At home working on projects

September 16, 2009

Peace and Good,

I have been home all this past week working on various writing projects. One of them is a 1,000 submission to the Word Among Us for a book they are bringing out on the priesthood to commemorate the Year of the Priest (which is going on this year).

The other is a long term writing/translating project I am working on for my publisher. This is the kind of project that you must be meticulous and keep plugging away at (for it is a multi-year project). I tend to be a disciplined writing, setting a minimum quota for myself each day to get these kinds of projects done.

I finished two books/documents.

The first is a book by Orhan Pamuk. He is Turkish and is a Noble Prize winner for literature. His style is intriguing. This particular book, My Name is Red, is a murder mystery set in late 16th century Istambul. He is able to bring you right into the culture. The only problem with this book was its length. It is about 500 pages long, and I find that I reach a point where I just want it to end (even though I considered it to be a very good book).

The other thing I finished by Pope Benedict's encyclical Charity and Truth. It was written to commemorate the anniversary of Pope Paul's VI's encyclical Progressio Populorum, an encyclical on social justice. I didn't find it an easy read, but it is filled with valuable insights. He worries about whether we will rely only on reason or only on sentiment when we deal with economic realities. His writing is a tremendous challenge to our American system which can lean toward a brutal capitilism if we are not careful. Yet, he doesn't neglect calling people into the third world to task for their reliance upon corrupt politics and war. He speaks about the need to strengthen international organizations, reminding those who might slip into a myopic nationalism that we are part of a world which God created and for which we have a responsibility. He attacks the culture of death and greed which is so prevalent in our world. He warns of an overdependence on technology which does not give due warrant to the rights of the individual person. Most of all, he reminds us that none of this can be done well if God is not part of the equation. It is well worth reading.

I am heading to San Diego this coming Friday for a few weeks.

God bless and
Shalom
fr. Jude