If you still need a few gifts, I have some books to suggest, especially since I have been very remiss this year in reviewing and recommending titles. Sorry, it has been a strange and busy year. I never did get those podcasts going, as I’d planned, either. Books make such fantastic gifts (and they’re easy to gift wrap according to websites like Burning Book Press!) There really is a book for everyone and that’s why Read more…
My latest at Word on Fire: Recently a friend declared, “I need a break.” He and his wife could not be convinced to look beyond the institutional men and remain focused on Jesus. “Come for Jesus,” I invited them, “Come for Jesus and pray for the Church!” They politely demurred. I still believe they need Jesus, and the church certainly needs them. More than ever, donations (learn more) and general support are needed. They are Read more…
After the Vatican ordered US Bishops to refrain from voting on episcopal correctives to their failures on the sex abuse front (a February bishop’s gathering in Rome will now address it), American bishops left their bi-annual conference with little to show for their time beyond approving a the promotion of the excellent Sister Thea Bowman’s cause for sainthood. The do-little gathering left plenty of American Catholics feeling short-changed and fed-up, and precipitated Melinda Henneburger’s scorching Read more…
Almost every year I try to gather suggested Advent materials or reading selections to share with y’all. Last year, I skipped that in order to write out a daily-read series based on the lectionary, which was both a satisfying and sometimes overwhelming task. As a Christian, I actually loved taking the time each day to really engage and ponder Advent on deeper and very specific levels. As a writer, I came to realize that such Read more…
How are you voting today? I don’t mean to ask who anyone is voting for, or even why. I’m just wondering whether we are voting with an energy of hate, or an energy of love, or if we’re voting out of a hate that feels like love? Or are we casting our votes in fear? We know “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18) But how do we know whether we are heading to Read more…
Britain’s Channel 4 News put up a tweet that had the rare effect of taking social media furies out of themselves for a few minutes in admiration of one man’s wisdom and humility. Dr. Jeff Cohen, a member of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and a physician who oversaw the medical treatment of the man who senselessly killed 11 of its elders, had a lesson to teach the whole nation about Read more…
I made my mind up last night that I would not invest any time in actually watching today’s hearing regarding the accusations by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford against Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. This is not mere caprice; I try to avoid all such hearings because I always find myself heartily despising every politician involved, which is not good for my soul, and because between the grandstanding, the partisan talking heads spinning for whatever Read more…
A few friends have expressed surprise to me at some social media reactions to my latest piece at Word on Fire, in which I once again adjure the Catholic laity to tap into the force and power they possess by virtue of their baptisms, the power of priestly and prophetic penance and prayer. My first response to the stories about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and then to the Grand Jury report out of Pennsylvania, has Read more…
GUEST POST: Russell Shaw is the author of over twenty books touching on Catholicism, Politics and sometimes both at once. In this guest post, he ponders how with the co-operation of too many within the Church, so much has been lost to evil. On the Seeping Smoke of Satan by Russell Shaw The speaker was a highly sophisticated layman, possessor of a doctorate and professor of theology at a major Catholic university. We had been Read more…
We all know the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, of Gower MO, those old-school Benedictine nuns who sing like angels (they have recorded chart-topping, best-selling, albums of sacred music to supplement their building campaigns), run their own dairy, grow much of their own food and pray for all of us, all day long. And they do it in Latin, too. I’m not a great “Latin Mass” person — I do like a well-done Novus Read more…