Links to the past

By Thomas V. Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 30, 2015 | In Quick Hits

The New York Times Magazine has given some much-needed attention to ISIS's genocide of Christians with a long essay by Eliza Griswold: "Is This the End of Christianity in the Middle East?" In First Things, Mark Movsesian comments further on the U.S.'s responsibility for the current situation, and thus its responsibility to provide more in the way of humanitarian assistance. Movsesian also remarks:

Mideast Christians have few allies in American politics. Conservatives don’t feel much affinity for Mideast Christians, who often favor Palestine in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and liberals have a hard time seeing any Christians as sympathetic victims. As someone once observed, Mideast Christians have the misfortune to be too foreign for the Right and too Christian for the Left.

While Christian heritage is being destroyed in one part of the world, elsewhere Catholicism is being discovered where we never knew it existed. Speaking of persecutions: Were there crypto-Catholics in colonial Jamestown? Archaeologists have found an ancient Catholic reliquary in the grave of one of Jamestown's leaders. This discovery may lead to a revision of previous assumptions about the history of American Catholicism.

Finally, to unwind from the heavy stuff, here’s Catholic film critic Steven D. Greydanus’s appreciative essay on Looney Tunes, the American birthright of comedic animation which arguably has never been surpassed. I recommend reading it in conjunction with a brief, fascinating and inspiring new video essay about the brilliant Looney Tunes animator, Chuck Jones.