The Narthex
Metal Theft & Moral Rust
Parts of U.S. cities are going dark because thieves are stealing copper wire from lamps
By John M. Grondelski | July 30th 2024 12:30 PMDescribing the “den of infamous resort” where Old Joe, Mrs. Dilber, and others haggled over things pilfered from the possessions of Ebenezer Scrooge, Charles Dickens called that “beetling shop” a place where “iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and greasy offal were bought. Upon the floor within were piled up heaps…
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Why do we no longer use the word 'murder'?
By John M. Grondelski | May 29th 2024 8:32 PMIn the old Catholic catechism, four sins were identified as “crying to heaven for vengeance” – murder, sodomy, defrauding workers of their wages, and oppression of the widow and orphan. Outrage, rightly understood, is a moral thing. To be outraged at injustice, especially when it is tolerated or even pronounced…
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