Pico Iyer marvels at the breadth and constant surprises of the gay Catholic’s writing, noting that while his latest book, Darling, ostensibly is about religion, “it’s a central feature of his thinking that nothing—not even loneliness—is ever considered in isolation”: [E]ven as the book with the ceremonial Catholic title Days of Obligation kept on referring to … Continue reading The Multitudes Of Richard Rodriguez
A reader recently listened to my Deep Dish conversation with Richard Rodriguez, author of Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography: I first read Rodriguez 10 years ago when I was but a precocious Latino Californian high school student in AP English. Weeks before you put this podcast up, I got Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father for … Continue reading A Conversation With Richard Rodriguez: Will The World End With A Prayer? Ctd
by Matthew Sitman In a remarkable review of Darling, Rodriguez’s recent “spiritual autobiography,” Paul J. Griffiths ponders the question: He is, by the account of this book (a more detailed account of his raising and formation can be had from Hunger of Memory and Days of Obligation) a regular Mass-goer; a lover of the Church; … Continue reading What Kind Of Catholic Is Richard Rodriguez?
The most striking aspect of Richard Rodriguez’s latest book, Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography, was its attempt to understand 9/11 in an empathetic way. His response to that atrocity was to draw closer to Islam, not to push it as far away as possible. He saw Islam as a desert religion like Christianity and tried to … Continue reading A Conversation With Richard Rodriguez: Will The World End With A Prayer?
Richard is an American author. His books include Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Days of Obligation: An Argument With My Mexican Father, and his latest, Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography. You can download his conversation with Andrew below or listen to it right now by pressing the orange button: If you want to … Continue reading Andrew Asks Anything: Richard Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez recently sat down with “On Being” host Krista Tippett for a conversation about “The Fabric of Our Identity.” The entire exchange is worth listening to, but this passage from Rodriguez about women and religion, and their influence on his life as a gay Catholic, stands out: [A]s a Catholic, I was surrounded by … Continue reading “I Cannot Imagine My Freedom Without Women”
Richard Rodriguez names the writers who influenced his approach to the form: There was Joan Didion—the Didion of those glorious California essays of the sixties. Because she was from Sacramento and writing about the Central Valley when I first read her, it was she who taught me to imagine my own Sacramento as a literary … Continue reading The Art Of The Personal Essay
That’s the point made by my friend, Damon Linker, who’s been writing up a storm at his perch at The Week. He recently made the strong case that liberal and conservative ideas about human equality have deep roots in Jesus’ universalization of the call to love and forgiveness. And that very powerful idea has indeed … Continue reading Will Christianity Empty The Churches?
by Matthew Sitman “Diets and New Year’s resolutions are Protestant things. Among Catholics there is often an amused condescension regarding converts who take religion too seriously, who are preoccupied with theology, who try to match the communal faith. You might as well try to match a spring day. Catholicism is just there, a way of … Continue reading Quote For The Day
The latest twist in the CIA’s campaign to be above the law emerged this afternoon: The Justice Department has been asked to investigate whether Senate staffers improperly obtained and removed documents from a CIA computer system at a joint facility created by the CIA and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), TIME has learned. … Continue reading The Best Of The Dish Today
