This morning was another HSP benchmark event as Barbara and I attended the baptism of two beautiful twin boys born to Taylor, a member of the class of 2006. The boys behaved impeccably and seemed to actually enjoy Monsignor Dillon pouring the holy water over their heads.
After the baptism we headed to Montaluce to prepare the house for the arrival of our weekend guests, friends that have three HSP alumni and one student in our senior class. For this weekend the oldest alum was out of town but our group was joined after Vigil Mass by another couple who are very close friends of ours and the parents (inter alia) of another HSP alum and a current student. Our extended dinner conversation centered on the theme of "what is art" with a side-disagreement regarding the substance of Tolstoy's essay on that subject:
http://www.archive.org/stream/tolstoyonart00tolsuoft/tolstoyonart00tolsuoft_djvu.txt
Once we had exhausted that topic we moved on to a debate as to the level of "proof" that we would each require if we believed that God was telling us to kill our child (think Abraham in Genesis 22:1-24 ). It is a great debate topic and all the more lively when parent and child are both present! We had originally planned to play Apples to Apples but our impromptu debates were both fun and intellectually stimulating. The HSP student and alums all acquitted themselves very well in these lively and good spirited rhetorical contests.
Finally we were delighted when Father Paul Moreau joined us in the midst of a busy weekend. The theological and dogmatic debates continued thereafter until the early hours albeit at a somewhat less combative pitch.
