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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

“Little Sins Means a Lot” honored by Catholic Publishers

Well, lookee what just arrived in my mailbox. I feel like it’s Christmas and I’ve just received a “major award” although not one marked “fragile”! Thanks to the Association of Catholic Publishers for recognizing my most recent book, Little Sins Mean a Lot: Kicking Our Bad Habits Before They Kick Us. It was meant for a Lenten publish but — as sometimes happens in publishing — was released closer to the summer. Getting this certificate Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Meet Frances of Rome at Word on Fire!

To be perfectly honest, I approached writing my first piece for Word on Fire Ministries with a bit of trepidation — the old fear and trembling — both because I wanted to do right by this saint, and because it’s my first piece for Word on Fire Ministries, and I wanted to do right by them, too. And of course, I wanted to do right by the readers. Fortunately, it’s really hard to write badly Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Why did Moses grind up the golden calf into a powder?

In today’s Office of Readings, we come to the dramatic moment in Exodus 32, when stupid Aaron (really, what was he thinking?) tries to appease the unrelentingly dim multitudes by collecting their gold earrings and forming a calf for them to worship. So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron, who accepted their offering, and fashioning this gold with a graving tool, made a molten calf. Then they cried out, Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

How one young woman’s suffering was redeemed through a single word and act

Featured Image: Rannah Evetts, Founder and Director of St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, Uganda. St Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, photo source. Act, and God will act, work, and he will work. – St. Joan of Arc Joan of Arc’s advice plays out in full in the profoundly moving and instructive story of Rannah Evetts, a remarkable 22 year-old woman who took the pain and suffering from her experiences as Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

God will tell Oprah to run, and Joy Behar will not call her mentally ill when he does

Image by Alan Light-cc A few weeks ago, Joy Behar a longstanding co-host of the morning gabfest “The View” made a typically lame “joke” at the expense of veep Mike Pence. Taking offense to the idea that Pence believes Jesus speaks to him in prayer — a not uncommon notion for people of faith — Behar claimed it was one thing to talk to Jesus, but another to believe Jesus talks back. That, she said Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

If in all things you seek sexism and oppression, doubtless you will find it

It was St. Teresa of Avila who said, “If in all things you seek Jesus, doubtless you will find him.” After reading this piece about the #metoo-inspired hand-wringing accompanying the revivals or debuts of musical theater productions, it occurred to me that if in all things one seeks sexism, oppression and victimization, doubtless one will find it. And in the case of art, one will add to the sense of social exhaustion that is inevitable Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago

Catholicism in China: Monasticism will tell the tale

The current sense of unease regarding the status of the church in China reminded me of this quote from Mother Mary Francis, PCC — one of the foundresses of Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery (Roswell, NM) in her great book A Right to be Merry: The children of light walk heedless of the source of their light. The children of darkness know better. And when the hour of darkness is at hand in any country, Read more…

By Elizabeth Scalia, ago