Our Lady and the Way of Beauty

On this Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, I offer you a couple of items having to do with faith, art and culture. The first is a recent reflection from Pope Benedict on Our Lady and the "Way of Beauty." Here's a preview:


"Theological and spiritual reflection, liturgy, Marian devotion, and artistic representation truly form a whole, a complete and effective message, capable of arousing the wonder of eyes, of touching the heart and of enticing the intelligence to a more profound understanding of the mystery of Mary in which we see our destiny reflected clearly and our hope proclaimed."


The second is a link to the video of my talk, "Sucking the Life from Our Children: Hollywood and the Romance of the Living Dead," presented at the annual Fall conference of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture back in November.

I am taking a brief hiatus from High Concepts, but will be back the week of January 11.