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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 3h

(captions in French, original audio in English)

Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 15h

Wait, you're telling me that some of the bigger news from Metz was supposed to be doubly focused on Marcel Văn, but the shenanigans of a condemned abuser took the spotlight. They're drawn to stealing his spotlight like nothing else, let me tell you. catholix.fr/2026/09/24/m...

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Canadian Paintings @canadianpaintings.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The road to reconciliation begins with truth Mishiikenh Kwe ~ Anishinaabe c. 2022

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Amigo de Frodo @bpdflores.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Maritain is a good place to start if one wants to pick up the conversation about the person and the common good. We have forgotten too much of our own serious thinking on the issue. Here is a nice intro to his life, times and thought. Also available in English.

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Pope Leo: “To be silent is an act of the will, which involves the whole person and helps one to live solid relationships. It means creating spaces of freedom and truth, in which to safeguard attention, becoming sensitive to the voice of those who ‘do not count’” www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...

vaticannews.va

Pope to contemplative nuns: The importance of silence in a world marked by speed - Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV meets with the International Commission of Dominican Contemplative Nuns at the Vatican and encourages them to strengthen the value of ...

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 28/09/2026

Did some really good historical work. Everyone writing on Văn is confident he was held in two NVN detention facilities outside Hanoi. But reading DIA reports, examining maps, reading his detention letters carefully, it becomes clear it was four (Hoả Lò is in Hanoi). ref tile.loc.gov/storage-serv...

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 28/09/2026

"Don't use the standard phrases of victim-blaming (of which 'it takes two to tango' is one) to mean something other than victim-blaming in the context of abuse and definitely don't make people read several paragraphs to figure it out" is an incredibly low bar to clear. But this is where we all are.

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"le mec à McCabe là", un truc comme ça @socfrimphmcc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Espérons que cet homme ne se trompe pas sur l'attitude du Pape. S'il ne se trompe pas, une telle lucidité serait une rare bonne nouvelle.

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Pope: “Here, no one is turned away due to their frailty. Your crutches, your wheelchairs and your hidden tears are not obstacles; instead, they are the very place where you are fully respected and welcomed, and where you can experience a transforming encounter with the infinite love of God.”

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 22/09/2026

Yesterday, homily on the universal call to holiness requiring a vocation to holy orders, religious life, or marriage. Today—since I can hardly talk around priests—handed the priest this note (the thing at the bottom is another years-long thing). As you might guess, it did not go well with Fr. Darvo.

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 17/09/2026

Rereading Văn's letters. Age 21, he moves from Hanoi (few MEP) to Saigon (lots of MEP). Within a year, he wants his spiritual director to speak to Hanoi’s bishop about reparation: “if [MEP] refuse, history will blame them as they have blamed the colonial powers of the world” (29-09-1950). This kid!

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 14/09/2026

72 years ago today, Văn took the last plane north to Hanoi, committing himself to the journey.

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 13/09/2026

Working on some Văn stuff and remembering feedback on an academic version of this post: "Sadly ironic that the healing of Văn's moral injury led to his death." It's such a strange response to me. A survivor whose moral injury has abated enough to be truthful is gonna be deeply unpopular. I promise.

contemplativeinthemud.com

The Death of Marcel Văn and Moral Injury (Part 6)

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fr. Luca Refatti op @lucarefatti.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

McCabe here is spot on. We have really become a idolatrous world... not just the West.

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"le mec à McCabe là", un truc comme ça @socfrimphmcc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This willful blindess to what "systemic" means, whether it be racism or abuse is really intriguing when you're in a religion that underlines so much the institutional side of the christian faith.

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 09/09/2026

“Above all, I hope you will take the opportunity to nourish your interior life: with generous and sustained prayer before our Lord in the Tabernacle, [...] and finally by frequent contemplation of the indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity in the depth of our being.”

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Père Camille Rio (mep) @riocamille3.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Excellent résumé du dossier #Ouellet par @apres-la-ciase.fr. Il faut ajouter que la cour a balayé d'un revers de main deux témoignages supplémentaires visant le cal Ouellet lors du procès Groleau.

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 06/09/2026

Reads earliest known writings identifying a worldwide abuse crisis in need of worldwide reform, writes preface that obscures their significance... sues presumed victim of clerical abuse Congratulations on being the winner of this year's Marie-Michel Hostalier Prize!

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Père Camille Rio (mep) @riocamille3.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Donc: le cardinal Ouellet a poursuivi et obtenu la condamnation à 100000$ canadiens + frais de justice la victime présumée de viols de la part d'un prêtre diocésain. Qu'on se le dise.

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 05/09/2026

The US one at least tells me I'm from northern Maine; the "Canadian" one tells me I'm from City Southern Ontario, which is so typical an erasure it might not be offensive but is still terrifying

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 04/09/2026

I'm from right-beside-Maine and apparently Americans can tell

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John Woodside @woodsideful.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Same story, but CBC chooses a headline that actually misrepresents the study and frames climate change as a now irreversible problem. The actual study, as AP notes, describes going over 1.5C and how to get back under that threshold.

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jess m. ☕🍂 @jametc.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

CANADIANS: RUIN THE FUCK OUT OF THIS ANTI-AI PETITION. this is an OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT PETITION and it needs you to verify an email and that's it. do this right now please. thaaaaanks.

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 02/09/2026

"I continue the fight against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church," pledges guy who totally buried the lede in a 2014 preface to the earliest known writings explicitly identifying a worldwide abuse crisis in need of worldwide reform

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 02/09/2026

Tech companies don’t understand scholarship. ‘Quickness’ and ‘efficiency‘ are not always the right values. Sometimes you don’t want to “answer your research queries faster” and when you do, existing search technology is more than adequate to help you do scholar.googleblog.com/2026/08/quic...

