Love–as the root and ground of our public discourse, as the only answer to the tyranny of hate–seems to be everywhere this week. I asked if we as a Church could, should dare to love those who disagree with us so genuinely and visibly that we might stop getting in the way of the message we too often speak with pursed lips and arms folded defensively across our hearts. And all around me others are answering, Yes, of course we... Read more

If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) I’ve heard these words from today’s second reading four times now this weekend, and I’ll hear them again in another couple of hours. I’m visiting parishes throughout the deanery to track how well we’re doing rolling out the 2012 archdiocesan appeal, and it means hearing the Liturgy of the Word repeated enough times to hammer through the thickest of heads, like mine. Paul was being rhetorical, but this... Read more

I looked up in wonder at God’s wonderful ways and thought how little we imagine what may be the result of listening and acting on a desire He puts into the heart. Nourish before Him great desires. ~ Mother Katharine Drexel Today is the feast day of the patron saint of philanthropy, a woman with whom I have almost nothing in common beyond our shared American origins and a tendency to wield a sharp tongue on occasion. (I am certain... Read more

I took my lunch to Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum today–one of my favorite spots in this, my adopted hometown, in which I celebrate 16 years (though only my fourth anniversary, since I arrived on Leap Day) today. Woodland is beautiful in any season, but in today’s preternaturally soft (68 degrees!) early spring mistiness, it was particularly peaceful. The opposite of the newswires, and my soul. I got to thinking, as everyone who sits in a cemetery and thinks for more... Read more

I finally saw The Artist on Saturday, and for a full 24 hours I was in love with it. The valentine to the movieness of movies (shot in the Hollywood where I grew up). The technical artistry of recreating the era when, as my son once said, “the world was in black-and-white” (made even better by seeing it in a retro art house with a screen designed for the old square projection ratio). The utterly charming performances of everyone and... Read more

First Sunday of Lent Station at San Giovanni in Laterano Trivia question: What’s the pope’s cathedral? Hint: It’s not St Peter’s, and it’s older and ranks higher (as the Church’s only archbasilica) than the iconic basilica located within Vatican City. As Bishop of Rome, Benedict XIV–like all popes preceding him, back to to the fourth century, except during that unfortunate papal getaway to Avignon–hangs his episcopal miter and takes a seat in his cathedra at the Cathedral Archbasilica of the... Read more

There’s nothing like projectile vomiting and the loss of a friendship to kick off a good Lent. I’m still not sure how much the two are related. Both involved copious amounts of bile, and my stomach blew up just about five minutes after I had to click Unfriend on Facebook for the first time ever. It’s been nearly two days, and I’m still feeling feverish and hollowed out and weepy, symptoms that could easily accompany either stomach flu or online... Read more

Last year, during my first revert Lent, I explored lots of the same spiritual practices many Catholics do. I tried (not very successfully) to eat more simply and sparely. I gave alms, formally to good causes and informally to the folks who hit me up on the street. I got to daily Mass a few times a week, and upped my time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. I took a weekly class in the spirituality of Carmel at a... Read more

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. It’s Ash Wednesday, and time–thank God!–to be reminded that we will die. That reminder, slashed on foreheads in the oily black ash so reminiscent of human cremains, is a gift, not a curse. It’s not morbid, but vivifying. We Americans don’t think nearly enough about death and its inevitability and the consequences of that great speed limit. I’m Irish, so I think about it more than most people, particularly... Read more

I’m up on the tight wire One side’s ice and one is fire It’s a circus game with you and me I’m up on the tight rope One side’s hate and one is hope . . . And the wire seems to be The only place for me ~ Leon Russell, “Up on a Tightrope” Being Catholic, being liberal. More and more, the question seems to be whether it’s possible to be both, if either one is done seriously. For this... Read more