This is one of my favorite Hoppers and I had it as the background on my laptop for years

“Let America know and ponder on this: there is something more frightening than Cain killing Abel, and that is Washington killing Spartacus.” — Victor Hugo in an open letter seeking the Pardon of John Brown

Christ in His compassion put His body between you and all the forces of hell. Now it's your turn to do it for your neighbor. That's absolutely what you sign up for at baptism.

“The peasants you kill are your own brothers and sisters. … No soldier is obliged to obey a law contrary to the law of God. In the name of God, in the name of our tormented people, I beseech you, I implore you; in the name of God I command you to stop the repression.” - St. Óscar Romero

An evergreen reminder from 2016 Hans @litpress.bsky.social

I have maybe six regrets in life. Not buying this jacket is one of them.

Going through my 2016 photos for the trend and I found this act of violence

“The basis for determining the value of human work is not primarily the kind of work being done but the fact that the one who is doing it is a person.” Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, #6

It’s actually a central part of Catholic spirituality that almost any kind of work (barring something that’s unethical) can have great meaning and value if we do it with love and a sense of calling.

employment.marquette.edu/postings/24275 employment.marquette.edu/postings/24274 I'm involved in the search so can't share too much but happy to answer general questions about the department/MU/Milwaukee here or privately..

Marquette Theology is hiring for two tenure track positions, in New Testament and Historical or Systematic Theology. We have a Ph.D. program, reasonable cost of living in a vibrant city, and obviously, awesome colleagues. Please share! 🧵

The two big tells in Barron's piece: 1) CST is applied here to public corruption (which is fair); CST is not referenced at all with respect to immigration 2) Agrees w/ USCCB on border and immigration law; no reference to other 7 paragraphs in the USCCB's statement (www.usccb.org/news/2025/us...)

Mafia goon: Nice house you got here...it'd be a shame if something happened to it Media outlets: Mafia goon rules out use of force. Expresses regret at the mere thought of it

It’s come to this: “Catholic members of the US armed forces could in good conscience consider disobeying orders to attack Greenland if such orders were issued, according to Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the bishop responsible for the pastoral care of US military personnel.”

The Nobel Peace Prize becoming so prestigious that wars are fought over a head of state coveting it is some real monkey paw stuff for Alfred Nobel.

Little known fact: the four stars on the Chicago flag represent these four historical moments.

klingon pacifism movement real or hoax

Compartment C Car 293 - 1938 https://botfrens.com/collections/173/contents/3103960

Yesterday in Faith and Politics, we read/discussed MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail (along with the clergymen's A Call to Unity), and in their exit tickets a lot of students are connecting it to (1) protests about ICE and (2) low engagement religious moderates

Been reading the Kingsnorth book for a book club, and despite all the parts I am sympathetic too, I think a lot of it is off the rails.

Why don’t all these Americans like troops in their city streets? Is it an elemental part of the mythology or something? If they hadn’t thrown stuff at the men with guns, they wouldn’t have been shot. Must be women’s fault. Americans don’t have a mythology of— Fuck.

ummm I think Jesus already claimed that title thank you very much.

Was enjoying afternoon tea, dipping a cookie into my earl grey, when it broke apart and fell to the bottom of my mug like the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Concluding paragraph btw. lol.

I could probably do this every time he invokes Balthasar and I probably should not keep doing it. Purely for sanity. But he cited Balthasar and Communio so I thought I’d go find Balthasar’s “Communio—A Program,” which says the opposite thing. How interesting!

Working on a reading plan on Cardinal Newman for the year. Idea is to work through the Ker biography alongside the following: * Fifteen Sermons (spring) * Essay on Development of Doctrine (spring/summer) * Idea of a University (summer) * Apologia (fall) * Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (fall)

"But a stupid man will get understanding, when a wild donkey's colt is born a man." Job 11:12

This is me after my daughter’s Christmas haul

Complete side note but anybody can be a saint. Let’s talk about saints: don’t boss God around about who he’s allowed to sanctify. That’s up to him. He’s working on making even you holy (absolutely anybody reading this).

Conclave Selects First Chicago-Style Pope

My SIL’s partner got me a train whistle for Christmas and it might be the best Christmas gift I’ve gotten since the Lego train I got when I was 5

Re: one of the discourses, I too love beautiful churches. But I also went to mass yesterday in the overflow group in a K-8 gym and it was a wonderful service and Christ was present. So…

Merry Christmas!

It’s “no cheeses for us meeces” season

This and the discussion about how academics can now just read AI summaries of things really drives home how much these guys always confuse the product for the goal. You don't do a coloring sheet because you want to have a colored sheet at the end!!! The coloring is the point!!!

Fall 2025 is over, grades are in, so time for some thoughts on the artificial intelligence and theology course I taught this semester stephenokey.substack.com/p/boom-doom-...

And now for something completely different

I will be on Lehrer tomorrow at 11:10 discussing new Archbishop of New York: www.wnyc.org/shows/bl?fbc...

When a student who has not put any apparent effort into a course asks at the end of semester if they can do anything to raise their grade, I sometimes say "build a time machine"

It's not about the Gaston *character*, it's the fictional movie that inspired the Gaston toy.

Every year this makes me laugh. Truly one of the masterpieces of posting.

Look man, I want to live in a society where even if you don’t hold virtue in your heart, society is constructed in such a way that pretending you’re virtuous is coterminous with getting ahead, and demonstrating that you lack it leaves you behind. That’s better than where we are.

Today, the last day of the AI and theology course, we got into an unexpectedly great discussion of CST, solidarity, and Instagram. Top 5 discussion from that class for me.

Whenever I want to annoy my students into thinking, I pull a @catholickungfu.bsky.social and ask them "but what is x?" Most recently, it was "but what is prayer?"

Last night I gave this reflection, on the Rich Official and Simeon in Luke, for the Advent mission at Saint Leo Abbey stephenokey.substack.com/p/waiting-in...

The line that I keep going back to, probably at least once a week, from the movie is "too many notes." This is usually my feedback on my writing, and I would give it as feedback to students if I thought they would get it.

I don't think this was necessary but I'll probably still watch it www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO8H...

Thanks to the generosity of so many of you over the last two years, we've raised enough money to start giving small scholarships to doctoral students. I plan to keep fundraising until the small scholarship become large, and I'm grateful for any contributions you can make towards that!

Everyone stop, this is important

The arc of the moral universe hopes it finds you well