Purpose

Welcome to my new blog. I was thinking the other day on how much time is wasted in frivolous communication over the internet. Better to see a man in the flesh, no matter how much of a bore he may be, than to be constantly flooded with pictures from his latest vacation or party. The internet, it seems to me, can never authentically transmitt the personal demension of our existence. To live under the illusion that one can communicate his person through this medium is nothing short of a new Manicheanism - a radical detachment of body and spirit. I want to see the expression on your face, the nervous twitching of your body, the change in the tone of your voice when you: invite me to an event, speak of your likes and dislikes, quote profound authors or, God forbid, reveal something deeply personal about yourself.With that said, I think that the internet has the potential to be a medium for sound argumentation and disputatio. It's potential for this lies precisely in the fact that it is impersonal. Arguments may stand or fall, not on the basis of who writes them, but on their soundness. This is not an overly optimistic evaluation of what is out there. Blogging is frequently used by wannabes and crackpots in order to attack and air opinions that would otherwise be dismissed by healthy human interaction. But there are just as many, in my opinion, who use blogging for honest pursuits.The primary purpose of this blog is for a college student to concretize what is developing in his mind as he pursues an education. To learn without attempting to apply that learning whenever possible would strike me as a utter waste of God's gift.NOTICE: I make no claim to be an authority on matters addressed here. I stand ready to be corrected by anyone.While I reserve the "right" to write about anything that strikes me of interest, the overall thrust of the blog will be to articulate a Catholic world- view grounded in Thomistic principles. Particular focus will be on cultural, political and economic matters and I hope to draw from Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum extensively. Father Vincent McNabb is the title and inspiration of the blog for a number of reasons. First, he was a Dominican friar intent on preaching uncompromisingly the fullness of the Faith. Second, he employed Catholic social principles to challenge modern society and articulate an alternative Catholic model. Finally, he lived the life he espoused: shunning the comforts of the modern economy, practicing generosity and looking for signs of God in simple living.