Case Thorp

“It’s not enough to just build tools. They need to be used for good,” said a repentant and scared Mark Zuckerberg before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees. Facebook embodies today’s cultural zeitgeist, and its disregard for privacy coupled with its mammoth influence have caused our nation to question how its unhealthy practices are impacting culture. Makoto Fujimura, surely, is pleased with Zuckerberg’s comment, as he has painted a vision for such and more in Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life.

At the corner of Liberty and Albercorn in historic Savannah, Georgia, stands a monument to the work of the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy. Serving the city since 1845, the sisters pioneered the creation of schools, orphanages, and hospitals, most of which still thrive today. Over the years the sisters served students, orphans, slave children, and more. They battled yellow fever and nursed Civil War soldiers back to health. The newly minted unweathered monument describes this work and concludes, “They made historic contributions to this city in the fields of education, medicine, and pastoral care.”

Ten years on from the Great Recession, the faith and work movement finds itself growing in momentum and impact. Alongside our effort are other movements that have challenged our collective sense of America and how she is governed: the unique candidacies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the #metoo movement, Marches for Women, the Tea Party, Black Lives Matter, and more.

Protestant Christianity celebrates 500 years of ministry on October 31. On this day in 1517 the German friar Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to Wittenberg’s cathedral door. Luther’s theses exposed theological fault lines placing him and his fellow reformers at odds with the Roman Catholic Church. Today Protestant evangelicals, likewise, are discovering new theological fault lines among themselves. Ironically, these differences emerge from the same reforms Luther initiated.

Majority Whip, Rep. Steve Scalise, is gunned down at a baseball game. A Congressman playing America’s favorite pastime is shot for his political positions? America is ill. Case Thorp calls for a renewed citizenry.