J. Davy Crockett III

The headlines scream of the carnage unfolding in Syria, with new allegations of the use of poison gas by the Bashar al-Assad regime. While the United Nations makes empty pronouncements and the major powers hurl meaningless threats of intervention, people on both sides of the conflict die in increasing numbers.

When my youngest son was about six years old, he said to me, “Dad, I need a word!” Puzzled, I asked, “What kind of word?” “Well,” he said, “something I can say when things go wrong on the playground or when I get mad.” Amused, I asked, “What do you have in mind?”  To my surprise, he said with feeling, “I don’t care, as long as it sounds like…” then he finished his sentence with a vulgar expletive.

Earlier this year, thousands of workers crowded into a huge building known as the Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This building housed several clothing factories, where workers endured deplorable working conditions not uncommon in many developing countries. As the workday unfolded, the building suddenly began rumbling and shaking. However, this was no earthquake, but the imminent collapse of the shoddily constructed building itself!

It seems that every generation has its own style of music. Someone who grew up in the 1940s probably enjoys the sounds of the “big band” era. Then, in the late 40s and early 50s, the plaintive sounds of country music filled the airwaves as tales of heartache and hard times were set to music. From the classics to the singing celebrities of the “Grand Old Opry” to the age of electronica today, music certainly seems to “tug at the strings” of the human heart.

The world has been riveted to the headlines coming from the Vatican since the resignation of Pope Benedict and the installation of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope in the long and colorful history of the Roman Catholic Church. Devout Catholics—along with nominal believers and hundreds of millions of non-Catholics—have been fascinated by the pageantry, formality, wealth, and deeply ingrained traditions of this ancient church.