The door to the local baptistery truly became the gates to paradise for members of the Florentine congregation as the hope and promise of eternal life surely did lay on the other side of its waters. As beautiful and haunting as the door’s images, the hopeful minds of parents carrying their children through the gates to be ushered into the Kingdom of God can be just as jarring. No angel with flaming sword guarding this path, Ghiberti’s gates swung wide to receive all who wished to pass on their beliefs to the next generation.
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The Faith and Politics of John F. Kennedy Before He Became the First Catholic President
As our nation's only Roman Catholic president to date (unless you count Jed Bartlet), John F. Kennedy spoke of a separated yet passionate faith. Even if you take issue with his application of the concept of separation of church and state in the rest of the speech, the modern person of faith must appreciate the blunt honesty of the soon-to-be 35th president on this topic. We can all learn a lot from his ultimate assessment of personal ethics in the life of the public servant.
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Ursula de la Cruz: The Story of a Catholic Nun’s Unlikely Trial for Reformation Crimes by the Spanish Inquisition
Great history is often the tale of great men and their deeds of valor and vice. Silent are the chants of hungry peasants, of expelled minorities, and far too often the voices of women. The story of the Protestant Reformation shares equally in this gender gap with other periods, yet for a few individuals, their voices can be given new life through a return to the primary sources. In a strange turn of events, some of the forgotten cries of the downtrodden can be heard again through the words of their oppressors in the form of Inquisition procesos– the abbreviated trial records of the legal arm of the Holy Roman Church containing the often verbatim quotations of the participants.
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