A Fine Series of (Analog) Portraits

August 15, 2015 / formafidei / Leave a comment

Richmond Times-Dispatch photographer Dean Hoffmeyer has done a fine series of portraits of World War II veterans, and he has used WWII-era equipment:

All of these portraits were made on a 4×5 Speed Graphic film camera from the period, fronted with a 1943 Kodak lens designed for use in military aircraft. The camera is old and sturdy, like the men standing in front of it.

By all means go see the images and read the article that goes with it . (The details of the equipment are in a box on the left side of the article). Fine faces, well-captured, and you can’t beat the gorgeous range of tones in that film and paper. Let us thank these men for serving.

Want to De-Fund PP?

July 31, 2015 / formafidei / Leave a comment

Hard-headed political advice from Rebecca Hamilton, recently retired from years in the Oklahoma state senate. She knows how these things work. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/rhamilton/if-were-serious-about-defunding-planned-parenthood-we-can-do-it.-heres-how/ . See also her blog at Patheos.

Gen. Jaruzelski Dies

May 26, 2014June 18, 2014 / formafidei / Leave a comment

Those of us of a certain age may remember the name of Wojciech Jaruzelski from the news. He died yesterday at the age of 90.

In case you are much younger than I and don’t recall the name… he had something to do with a brand new saint: Pope Saint John Paul II. Here is an interview with Cdl. Dziwisz, and you can Google for much more.

More here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pope/communism/

Here is his obit in the New York Times. According to that, he was originally Catholic. So, one could say a prayer for his soul, and a prayer of thanks for the life of Pope Saint John Paul II.

UPDATE: NCR has a good article out today: The Death the Life of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski: Another Look.

Pray for This Culture

January 22, 2014 / formafidei / Leave a comment

The USCCB is running a Novena for Life. Here is today’s excellent reflection:

Today, on this 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we consider the past four decades in which our society has legally permitted abortion and wandered far from God. Instead of accepting children in joy and hope, many hearts seem hardened against making commitments to others, fearing the demands others may make on our time or our freedom. We are becoming a culture marked by rejection, by loneliness and sorrow. In today’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus grieved over the Pharisees’ hardness of heart, as he heals the man with the withered hand. They remained silent when Jesus pointedly asked them: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Our laws now make it legal to destroy life by abortion, by abortifacient drugs, in destructive embryo research, in the course of in vitro fertilization procedures, and in some states by assisted suicide and the death penalty. How Jesus must grieve over this culture of death! Let us open our hearts in faith, entrusting our culture to the healing power of Christ, the One who has overcome sin and the power of evil.

Pray for the #prolife marchers today in Washington, DC. The temperatures are well below freezing, but they are out there witnessing for life. God bless them!