Friday Links, April 9, 2021
+ New Creative Writing MFA
+ Pope Francis devotes an Apostolic Letter to Dante
+ A renewed appreciation for St. Alphonsus Ligouri's Way of the Cross
+ A review of Jack, Marilynne Robinson's latest book in the Gilead series
+ Free viewing of St. Ignatius Loyola video from Catholicism series
New MFA program aims for renewal of literary craft rooted in robust Catholic tradition and imagination
On April 1, Katy Carl, Dappled Things Editor in Chief wrote, "for this week's Friday links, please!" My apologies, but I skipped a week because of Good Friday.
This is one of many articles (there's a lot of buzz) about the new Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts program about to launch at the University of St. Thomas. In this interview from Catholic World Report, Carl E. Olson talks with co-founders Joshua Hren (fiction) and James Matthew Wilson (poetry).
Katy Carl also writes, "Who else loves the fact that we get a whole Apostolic Letter about Dante for his seventh centenary?"
MY ADORABLE JESUS
Katy Carl also recommends this First Things article by Terence Sweeney, "A good read for Holy Week from one of our new associate editors, who is also one of our partners at the Collegium Institute!
"Due to last week's hiatus, I missed Holy Week 2021. However, you might want to read this anyway and perhaps follow the Ligouri Stations of the Cross Sweeney writes about on Fridays during next year's Lent, if you don't already. I, like Sweeney, had to overcome a slight aversion to them, but in my case because, for a time, the Stabat Mater verses sung at each station seemed to me to focus too much on the sorrows of Our Lady. But I am now convinced otherwise and found them moving on Good Friday this year, especially since we could not have the stations in 2020.
You can click the image to view and download a nicely formatted PDF—maybe save it for next year.
No Good Has Come: Marilynne Robinson’s testimony for the white church
Natalie Morrill, DT Fiction Editor, writes about the linked article by Elisa Gonzalez at The Point, "Don't have time to read the whole thing right now, but I remember the first time I taught Gilead (already loving it) was the first time I realized how much it was about racial justice in America."
Robinson is not widely known as a writer on race in America. Because her novels are resonant chambers that allow scraps of language and thought to jostle and harmonize—an echoic rather than escalating structure—it seems dishonest to claim any stream as primary. But by placing an interracial love affair at the center of her latest novel, Jack, Robinson should make it impossible to elide the way that slavery, its abolition, the Civil War’s aftermath and the dereliction of the church converge to shape the Gilead novels. While Jack may treat race most explicitly, it is an outgrowth of Robinson’s thinking, not an aberration."
Watch Bishop Barron's Newest Feature-Length Film CATHOLICISM The Pivotal Players: St. Ignatius of Loyola - The Founder
This online film screening is available for free only through Wednesday, April 14, 2021. For purchase only after that date.
