Author Archives: Gil Bailie

Some Thoughts to Ponder…

Posted on March 23, 2019 by Gil Bailie

Before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger summarized something written by the French mystic and Jewish writer Simone Weil… “People recognize the good only when they themselves do it. They recognize the evil only when they do not do … Continue reading →

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The Role of the Laity

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Gil Bailie

Gil Bailie recently gave a presentation at the Convocation of the College of Fellows of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley. Following are some excerpts: My remarks take their point of departure and borrow their resolve from … Continue reading →

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From Anthropology to Social Theory

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Gil Bailie

In the introduction to their “From Anthropology to Social Theory,” Arpad Szakolczai and Bjørn Thomassen remark on the entries found in the 2017 Sociology Catalogue: “What [the catalogue] offers as social theory in 2017 is clearly a representative collection. It … Continue reading →

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Keep the Faith

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Gil Bailie

Here is something Joseph Ratzinger told an interviewer in 1996, before he became pope: “ . . . the church lives not only synchronically but diachronically, as well. This means that it is always all—even the dead—who live and are … Continue reading →

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Looking ahead . . .

Posted on January 10, 2019 by Gil Bailie

In the preface to his translation of Thomas à Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ, William C. Creasy sketched the historical circumstances in which the book was written: “When Thomas wrote The Imitation, he saw a world in deep conflict, a … Continue reading →

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The Catholic meaning of the church

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Gil Bailie

    In an interview in 1985, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – the future Pope Benedict XVI – to his interviewer:   “My impression is that the authentically Catholic meaning of the reality ‘church’ is tacitly disappearing, without being expressly rejected. … Continue reading →

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The Public Atmospherics of Health

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Gil Bailie

Here is a very timely message from the pen of Hans Urs von Balthasar, written decades before the current crisis in the Catholic Church: “The bold venture of speaking openly concerns everything that must urgently be said in Church and … Continue reading →

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Spiritual Adventure

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Gil Bailie

    I am no George Bernanos, but what the French novelist said about the condition of a Christian writer conforms to my own experience:   “If the good Lord really wants you to bear witness, you must expect to … Continue reading →

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Feeding the gods

Posted on July 24, 2018 by Gil Bailie

One of the great values of what John Paul II called the Splendor of Truth is that it shatters even the most impervious ideological barriers erected to hide it. A recent archeological find in Mexico City detailed in Science magazine … Continue reading →

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The Cost (and Benefit) of Discipleship

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Gil Bailie

“It is precisely the hard truths of our faith, those which the culture ignores and even despises, that have the greatest power to move people to conversion and be transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, only this has … Continue reading →

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