Writer and cultural commentator Christopher Hitchens died today from complications related to esophageal cancer. We've assembled a handful of archived videos of Father Barron commenting on his work and illness for your reference. Please pray with us for Christopher Hitchens and his family.
Charles Lewis, Editor for the
Holy Post religion blog, part of Canada's
National Post,
interviewed Father Barron recently regarding the public response to his article on CNN that encouraged Christians to "pray for" Christopher Hitchens. He also discussed the
Catholicism series, for which the team is currently on a filming excursion in Florence and Ireland.
Click
here to visit
Holy Post, or read more on the Word on Fire Blog.
In addition, Father Barron is a contributor for a new media event at
www.Patheos.com entitled, "
The Future of Catholicism." Starting today, the website will feature a week's lineup of Catholic contributors weighing in on the Church's "internal vitality and its public position in society and the world." Be sure to read
Father Barron's contribution this week, and weigh in with your thoughts on all of the articles.
CNN's Belief Blog featured Father Barron's commentary on the new autobiography and the recent diagnosis of Atheist writer, Christopher Hitchens. Read more below.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Christopher Hitchens. He is a British writer and cultural commentator who lives and works in Washington, D.C. For decades now, he has been observing the political/societal scene and writing about it in a particularly insightful, witty, and acerbic manner.
Early in his career, he was something of a Trotskyite, but in the years following September 11th, he emerged as a strong advocate of the Iraq war and, much to the chagrin of his colleagues on the left, a supporter of George W. Bush. He is best known, certainly, for his recent contributions as a critic of religion. His book God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything appeared a couple of years ago and proved to be a bestseller...
“Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.”
My favorite movie is You’ve Got Mail. In it, Kathleen Kelly, owner of a small children’s book shop, quips the wisdom above when Joe Fox, operator of the mega-store that puts her shop under, tries to excuse himself with the line, “It wasn’t personal, it was business.”
In my work at Word on Fire, I am surrounded by great theological and philosophical thinkers who face the issues of the secularization and morally relativization of society, citing the most intellectual minds of the Church to demonstrate the smart, beautiful, and rich tradition of Catholicism and its place in our culture, quoting Aquinas and von Balthasar in response to Nietzsche and Sartre, drawing out eternal truths and perennial heresies from the recurring societal milieus. And, my favorite movie is You’ve Got Mail. However, recently this seemingly unimportant line from my unassuming, late-90’s chick-flick favorite again rang true: “Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal."
Last Wednesday evening, I attended a debate at my alma mater, Notre Dame, in which atheist mogul Christopher Hitchens took on public policy expert and Christian apologist Dinesh D’Souza in a dual entitled, “The God Debate: Is Religion the Problem?” ...