Answering a research question often requires reading through several papers and figuring out how each of them might be useful. You need to track down what each paper says about your question, what methods the authors used to arrive at the relevant results, and what caveats to keep in mind to understand the boundaries.

Today, we are introducing Scholar Quick Read, to help you answer your research queries faster. Search results in Scholar Labs and Scholar search that discuss your question in depth now include a “Quick read” link.

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 01/09/2026

You'll never guess whose life story he tried to control by writing a preface:

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Sister Susan Francois, CSJP @susanfrancois.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The deep-set causes of conflict and the exploitation of creation stem from an ethical and cultural crisis, including the loss of a sense of limits, the desire for domination, the pursuit of immediate profit, and the inability to recognize the God-given dignity of each human person. -Pope Leo 4/10

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Da Pope @deepdishpapa.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Today we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. This marks the beginning of the Season of Creation – observed by Christians of various denominations – whose theme this year is “Living Water.” 1/3

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 31/08/2026

Reading Jacques Maritain in not only the current political climate but also the abuse crisis be like:

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Daniel Rober @profdanrober.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Jacques Maritain:

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Ben CitM @contemplativeinthemud.com · 30/08/2026

If one seeks postliberal (etc.) Thomists' identified target for discourse about power and Divine Vulnerability, I don't think it's unclear that Target No. 1 is Jacques Maritain's 1949 Princeton lectures on moral philosophy:

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Nikolaj Bill @nikolajbill.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Vatican II therapist: Clericalism no longer exists, clericalism can’t hurt you. Local parish bulletin:

Z. Similarly, it is reverent, and good manners to stand when a Bishop or Priest enters the parish hall, classrooms, sacristy or meeting rooms. The traditional Catholic Etiquette Expectations here are to stand immediately when the priest enters the room,
and remain standing until he invites everyone to sit or takes a seat himself. I thank our K of C Council for already adhering to this politeness here. Men should remove their hats when a priest enters a room, or during conversation with him. St Francis said "If I should happen to meet an angel and a priest together on the road, I would bend my knee first to the priest, for his are the hands which hold God." Similarly, St. John Vianney said "The priest holds the place of God on earth."

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Ontario Nature @ontarionature.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

It's World Lake Day and we're reflecting on how Indigenous Peoples remind us that water is sacred. And we have a responsibility to care for it. Sign our action alert to urge the government to protect more water and land here: ontarionature.good.do/protected-ar... #lakeontario #ontarionature

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Jarek Pachocki OMI @jarekpach.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

There really is no end to this idiocy… 🤷🏻‍♂️ Lake Ontario’s name comes from the Wendat Ontarí’io - “great lake” - and carries centuries of Indigenous history. A signature cannot erase that. Dear reasonable American friends: please do your thing in November! 💙🇨🇦 #CanadaStrong Image via ABC News

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Josh Eyler @josheyler.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Major kudos to MIT, who just put out a report about AI on their campus that lucidly explains the threat posed by AI to cognition and the student experience, while at the same time prioritizes learning, students, and the value of education. 1/x aiandeducation.mit.edu/report/

aiandeducation.mit.edu

Report – AI and Education

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Jonathan Heaps @jonathanrheaps.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

As a theological matter, sanctity isn’t foremost moral impeccability, nor is there any generic standard of it, but rather sanctity is having been fully, even exuberantly the “you” that God intended you to be. As Dolly said herself: "Find out who you are & do it on purpose. & do it *with* purpose.”

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World’s Biggest Stagflation Truther @corncobanalysis.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This is an insane demand, no Canadian PM could say yes to it

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Pope Leo in Rimini: “The hour of responsibility has arrived. Let us unmask the unjust power relations at the root of poverty and inequalities, of war and environmental disasters. Let us disarm technological development when it becomes pervasive and destructive."

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

“The deep-set causes of conflict and the exploitation of creation stem from an ethical and cultural crisis, including the loss of a sense of limits, the desire for domination, the pursuit of immediate profit, and the inability to recognize the God-given dignity of each human person.”

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"le mec à McCabe là", un truc comme ça @socfrimphmcc.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Lubac encore : "si le christianisme peut et doit assumer les vertus du paganisme antique, le chrétien qui veut demeurer fidèle ne peut que repousser d'un *non* catégorique un néo-paganisme qui s'est constitué contre le Christ."

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Amigo de Frodo @bpdflores.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Quien descuente el peso del pensamiento de Maritain pierde. Dejo al lector el espacio y la libertad de considerar en qué sentido(s).

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Bridget O’Brien @bridgetemob.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

“Breaking free from the culture of power, and tearing down the walls that separate human beings from one another, is never a betrayal of our families, towns or traditions. Instead, it means freeing them from their ghosts, from enemies invented out of fear or ignorance” Pope Leo!!

We may not be understood, even by those closest to us, as happened to Saint Francis.
Yet, breaking free from the culture of power, and tearing down the walls that separate human beings from one another, is never a betrayal of our families, towns or traditions.
Instead, it means freeing them from their ghosts, from enemies invented out of fear or ignorance and from the violence with which people seek to impose their own limited order on a reality that surpasses us on every side.
To trust in God is to rediscover, like Francis and Clare, a world of brothers and sisters to cherish and serve, not to exploit and dominate. Not a world to defend, but to embrace.

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Jeff Boone @jeffreyboone.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Re conversion, have to love Maritain’s bluntness in late 1938 Commonweal interview (published Feb ‘39).

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Daniel Rober @profdanrober.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

This is the real tell:

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