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Jon M. Sweeney
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Jon M. Sweeney

@jonmsweeney

Author The Complete Francis of Assisi, The Pope Who Quit…etc. Coming Dec. 1: A Year with the Classics. Vermonter. Catholic married to a rabbi.

  • Middlebury, VT
  • Joined
1.8K Following9.3K Followers34.1K Posts
  1. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    St. Benedict’s Rule instructed young monks to read “in a low voice” while doing their reading in order to build memory stores. Until the modern era, spiritual reading meant speaking the words aloud. I talk about this and many other things in my book that publishes December 1.
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  2. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @gerryorome: Pope greets activists supporting migrants at Chicago’s ICE detention center - Vatican News
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  3. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @jzipple: A bishop w a $50 million media company, White House access & freedom to fly when/wherever he pleases lectures a bishop in a Muslim-majority country. One speaks from a position of power; the other shepherds a vulnerable flock that must live with the consequences. Bravado is cheap.
    Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron
    Well, another Cardinal has come out with a, shall we say, puzzling take on evangelization. A few years ago, Cardinal Américo Aguiar, at the time auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, said that he and the other organizers of World Youth Day in his hometown had no interest in converting anyone to Christ. Now Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco of Algeria has opined that “the Church is not there to convert” and “Christians should approach other religions through fraternity rather than seeking conversions.” Excuse me, but…what? Last time I checked, the Founder said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Sure sounds like conversion to me. When St. Paul came to Corinth or Athens or Thessalonica, his purpose was not to listen or to form a discussion group but rather to declare an unnerving message: the euangelion (glad tidings) that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. So impassioned is he for this work that he says, “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:22); and “If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16)! Moreover, the entire thrust of the Second Vatican Council was toward bringing the Light of Christ to the peoples of the world (Lumen Gentium). And this missionary élan has given rise in the last few decades to the idea of a “new evangelization,” which is to say, a fresh declaration of the Lordship of Christ. Quite obviously, no one thinks that this work of evangelization should be done in a brow-beating, overbearing, or disrespectful manner (proselytization), but for God’s sake, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. If I really thought that the Church does not exist to bring people to Christ, then I would resign and get an honest job.
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  4. Bishop Robert Barron✓@BishopBarron
    Well, another Cardinal has come out with a, shall we say, puzzling take on evangelization. A few years ago, Cardinal Américo Aguiar, at the time auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, said that he and the other organizers of World Youth Day in his hometown had no interest in converting anyone to Christ. Now Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco of Algeria has opined that “the Church is not there to convert” and “Christians should approach other religions through fraternity rather than seeking conversions.” Excuse me, but…what? Last time I checked, the Founder said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Sure sounds like conversion to me. When St. Paul came to Corinth or Athens or Thessalonica, his purpose was not to listen or to form a discussion group but rather to declare an unnerving message: the euangelion (glad tidings) that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. So impassioned is he for this work that he says, “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:22); and “If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16)! Moreover, the entire thrust of the Second Vatican Council was toward bringing the Light of Christ to the peoples of the world (Lumen Gentium). And this missionary élan has given rise in the last few decades to the idea of a “new evangelization,” which is to say, a fresh declaration of the Lordship of Christ. Quite obviously, no one thinks that this work of evangelization should be done in a brow-beating, overbearing, or disrespectful manner (proselytization), but for God’s sake, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. If I really thought that the Church does not exist to bring people to Christ, then I would resign and get an honest job.
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  5. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @MarioIAguilar: Nine months to retirement, requests from global students for PhD supervision daily. Mainly on Christian-Hindu dialogue. Bright candidates make me realise how they have appreciated my writings. More to come. Toiling through volume 2 of essays on Christian-Hindu dialogue.
    0207
  7. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @SenSanders: Since Trump’s election: -Musk got $617 billion richer -Bezos got $144 billion richer -Page got $127 billion richer -Dell got $123 billion richer -Brin got $116 billion richer How are you doing? Let’s stop oligarchy. We must create an economy that works for all.
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  8. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @FocolareMedia: Have you had a chance to watch our latest Living City Conversation, “What Catholic Social Teaching Is All About”? We are grateful to our guests Paul Pynkoski and Amy Uelmen for sharing their experiences on how CST can shape our lives and communities.
    0107
  9. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @paddygilgersj: Baseball is awesome.
    FOX Sports: MLB @MLBONFOX
    William Contreras vs Yandy Díaz stare contest during ABS challenge
    0207
  10. FOX Sports: MLB✓@MLBONFOX
    William Contreras vs Yandy Díaz stare contest during ABS challenge
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  11. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Me in the morning. Drives my wife crazy.
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  12. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @friarsguadalupe: EN: Five Spanish Franciscan missionaries will be beatified on Oct. 31 in Savannah. Their witness inspires faith and peace. ES: Cinco misioneros franciscanos españoles serán beatificados el 31 de Octubre en Savannah. Su testimonio inspira fe y paz.
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  13. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @MostlyPrint: Born #OTD in 1903, Evelyn Waugh (died 1966). Extraordinary man of letters and perceptive satirist and writer. A great favourite (hence three copies): The Loved One, an Anglo-American Tragedy. US 1st 1948, Penguin 1st 1950 and the film tie-in with Robert Morley.
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  15. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Join us tonight on Zoom: What Catholic Social Teaching Is All About
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  16. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    For many years now, one of my spiritual practices has been to say "yes" when asked to do something. For whatever reasons, my default is usually "no." So- Yes.
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  17. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Important for these days. From “Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness and Light”
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  18. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    A religion without mystics is a philosophy. -Pope Francis
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  19. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @RichRaho: Milwaukee’s Archbishop Grob: “I feel a heavy sadness, not only over the pain I caused, but also for the fact that something so sacred to a group of religious leaders, prayer to our Heavenly Father, would be manipulated in that way. We came in good faith to try to work for the betterment of our fellow human beings, to ease their suffering, to build up the common good, and to pray with a president, not to pose for a political photo opportunity to benefit the few. We should never have been put in that position by the White House. I did not go without reservations. I wish I had heeded them. Please know that I have heard these concerns, understand how I caused them, and I apologize for any damage my actions have done.”
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  20. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Browsing my shelves. Graham Greene’s 2nd novel, just 2000 copies printed, and then never reprinted by author demand.
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  21. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    A tough day. Just hugging a potato, you know, like you do.
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  22. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    I write, and then I edit it into writing, if you know what I mean. -Robert Gottlieb
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  23. Jon M. Sweeney@jonmsweeney
    Jon M. Sweeney
    RT @TomDEvelyn: I got to know the great blue heron when I lived in Portsmouth a block from the Piscataqua River. Sam HAMILL got it right but he left out one thing: that single-note raucous time-splitting “call.” I was called by the religious frame of his eclogue—it IS, strictly, the Dark One.
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