Joined March 2018
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Saw this on FB - colorized photo of Pius XII saying low mass
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 12
99% of the time, I don't bother arguing with people who don't believe in the reality and critical importance of giftedness and IQ, because their arguments aren't interesting and are not going to be changed by whatever irrefutable facts you show them.
On the other hand, in their heart of hearts the reason why so many of them CLAIM to believe in IQ blank-slatism is because many of them are atheists for whom IQ is actually the biggest thing that defines human worth and it breaks their sense of fairness and justice that it isn't equally distributed (which it most certainly is not).
For religious people (Christians certainly, but also many others) the relevant criterion is that, regardless of intelligence, we are all made in the image of God and have inherent value because of that.
And while IQ is important, real, and relevant to many social policies, it has no real relevance when it comes to ultimate questions of worth and human dignity.
This is a better and more moral way to see the universe.
And it has the additional advantage of being true.
Jun 11
Gifted and Talented, or G&T, programs have long been a perennial subject of debate, particularly in New York City, where it has bedeviled mayors for years. Some parents have already washed their hands of the whole G&T business, refusing to participate in what they view as a corrupt system of segregation. But countless others still place significant stock in the G&T designation and what it offers and are comfortable relying on cognitive testing, should it be required, to determine whether a child qualifies.
“When your intelligence is the foundation of your self-perception, failing to achieve feels like soul death,” writes Katie Arnold-Ratliff. But if the limited amount of information we have about gifted kids long-term is any indication, most lead, at best, ordinary lives of modest accomplishment. A 35-year study of 677 gifted children found that by age 50, only 12.3 percent had reached a level of “eminence,” defined as “full professors … Fortune 500 executives … judges and lawyers, leaders in biomedicine, award-winning journalists and writers.” This means 88 percent never did.
Arnold-Ratliff digs into the myth of the gifted child, and how our notions of intelligence may be inherently flawed: nymag.visitlink.me/9mc2Wh
Community note
Eminence is incredibly rare, so 12.3% among gifted students is decidedly over-representative. For example, around 0.023% of Americans are full professors at R1 institutions, yet 22 of 677 (3.25%) of gifted students studied eventually held this position (a ~140x fold increase).
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC64…
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
A good troll paper would be looking at the effect of quasi-random admissions to PhD programs on family life and then framing the results as academia derailing life
Children derail academic careers even in places with good social nets, like Denmark
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 12
New parenting tactic: when 3yo is too whiney I puff out my chest a bit and insist that he repeat himself in a forthright, manly way befitting a boy of his talents and character
Jan 17
We’ve shifted “go to your room” terminology with 5yo to “confined to quarters” and for reasons I do not understand it is a tremendous improvement
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 12
"A childlike trust in God’s providence over His Church working through simple obedience would suffice to satisfy the duties of any cleric or priestly society. Individual clergy cannot see distant, contingent spiritual realities such that they could prudently sidestep commonsense obedience to those who have the office and mandate to care for the whole ecclesial community, and this is why God does not want them to do so."
@EamonnClark - “My Will Be Done”: On the SSPX Consecrations
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 12
“My Will Be Done”: On the SSPX Consecrations catholicculture.org/commenta…
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 12
Great 2-part essay by @PhilLawler arguing that the fact that the Secretariat of State is the most powerful office of the Vatican thwarts efforts for reform. Because of its focus on relations with the world’s governments, tends to give primary attention to worldly rather than the pastoral concerns - as seen in the "ostpolitik" approach to relations with China, Muslim regimes, South American Marxist states, etc.
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"Consequently, as the just soul walks along the way of truth, so the gentle soul walks along the way of mercy. Yet these roads are never divided, as if parts of these virtues were sought by different paths, as if it were one thing to grow in mercy and another to progress in truth. People are not merciful if they are strangers to truth, nor are they capable of justice who are beyond the reach of compassion. Those who are not endowed with both virtues enjoy neither. Love is the power of faith; faith is the strength of love. Only then is the name true and the fruit true of both when the union remains intact." St. Leo the Great, Sermon 45
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 13
It’s difficult to articulate the extent to which Somalian immigrants are a *unique* problem. Other immigrant groups may not always have stellar outcomes, but there are almost none who as persistently have the absolute worst outcomes in every country they move to as Somalians.
