Joseph, are you confused? He cites as evidence that among the top links on my blog are ones he deems incompatible—DotCommonweal (for which many of my friends write, and on which I frequently comment) and A Little Battalion (for which, along with several friends, I am one of the contributors). Maybe he'd think it confusing that I have friends in both places, too. But they're good ones, and I'm afraid I'm not giving them up just to avoid the possibility that some might be confused. ( Just to add to the confusion, I’ve added a few more links to that top links section).

You see, I’ll admit to having a bias against swimming in one “theological stream,” as he put it, because, frankly, Catholicism does not and never has had only one theological stream. Jesus somehow finds a way to speak to us in all streams, and if we only go looking in one, we’re only going to get part of the message. That’s my point of view, anyway. Indeed, I think there is ample evidence to show these days that people who swim only in one stream—and I don’t point to any particular one—often seem to miss out on the part of Christ’s message which has to do with charity. So, part of my point of view (if it can be said to be a point of view, it’s probably more of a mission) is to point that out, and when I do the response is sometimes far from charitable—yes, bad, bad Jesuit.

So, how, in general, can I characterize my point of view, so as to be less confusing? I know! Let’s just say my point of view is a Catholic point of view. It may not be your Catholic point of view. It may not be what you consider to be the Catholic point of view. But it’s a Catholic point of view from the perspective of one who dares to read Commonweal, First Things and America, and who sees no inconsistency in encouraging others to do the same.

So, I hope you're not confused. But I also hope that you're not so familiar with my point of view that you're bored. And I especially hope, whether or not you think you have me figured out, that I still have the capacity to surprise you once in a while! And, for that matter, I hope Jesus does too!

Note: The above referenced post seems to have disappeared.