Other reads this year ...

In chronological order ....
1. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
3. La Verità del Papa, Aldo Maria Valli
4. The White Tiger, Avarind Adiga
5. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
6. The Help, Kathryn Stockett
7. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Fraternity of the Capuchin General Curia, Rome

Click on the pic!

Just finished reading...

1. Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicut McGrath, The Dawkins Delusion?, 2007 (ISBN 978-0-281-05927-0)
2. Alister McGrath, Why God won't go away. Engaging the New Atheism, 2011 (ISBN 978-0-281-06387-1)
3. Alister McGrath, Surprised by Meaning. Science, Faith, and How We make Sense of Things, 2011 (ISBN 978-0-664-23692-2)

Overall, I enjoyed reading these and am glad I did. Stimulating, they outline and critique the fundamental tenets of the "New Atheism" clearly, simply, persuasively. I would have liked to see a recognition of metaphysics as a legitimate science with its own degree of abstraction and certainty, with its capacity for deductive proof distinct from that of mathematics. Such a discussion may have been beyond the scope of these volumes and disrupted the accessibility of the text.  Nonetheless, it would be regrettable if a reader were left with the impression that the philosophy of science trumps other philosophical sciences, and that mathematics alone enjoys an a relatively unassailable degree of certitude.  In short, I am left wondering about some epistemological pre-suppositions in the books. Having expressed that one, personal un-ease I have, I must say again that the books are a great read, and I would recommend the second one the most of all.

Franciscan Ascetical Writings

A "must see" page. Fr. Campion Murray OFM has, over the years, made English translations of early Franciscan ascetical texts. The texts can be downloaded in PDF format. Excellent! Go to http://www.franciscans.org.au/spirituality/campion/index.htm

Corrections to capdox

Until a 'reader' wrote today, I was unaware that Short Discourse Concerning the Observance of the Vow of Poverty of the Friars Minor had not been linked to its PDF file. The problem is fixed and the English translation of Giovanni di Fano's text is now available. Four or five more photographs have been added to the collection of header images too.
If you know of other difficulties with the capdox site, I would be grateful to hear about them.

That's it. No more tweeking of the site for the time being ... well, not much. Some adjustments happen routinely. The Sunday liturgy links (La Chiesa, Maranatha and the Carmelite Lectio Divina) usually get updated every Sunday morning around 8am, GMT - more or less.

Very positive comments on the photographs dispalyed on the capdox homepage. Thankyou. The camera used for most of the pics is a little Olympus FE-20. Photo editing with PhotoImpact version 6. This programme has been in my service since 2000 and more than meets my needs.

Hopefully, capdox may have some new content soon. One or two projects are in the works.

Roller coaster

Visitors to the capdox site have had a roller-coaster ride with all the live changes happening to the site yesterday and today. Probably a bit annoying. Brighter and easier to navigate, CAPDOX looks better.

Apart from a slightly wider page and a better menu, capdox presents some quality images from a few Franciscan and Capuchin places. (Smart Flash Header by ProJoom manages and displays these images. This Joomla extension has a number of useful functions and settings. My only concern is the time needed to download the home page.)

Later, captions will identify the locations.

Huddled in a little valley below the town of Cupramontana is the former Camaldolese monastery of the Grottoes of Massaccio (left). With an previous, long history of eremitical life lived in various way, the site was taken up by Paolo Giustiniani. Seeking refuge, Ludovicio Fossombrone and his brother Raffaele came here briefly shortly at the beginning. Ludovico would have known about this monastic site from the days of his novitiate in the Franciscan friary are short distance away, outside Cupramontana itself.

In recent years the building has been beautifully restored by various owners.