The Sea and the Soul
Noelle Mering The Institute for Human Ecology
Any wise sailor or surfer will speak with a sort of intimacy of knowledge of the nature of the sea, and a clear recognition of our inability to control it. Arrogance will not do. Surfers speak of the way a wave can consume you, spit you out, and slam you against a jagged reef. A smart sailor or ship captain knows that the ocean has patterns and cycles. There are elements to consider and seasons to anticipate. This discipline of knowledge and reverence form a foundation for harmonious and exhilarating engagement with the sea.
While even non-surfers and sailors can grasp this sort of reverence for the nature of the sea easily, decades of social engineering have led to blind spots when it comes to applying this sort of reverence and respect to our human nature. Somehow, we forget that our bodies are a part of that very nature, with clues to how we ought to live and hints at the contours and content of our humanity and happiness.
Noelle Mering and Carrie Gress proudly present At the Sea, the third installment in their acclaimed Theology of Home series. Gress and Mering turn their attention to the role of the sea in our memories and imaginations. Drawing from literature, mythology, and scripture, Theology of Home III: At the Sea pulls out the rich connections between the sea and mystery, recreation, yearning, and joyful reunions.
EPPC is seeking a full-time Director of Communications to oversee all external communications via earned and owned media channels. This role requires strategic expertise to ensure that all communications efforts align with EPPC’s mission and advance our priorities, as well as the tactical skills to execute this work on a day-to-day basis. It also requires the ability to synthesize the variety of work produced by our many scholars and programs into a cohesive story that reinforces EPPC’s identity as an institution.
EPPC Distinguished Senior Fellow George Weigel appeared on the Catholic Mindset Podcast to discuss the state of the Catholic Church around the world and Mr. Weigel’s book The Next Pope: The Office of Peter and a Church in Mission.
EPPC Fellow Andrew Walker shared his thoughts on the overturn of Roe v. Wade as well as its implications for the Southern Baptist Church on the Baptist 21 Podcast.
EPPC Fellow Patrick T. Brown was interviewed on News/Talk 1540 KXEL regarding Dobbs the demand side of abortion and the opportunity for the right and left to advance culture of life in America.
EPPC Fellow Brad Littlejohn appeared on the National Affairs podcast of the American Enterprise Institute to discuss his recent essay, "A Conservative Revolutionary," on the contributions of John Jay to American political life.
Read his entire essay here and listen to the podcast here.
EPPC Fellow Erika Bachiochi will participate in "The Consistent Ethic of Life After Dobbs," a webinar hosted by the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. Panelists will discuss the developing legal and social priorities for the pro-life movement.
The seventh episode of EPPC’s Life After Dobbs podcast (Spotify | Apple Podcasts | EPPC Website) features exclusive audio of Father Richard John Neuhaus’s legendary speech at the close of the 2008 convention of the National Right to Life Committee, which Robert P. George has called “the greatest pro-life speech ever given.” This is the first time that audio of this speech has been published in full.
Life After Dobbs co-host Ryan T. Anderson begins the episode with some personal reflections on Father Neuhaus, who was the founding editor of First Things and a longtime EPPC board member. In the speech, Father Neuhaus reminds his listeners then and today of the hope in which they labor and exhorts them to continue their work “until the culture of life is reflected in the rule of law and lived in the law of love.”
The Ethics and Public Policy Center is proud to support the Promise to America's Parents, an effort by the Alliance Defending Freedom, Heritage Foundation, and Family Policy Alliance intended to protect the natural right held by parents to care for their children. In the face of public policy eroding this right in the education and medical system, the Promise to America's Parents helps parents hold the government accountable for its delegated role in the upbringing of our nation's children, freely choose the type of instruction or medical treatment prescribed to their offspring, and benefit from a transparent relationship between themselves and institutions they trust.
Fellows Rachel N. Morrison and Mary Rice Hasson recently filed an amicus brief in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals supporting Alabama's law protecting children from transgender treatments. In her summary Rachel N. Morrison says,
The brief asks the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a district court’s preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of Alabama’s law and explains that there is no medical consensus regarding an authoritative standard of care for gender dysphoria or transitioning treatments and that such treatments can lead to serious harms, especially for children.
