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Vatican warns nuns: Use Social Media ‘With sobriety and discretion’

Image: Asolrac1-cc “The Vatican has released an instruction with new norms for contemplative orders of nuns. Nuns must use Facebook, Twitter and other social media with “sobriety and discretion” according to a new document released by the Vatican.” So reports the UK Tablet Three of the four female Doctors of the Church were monastic women: Theresa of Avila, Hildegard of Bingen and Therese of Lisieux all lived and prayed in their cloisters, mostly apart from Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

The #MetGala: Not beyond the use of the Holy Spirit

My latest piece over at Word on Fire concerns this weeks Met Gala, which opened the Metropolitan Museum’s latest exhibit, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” an exhibit I hope to visit next week and wrote more about. The gala, though, certainly got a lot of attention. It always does, but with this years theme matching the exhibit, all eyes were on the attendees. Some took offense — I didnt; I saw it as Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

The Antidote to Envy or Feelings of Inadequacy? Whiskey and Whine

A young writer asks: I’m in need of a pep talk. I’ve fallen into the trap of comparing myself to other people and I need to shift my focus. How do you deal when you feel inadequate? You’re very smart to realize that you need to shift your focus. Comparing ourselves to others is a time-and-spirit whirlpool that sucks us down into a spiritual muck that becomes hard to escape and can really drag us Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Zuckerberg’s Folly: Facebook silencing hate will only serve a cheap illusion

So, there I was, watching as much as I could stand of the congressional questioning of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and mostly feeling completely unimpressed by these leaders of legislation and industry — am I jaded? Am I a smartass? I don’t know. I just know that none of them made me think, “Wow, THAT is someone I need to learn more about because I’m impressed….” Anyway, I was simultaneously monitoring reactions on social media, Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

“The Breakfast Club” and Molly Ringwald and 2 Millennials in a Deli

Overheard at the Deli: Millennial #1: “I don’t get ragging on Breakfast Club like it’s all harassment and stuff. What does she want, movies w/no stories b/c they eliminate human nature?” Millennial #2: “Yes. Eliminating human nature is the whole point.” Millennial #1: (Emphatic agreement) “RIGHT?” Millennial #2: “So it’s all superheroes now. Deli counter guy, to me: “I’m never havin’ kids…” I took my leave, thinking, “Well then, I guess “mission accomplished?” I need to Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Easter Fiction: What the Soldiers Saw

He is Risen! Truly He is Risen! Indulge me, please, a little fiction — a brief imagining of what it might have been like for the guards who missed that moment when Christ defeated Death!  – ES He was not afraid. Of course he was not. Only, he could not seem to open his eyes. The air was soft, light on his skin. In the sun’s warmth it should have felt as soothing as a Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Baseball Begins! Life just got better

Photo: Anc516-cc There is nothing like walking into a local mom and pop store and hearing the singular sound of a baseball game playing in the background — crack of the bat, whiff of the ball into the leather. It’s grounding in the way walking into a well-used church is grounding. And as another baseball season begins, the fans all come back out of hiding, everybody sets up their new fantasy team, and everything just Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Pondering Christ as the Rabbi on the Cross

Image: Anthony Muhs, with permission Over at Word on Fire, my piece this week contemplates the “Lessons from the Rabbi on the Cross” — a meditation that came about thanks to the unusual cross featured above, not a crucified Christ, but also Christ the High Priest, and the King. For me, something else seemed evident, too, even if only in my own mind: As with a crucifix, this Christ is before bare-footed, arms splayed wide, Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Apparently, Facebook is listening: What about the Confessional?

Image: Public Domain In his testimony before the British Parliament, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christoper Wylie is testifying that Facebook has the ability to “listen in” on us as we go about our business at work and at home. Said Wylie: “On a comment about using audio and processing audio, you can use it for, my understanding generally of how companies use it… not just Facebook, but generally other apps that pull audio, is for environmental context,” Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Nuns and “Nones”: Mama, We’re all missionaries, now…

Nun talking to women on steps of Basilica of Guadalupe. Image: Daniel Case-cc It’s no secret that I have a high regard for Catholic nuns and religious sisters and believe that, since at least the Middle Ages, they have functioned much like the Central Nervous System of the Body of Christ —  observant, reactive, automatic, mostly unacknowledged yet wholly necessary. As #NationalCatholicSistersWeek comes to a close, my piece at Word on Fire this week looks back Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago