Tag: Virtue
How can curiosity be a bad thing?
Q. I have heard that curiosity can be considered a vice. That doesn’t make any sense to me. The advances of science, technology, and social reforms wouldn’t have happened if people had suppressed their natural desire to venture into the unknown and ask questions that challenged the status quo. It seems more like an intimidation tactic on the part of institutions.
Children’s devotional teaches, encourages virtues
Susanna Spencer, writer and theological editor of Blessed is She, an Arizona-based, international Catholic women’s ministry, recently published through that ministry, “Rise Up: Shining with Virtue,” a children’s devotional book with multiple authors. The book is available at blessedisshe.net/product/rise-up-virtues-devotional-for-kids. A member of St. Agnes in St. Paul with her husband, Mark, and their four children ages 10, 8, 6, and 4, Spencer shared with The Catholic Spirit the reasons she compiled the book and details about what it contains:
UST psychology professor helps others grow in virtue
More than 100 quotes typewritten on yellow sheets of paper are taped to the walls of John Buri’s cramped basement office at the University of St. Thomas.
They contain a wealth of information that has guided him over decades as a psychology professor at the St. Paul school. One of the quotes stands out. It is from the New Testament. It is the only one made into a plaque, done so as a gift from a group of longtime friends who know how ardently and passionately he works to encourage others in their spiritual lives.
Watching, waiting and wonder: the virtue of patience
When I was a pastor of a large suburban parish outside Detroit, I preached one Advent Sunday on the Advent virtue of courage as exemplified by the life of St. John the Baptist. I encouraged my parishioners to be fearless in speaking about their faith before others and not to be afraid of defending the truths of their Catholic faith. After Mass, a mother came up to me to thank me for the homily but added, “Father, next week could you preach on the virtue of patience? That’s the virtue I really need!”
Hope in things unseen
We need God’s help, but spiritual talk is unfashionable. The idea that God is active in our lives is equally unfashionable. And yet if he is not, there is nothing to hope for.
Higher education and ‘breaking good’
“Breaking Bad” is a television series on AMC about a high school chemistry teacher who becomes a drug kingpin. It has quickly become a favorite of mine. Educator Walter White puts his chemistry skills to work in his own meth lab after he learns he has advanced-stage lung cancer and just two years to live. His teaching job, he reasons, will not provide nearly enough for his pregnant wife and his son, who has cerebral palsy.
Church has right, duty to offer witness in public square
The Church must be free to fulfill its mission without sacrificing its fundamental teachings or moral principles
Reputation, the Hall of Fame and real character
Not one baseball player was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. It was a shutout, only the second one in 40 years.
Document offers reflection for business leaders
‘Vocation of the Business Leader’ is designed for people trying to integrate their faith in their work
School of virtue teaches kids to be good parents
A couple of years ago, the Journal of Experimental Psychology published a study of Canadian air traffic controllers that compared the performance of older and younger workers. Predictably, it found that the older ones had slower reaction times, poorer memories and diminished perceptual and motor skills.
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