Somalis in Canada are getting an entire month in their honor. And don’t you think it’s about time? Look at the economic impact.
58.5% of Somali men had zero employment income a full decade in Canada. Zero.
Here is how they stack against other refugees.
ALT Share of refugee men with no earnings. Source: Statistics Canada. @smirkley
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Jun 12
"The SSPX’s claim that they are not trying to set up illegitimate episcopal jurisdiction, and that this is based on 'traditional theology,' is more than a little problematic."
Jun 12
“My Will Be Done”: On the SSPX Consecrations catholicculture.org/commenta…
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Jun 12
"A childlike trust in God’s providence over His Church working through simple obedience would suffice to satisfy the duties of any cleric or priestly society. Individual clergy cannot see distant, contingent spiritual realities such that they could prudently sidestep commonsense obedience to those who have the office and mandate to care for the whole ecclesial community, and this is why God does not want them to do so."
@EamonnClark - “My Will Be Done”: On the SSPX Consecrations
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 10
Here's the first of our two episodes on St. Lawrence of Brindisi - a Capuchin Franciscan, leading anti-Lutheran apologist, popular preacher, counselor to kings, and a genius scholar with a command of at least 10 languages.
St. Lawrence of Brindisi was assigned for 2 years to preach to the Jews of Rome, and his Hebrew was so good they thought he must be a converted Jew himself. He won their admiration because he had attentively studied Jewish texts such as the Talmud, and in this way he won many converts.
2 episodes on this little-known but incredibly impressive Doctor coming soon!
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Jun 12
Great 2-part essay by @PhilLawler arguing that the fact that the Secretariat of State is the most powerful office of the Vatican thwarts efforts for reform. Because of its focus on relations with the world’s governments, tends to give primary attention to worldly rather than the pastoral concerns - as seen in the "ostpolitik" approach to relations with China, Muslim regimes, South American Marxist states, etc.
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 12
I would dare to say these kind of messages will influence more than 90 page encyclicals.
I think he should test it out. A 5 paragraph letter to the laity on a given topic.
Jun 12
NEW: Pope Leo has written to priests to mark the feast of the Sacred Heart:
Dear priests, renew each day your “Here I am” before Christ’s pierced Heart.
Give yourselves entirely to him, so that you may love his people with the same love with which he loves them.
And joyfully remember how the saintly Curé of Ars loved to say that “the priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Genetics is real, and most people can accept it — except when it comes to intelligence.
I grew up in Malibu, California, so there were kids in my schools whose parents were former NFL & NBA players. Those kids usually had more innate athletic ability than average and were better at any sport they tried; meanwhile kids who don’t have such innate talent could never become professional athletes even with the best coaches in the world.
Other parents were Hollywood actors and models; their kids grew up to be way better-looking than average. Nobody would question the reality of genetics in determining a child’s athletic ability and appearance.
So why is it controversial to say that intelligence is also (at least somewhat) an inherited trait?
Jun 11
This is a very crazy thing to believe and definitely shuldn't be the basis of ed policy decisions
nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…
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Thomas Mirus retweeted
Jun 12
This is excellent stuff: "Holiness is neither one option among many nor an abstract ideal... The world greatly needs pastors who offer more than simply words or programs... "
A papal message that doesn't excoriate priests for clericalism, or not being synodal enough—refreshing!
Jun 12
NEW: Pope Leo has written to priests to mark the feast of the Sacred Heart:
Dear priests, renew each day your “Here I am” before Christ’s pierced Heart.
Give yourselves entirely to him, so that you may love his people with the same love with which he loves them.
And joyfully remember how the saintly Curé of Ars loved to say that “the priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus”
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Jun 12
"If we do not believe in Jesus Christ, we remain in sin, and not only do we die, but we bring about the death of our neighbor." Pope Leo
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