David Brooks shows me what people mean when they say, 'I don't care for politics.'

Really enjoyed the discussion on Mr. Coates blogpost at the Atlantic. It is in relation to Confederate History Month and the movie Glory.

Was excited to get this communication in EN Coates blog at the Atlantic site. Edward Stokes has the grandest monument, an obelisk, befitting a nephew of the brigadier general I suppose, in the little country cemetery where my parents are buried. My father told me that a Union Major had helped 3 sisters retain the Ochoya family farm where he first wanted to be buried.

AndyinTexas wrote, in response to michaelbrophy:

Not clear to me from your post whether Edward/Edmond Stokes is the Civil War officer, or another relative.

It's a long shot, but there was a James H. Stokes (1815-90), who organized and commanded an Illinois artillery battery, the Chicago Board of Trade Independent Battery (a.k.a. Stokes' Battery) from the summer of 1862 through the Battle of Chickamauga (September 1863). He was not at Vicksburg as far as I can tell, but both he and the battery saw a tremendous amount of action during the war.

Link to comment: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/04/one-last-thought-on-mcdonnell-and-confederate-history/38738/#comment-44393878

Been thinking about the remarks of Fr. Cantalamessa about attacks on the Pope being like antisemitism. On the face of it, this is pretty inapt in that the Church had some control of its priests, or at east their enrollment and duty stations, and Jewry had no centralized control and was guilty of nothing. Otherwise you might joke the analogy would be spot on. I suppose though this reflects the institutional memory of the Church, perhaps a memory not so much previously shared. Perhaps it reflects the Church's perception that some of Jewry turned to sin in supporting communism. This led to the murder of priests, the destruction of religion and other sinful outcomes and could justly be punished however those that were punished, for example the religious Jews of Poland were innocent. In that sense there has been a part of the Church that has been guilty etc,

It is a bittersweet day in many ways. I think the Church again has done a good job with the readings for Easter. The Abbot at Cistercian said, 'The doubt about the Resurrection must be confronted.' As a child, I recall a nun talking about what age we would be resurrected at. The answer was 30. The Church in its first readings has Peter saying Christ appeared to those he wanted to appear to (which could also imply the other way around). Probably most poignantly the Abbot captured the moment when he said that, putting ourselves in the Easter story as it evolves in John's Gospel, are in loss and suspense and may be of 2 minds in grief or disbelief and hope, but that St. Paul should be taken seriously that 'the eye has not seen or comprehended what resurrection would be like' but don't hope for being 30. Also we have the last words of Christ from one of the Gospels, in a sense each a different religion as the Scripture expert I recently referred to says, 'My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?'

Commented on a Volokh post with a commentary on recent Gospels:

The Catholic Gospel for Palm Sunday has Jesus followed into Jerusalem by ‘women from Galilee.’ The previous Sunday story has a woman brought into the Temple area and Jesus is confronted with the rule that she should be stoned for adultery.She is set free by the challenge that‘He who is without sin should cast the first stone.’ Eventually in the common era, marriage became monogamous religiously for Jews as well as Christians.The quote above including ‘use our space’ suggests that something like Mass is performed there and, indeed, a few might see what is attempted here as an extension of women’s escape from possession by a man which Christianity may at times have meant.