Leon J. Podles :: DIALOGUE

Is homosexuality itself a psychological disorder? Freud though that homosexuality was a form of narcissism (definitely a disorder), of falling in love with an image of oneself, rather than the opposite sex.
Certainly many homosexuals are narcissists, as are many heterosexuals.
Narcissism is the root of endless evils in the clergy, and I have long thought [...]

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(You will no doubt note that this in the Gheg dialect, in which the -t ending is not plural)
A traditional tree in Tirana:

And a different Christmas tree outside Tirana:

“A Christmas tree made of spaghetti sticks in the national park in Tirana December 28 2006. A local restaurant used roughly six million spaghetti sticks building the sixteen meter tree weighing 1 ton.”

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Señor Rafael Cavero of Madrid is a collector, indeed the foremost collector of Papá Noel (Santa Claus) in all of Spain.

In the door which gives access to the garden of the house in which he has lived more than thirty years, a heap of little men with white beards receives visitors. They hide themselves, [...]

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When the children were small and less self-conscious, we did this at our house

You may remember the Christmas scene from Fanny and Alexander and here is a modern version.

Nu är det jul igen, och nu är det jul igen

Och julen varar väl till påska
Nu är det jul igen, och nu [...]

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My Icelandic is a little rusty, but I am sure almost everyone would recognize this

especially from the Christmas Cat

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Retta Blaney at the National Catholic Reporter doesn’t like the new production of Godspell, but her chief beef is with the language of the King James Version that the script uses:
all the scriptural references featured the “God and men,” “every man who humbles himself” and “nurses a grudge against his brother” viewpoint.
I had this same complaint when I reviewed [...]

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The university administration certainly conspired to cover up Sandusky’s abuse, but was he also pimping kids to rich pedophile donors?
Probably not, but there is a possibility it could be true.
There are rings and networks of pedophiles. How they network is a great mystery to the agents of the law, but they definitely network and have [...]

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Canada, like some U.S. states, (e.g. Maryland) does not have a statute of limitations on felonies, so child abusers can be prosecuted whenever the evidence comes forward. As far as I can see, the statute of limitations is for the benefit of the administration of the courts. It is difficult to process very old cases [...]

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One of my regular commentators has been hacked. I got an e-mail from him, claiming he was in Madrid, had his wallet and passport, and needed 1,500 to get home. Atlantic magazine has an article this month “Hacker” on this precise scam.
Moreover, his e-mail may be attached so that any e-mails sent to him are [...]

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Those of us of a certain age share pop cultural refereces that are lost on the younger generation, whose references I find mystifying.
When I was hiking a fellow hiker of my age and I were resting, When he decided it was time to go, he turned to me and said Let’s went! To which I replied [...]

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Here is a good review of The Way from Christianity Today.

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The hiatus in my blogging was the result of my trip to Utah and New Mexico.
I camped in Chaco Canyon, which is still isolated (30 miles down a corrugated dirt road and across several washes). The ruins are still impressive, and arouse in everyone the questions — why here? And why did everyone leave?

Reconstruction [...]

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