Off the Record

Jack who?

By Diogenes (articles ) | August 25, 2005 9:09 AM

I winced at this detail from Sandro Magister's follow-up on WYD.

Cardinal Angelo Scola, one of the many bishops who came to catechize the young people during the first three days of the vigil with the pope, thought he would win them over with a ten-minute recitation from "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac.

Correction and retraction: Magister's (and thus my own) estimate of Scola's catechesis was faulty. His mention of Kerouac was brief and pointed: he drew a fruitful contrast between the self-indulgent sentimentalism of the vagabond and the purposeful discipline of the pilgrim. An Italian version is available on-line here. As a film version of Kerouac's On the Road is in the making, Scola's remarks were more timely than I'd imagined as well. Scola is a weighty presence and a good citizen, and I'm happy to have been off-target here.

An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus:

Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation will help us reach five million Truth-seeking readers worldwide this year. Thank you!

Progress toward our June expenses ($15,085 to go):
$30,000.00 $14,914.93
50% 50%
Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

There are no comments yet for this item.

Think with the Catholic Leaders: Subscribe to Catholic Culture Insights Newsletter
Donate to Support this Site: Your contribution will be put to good work.
Tour the CatholicCulture.org Site
Shop Amazon to Raise Money for Catholic Culture

Recent Catholic Commentary

Pope Francis the Frank 10 hours ago
“Illegals” are not “Immorals”: A Persistent Immigration Fallacy 12 hours ago
News coverage of the Vatican: the blind leading the blind 17 hours ago
Those Harleys again June 17
Happy Father's Day! June 14

Top Catholic News

Most Important Stories of the Last 30 Days
Vatican document demands governments protect refugees CWN - June 6
Pope acknowledges 'gay lobby' influence in Vatican CWN - June 11
Pope confirms he is completing encyclical on faith begun by Benedict XVI CWN - June 13