Rachel Lu – Tony Lusvardi, S.J.

Looking back on 9/11

Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial, Boston

A few weeks ago I recommended checking out the new Substack of my friend Rachel Lu. Yesterday, Rachel posted a piece looking back on 9/11 in Law & Liberty which I highly recommend as well. It’s a piece I find especially resonant because Rachel writes about joining the Peace Corps in the wake of the attacks, and I did exactly the same thing.

In fact, we were classmates at Notre Dame at the time, and both happened to end up as Peace Corps volunteers in different former Soviet Republics in Central Asia — Rachel in Uzbekistan and I in Kazakhstan. Uzbekistan was certainly the more Islamic of the two, Kazakhstan more cosmopolitan and secular. More than the biographical similarities, however, I found myself resonating with the sentiments Rachel expresses — from a slightly naive but still fundamentally good youthful idealism to a deeper concern over the self-destructive tendencies American culture has shown in the quarter century since 9/11. I even learned a new word — oikophobia — which seems apt.

Here’s Rachel’s blurb about the essay in Substack:

I never risked life or limb like [those who signed up for military service], and signed on only for a form of service you’re allowed to quit at any time (though I didn’t, at least not until my term of service was up). Still, my little contribution meant something, at least to me, and I go on to reflect on how Americans’ understanding of themselves has changed over time. So much, in fact, that one sometimes wonders: Did Osama bin Laden finally win the war of hearts and minds?

Check out the whole essay “Mirrors of 9/11” here.

Christendom Reborn: new on Substack

Yearning to read something smart? Lord knows there’s plenty of schlock and silliness on social media when it comes to both religion and society. Algorithms often tend to multiply the obscene and bombastic — which is why when intelligent and original voices emerge it’s worth passing the word.

My friend Rachel Lu, a senior editor at Law & Liberty, whose work has appeared in America magazine, the National Review, and numerous other publications, has launched a new Substack page called Christendom Reborn. It comments on philosophy, culture, religion, motherhood, history, society, books, and more. The first couple of posts in which Rachel explains the impetus behind the project and gives wickedly smart reviews of some of the books that influenced her approach are especially worthwhile. Consider subscribing and hopefully we can goad Rachel into turning her ideas into a book…

While you’re at it, if you haven’t done so already, consider subscribing to this blog as well (also free!) so that you aren’t at the mercy of algorithms to stay updated but can receive an email update every week.

Andrea Grillo and Rachel Lu on Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation

Earlier this month, after delivering ten copies of Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation to Sant’Anselmo at Easter time, I walked up the Aventine Hill to pick up my diploma–the last formality involved in earning my doctorate. The last act, I suppose, of my formal education! It’s a walk I made many times before while a student. I haven’t been back to Sant’Anselmo for a while now, but am grateful for the studies in sacramental theology I did there.

When I received my copies of Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation, I had one more reason to be grateful — the insightful words of endorsement on the back cover from my dissertation director Prof. Andrea Grillo, who read many draft versions of the tome and managed to remain in good humor throughout! Here’s his review:

Lusvardi offers a historical reconstruction of the ‘baptism of desire’ that traverses the entire arc of the Christian tradition, starting from the origins. A straightforward work, expressed in a language endowed with finesse, irony and acumen. Baptism of Desire and Christian Salvation is singularly effective in pointing out the fact that in the modern reception, a series of priorities is imposed on the issue that empty its meaning.
Andrea Grillo, Pontifical Atheneum of Saint Anselm, Rome

Also last week, I was delighted to see Rachel Lu’s review of the book at Word On Fire. Rachel’s review had a particular significance for me since, as she points out, I was there when she was baptized as an adult 19 years ago.

A challenging examination of motherhood

Over at America, my friend Rachel Lu has authored the most thought-provoking reaction I’ve seen so far on what appears to be the downfall of Roe vs. Wade, Do we really honor motherhood?. It’s both personal and penetratingly analytical, a thought-provoking lead-up to Mother’s Day.

Roe vs. Wade was a horrific decision in every respect, an act of judicial lawlessness, the fruits of which can be seen in the lawless tactics — from slandering Supreme Court nominees to this week’s leak and violent protests — employed to defend it. Violence begets violence. There seems no line of decency or ethics that Roe’s partisans will not cross to protect it — like a lie that requires a whole string of other lies to keep it going. Listening to the President bluster about having the “right” to abortion-without-limits “because I’m just a child of God, I exist,” one cannot help but wonder, Have you no shame, man?

Rachel’s essay goes deeper than political debates and gets at more complex questions of our social and human identity. There’s plenty in it to challenge everyone’s thinking, including theologians and pro-lifers. It suggests ways in which we’ve ended up with the brutal culture of abortion that has prevailed in Roe’s wake by taking the sacrifices women make to be mothers for granted. I’ll offer just one example, Rachel’s surprising analogy between soldiers and mothers.

At first glance, it might seem strange to compare mothering to soldiering; one involves killing and the other fosters life. In many ways though, the parallels are quite strong. Historically, these are the only two demanding vocations that have been foisted on people in nearly all human societies, with little or no regard for their personal feelings or level of preparation. The demands are daunting, but failure can bring crippling consequences for individuals and society. Motherhood is also like military service in that both require recruits to put their very bodies on the line, running very real risks of disfigurement or death. These remarkable demands are justified in the simplest of terms: They are necessary. Civilization itself is at stake.
Rachel Lu

The rest is worth more than a casual read. Read the full article.