Ellen Kolb

Maritain on faith and the democratic ideal

“Faith in the dignity of the human personality, in brotherly love, in justice, and in the worth of the human soul, outweighing the whole material universe – faith, in a word, in the conception of man and his destiny which the gospel has deposited at the very center of human history – this faith is the only genuine principle by which the democratic ideal may truly live. Any democracy that lets this faith be corrupted lays itself open to that extent to disruption.”

I am discovering the work of Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain by way of an anthology from Sophia Institute Press entitled Christianity, Democracy, and the American Ideal. The book clusters bits and pieces from Maritain’s work into chapters on various civic themes: the American experience, social solidarity, freedom of association, and so on.

The looming national election gives point to what I’m reading. The quote above brought me up short the other day. It rings true in a way the pile of campaign literature on my table does not.

Update: this book is no longer listed on the Sophia Institute Press website. Keep an eye out for it at an independent bookstore or a friend’s bookshelf.

Open Book: an anthology of remembrances

The first Wednesday of each month brings #OpenBook, a blog linkup co-hosted by My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com with a roundup of what participating bloggers have been reading lately.

photo of shelves of books — Photo: Gerd Altmann/Pixabay

Best reading of the past month for me: A Torch Kept Lit: Great Lives of the Twentieth Century, a collection of eulogies written by William F. Buckley, edited by James Rosen. They’d be worth reading for the pure good writing alone. Their substance is the greater treat. Buckley died several years ago without collecting these little gems from his extensive journalistic work, but I doubt he’d find fault with Rosen’s selection. Buckley eulogized loved ones, political figures, and celebrities with a sharp eye and often with a great deal of heart. Whether or not the reader shares Buckley’s political philosophy, this book is a sure delight.

I continue with Edmund Morris’s Theodore Roosevelt trilogy. Colonel Roosevelt covers TR’s eventful post-presidential years.

I nibble at other works, finding nonfiction more to my taste than fiction right now. I am involved in politics, so this is a stressful season. Reminders of the long view, both historical and spiritual, are balm to my spirit.

Christina Chase: “A Personal Plea Against Assisted Suicide”

When I was moved by a recent essay, I looked up information about the author, and found that she is a neighbor of mine. She has written a marvelous reflection filled with beauty, grace and challenge. Her name is Christina Chase, and I hope I’ll meet her in person someday.

In this week when the District of Columbia Council has voted in favor of an assisted suicide measure, Christina Chase has made her case for embracing life and rejecting suicide.

Do you know what it’s like to be weaker than an infant, laboring daily to breathe, ravaged by an incurable disease, completely and utterly dependent on others for every basic need of survival? I do. Although I am not terminally ill, but rather chronically ill, I know that one chest cold can turn into pneumonia and kill me… probably an agonizing death over days… or weeks….And there have been times when I have wondered… is my life worth all of this? … all of this work, sacrifice and heartache?

If you know me, then you know how I answer this wondering. My desire to live is very strong. In fact, I love life…. And, yet, even I feel the guilt and sadness of burdening the people I love… even I wonder if I’m worth it.

So, I can clearly imagine what a person who is terminally ill would face if physician-assisted suicide was made legal in my state.

This is only an excerpt. I commend to you the whole essay.

Update, 2026: Christina’s essay was first published on the website of St. John the Baptist Church in Suncook, New Hampshire. That link is no longer active, but I’m happy to discover that Christina re-published it on her own blog Christina Chase: Reflections of Sacred Wonder.

Christina has written a book, available from Sophia Institute Press: “It’s Good to Be Here: A Disabled Woman’s Reflections on God in the Flesh and the Sacred Wonder of Being Human.”