I was watching (and falling asleep during, after a working weekend) Downton Abbey, so I missed Nicki Minaj's Grammy performance last night. This morning the Catholic blogosphere is alight with outrage, and letter-writing campaigns have been organized. Anti-Catholic bias in the media! is the outcry.Nuh-uh, says I. And I'm an expert.In another lifetime, I served on the national Communications Committee of the US Catholic Bishops. We laypeople advised the episcopal members of the Committee on … [Read more...]

Go to her, you who are crushed by material misery, defenseless against the hardships of life and the indifference of men. Go to her, you who are assailed by sorrows and moral trials. Go to her, beloved invalids and infirm, you who are sincerely welcomed and honored at Lourdes as the suffering members of our Lord. Go to her and receive peace of heart, strength for your daily duties, joy for the sacrifice you offer. ~ La Pelerinage de Lourdes, Pius XIIOn this Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, I'm … [Read more...]

While he was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that carried you and blessed are the breasts at which you nursed." He replied, "Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it." (Luke 11:27-28)Wombs. They're all over the news cycle lately. What's in them or not in them, and how to keep it that way. To whom they belong. Whither they've gone a-wandering. Uteri and the women who tote them around have not been this much a focus of … [Read more...]