Perhaps you’re one of those people who wonder where priests come from or what kind of guy is entering the seminary these days. “If I only I could listen on on the conversations of seminarians,” you might say, “then I would get an insight into the future of the priesthood and the Church.” Well, your prayers have been answered.
With both the explicit permission and tacit knowledge (“don’t do anything scandalous”) of Mundelein Seminary Rector, Fr. Robert Barron, a group of three seminarians is doing their part in using new media for the New Evangelization. You’ll soon learn their personalities and particular contributions.
They’ve put together a little group of guys called “Three Dogs North” who sit around and talk about stuff that seminarians care about. And, they have invited me, on occasion, to sit around and talk about stuff with them. It’s sort of like eavesdropping, but with permission and without the creepy feeling.
Hear them talk about trying to teach the theology of the body to high school kids (aka “pizza luv”), the meaning of manhood and beards, prayer, death, conversions, vocation stories, the future…whatever the Spirit inspires. And a lot of laughing.
Frankly, it’s hard to beat the description of the most recent post (with a guest appearance by yours truly):
“It could be incense or it could be cheese in a can, but the moment you
smell it you think, ‘I don’t know what it is, but I want it.'”
smell it you think, ‘I don’t know what it is, but I want it.'”
If you want to check out some sessions, check out the 3 Dogs North web site, and if you want to subscribe, visit the iTunes podcast page that’s been set up. It’s free. And you’ll make their day.
April 2, 2014 at 8:19 pm
One of the things I actually like about "almost human" is how dystopian all the transhumanist elements are. They all tend to come at a rather high personal, moral or societal cost. It will be interesting to see where they go with it thematically, considering the most humane character is an android.
April 2, 2014 at 9:02 pm
@wineinthewater I enjoy "Almost Human" as well. I like how the chromes are considered better than normals and how they do not mix with regular humanity. I especially enjoyed the episode about the homicidal smart home. People often don't think about how super advanced technology can be hacked and then turned on the very people it is supposed to serve.
April 2, 2014 at 10:32 pm
SACRIFICE
OF
STEEL
Dark cold and gray
Under a wave of cement
Wander steel rails
Puffs of smoke
Spray up
From steel-gray whales
He enters
Willingly
The steel groans and away sails
To the Cross-road
Shores
Of Sacrifice and steel nails.
April 3, 2014 at 1:59 am
Death is Wrong but you can control your death by suicide.
April 3, 2014 at 9:54 am
I don't recognise my own country anymore. True Catholics are the number one enemy here. Sts Patrick, Brigid and Colmcille, intercede for Ireland …
April 3, 2014 at 3:35 pm
No, he was never Catholic. He and most of the band were (or are) evangelical protestants.
April 3, 2014 at 4:50 pm
A similar podcast is "Catholic Stuff You Should Know" started by
seminarians in the diocese of Denver. It aims for a more catechetical
and apologetic approach, but the thoughts of the seminarians as they
approach their ordinations, their hopes and fears and personal quirks
make for enlightening listening. Some have them have been ordained and
are beginning their first assignments as young priests. That's
eye-opening as well. Also found on ITunes.
April 4, 2014 at 7:05 pm
You read John C Wright's "Count to a Trillion" series yet? There's one that supposed transhumanism happens… and nothing really changes.
As for myself? Color me unconvinced. As a matter of religious faith, God said that man shall die and is it that believable we could so easily thwart Him?
As a matter of experience, I notice when looking back that often when a new technology comes, it is supposed to have unending applications. (see for example: http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/01/science-marches-on.html, or anything atomic back in the day) After all it is new! But then I notice there tends to be a common theme. At some point knowledge and skill with the newly created tech reaches the point that we learn what we most dread: the tech's limitations. Limitations the pioneers didn't see because we didn't know it that well.
So yeah, I call the transhumans naive. Computers and nanotech only seem to be able to save us from death, because we haven't yet seen the limits.
Though there's still a lot of interesting stories to be told there.
April 13, 2014 at 7:08 pm
Good luck with getting rid of death. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" — 1 Corinthians 15:26.
April 17, 2014 at 10:52 pm
I agree. It might be possible to make people live 1,000 years. Maybe even a million or a billion years. However the laws of physics dictate that entropy inevitably increases. In several billion years, the sun will have expended all of its energy and will die. Eventually this will happen across all of the universe. At that point it's not clear how transhumanists intend to continue living.