It’s been difficult to think of a meaningful post to post, simply because the events of World Youth Day are still two days away, and we feel as much like tourists as pilgrims. Or perhaps pilgrims doing touristy things. That’s it. We visit awesome places – Avila, Sagovia, Toledo, Cordoba, Madrid – we see the sights, taste the food, drink the sangria, make foolish American mistakes, but we are always noticed as pilgrims, as kids-here-to-see-el-Papa; as Catholics. And so we’ve... Read more
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Day Freaking Two in wonderful Madrid, and though World Youth Day is still a few days away, we are already seeing the work of the Holy Spirit. I didn’t get enough footage to make an awesome video today, but I should have one up for you tomorrow. No promises though; the wifi available to me now is at a fantastic bar/restaurant called Muuu, as in ‘Moo’, as in the noise a cow makes before you kill it, butcher it, cook it... Read more
http://www.facebook.com/v/10150279011752910 The most fantastic thing about this Not Yet World Youth Day – and really any Catholic event – is the people you meet. On the plane ride over we met a beautiful woman named Katie. She teaches bilingual speech therapy in a public school, situated in a very poor area. Obviously, as a public school teacher, it is illegal for her to share her faith to the children she teaches, to try and help them through their poverty and... Read more
Dear Rothoof, You disgust me. Do you even try to get people down here? You keep making the same, classic mistake explained in the Infernal Textbook; Letting sentimentality distract you from reality. Let me remind you of how this mistake works, seeing as you appear to be utterly incapable of retaining information in that thick, angelic head of yours. A disgustingly Catholic boy meets a delightfully modern, agnostic girl. They become incomprehensibly and embarrassingly in love, and agnostic girl wants to become... Read more
Dearest Readers,Now, being particularly situationally-aware individuals, you may have noticed the most excellent and awesome banner that has been gracing the pixel space of BadCatholic these past couple of days. It’s great; Pope Benny’s giving you that look that says “You said something mildly funny and I’ll acknowledge that, but straight up? I’m the Pope.” And, upon seeing this, you might have asked yourself, “Oh dearest self, why such a banner?” And the answer is simple. I am leaving with four friends... Read more
It is with great pride and the fondest of memories that I bid my home-parish, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church at the University of Virginia, farewell, and thanks. St. Thomas is a church that gives me hope in the Church. Run by the ever-wonderful Dominicans – who seem to know everything about everything, and are entirely willing to preach about everything at length – I have experienced more spiritual growth within that incense-smelling second-home than anywhere else. So if my... Read more
…and an alternative to said suckage. 1. Risk Compensation Did you know that sunscreen users have a higher incidence of skin cancer than non-users? Crazy, right? It’s because of the general principle called Risk Compensation; that when you feel more secure you engage in riskier behavior. People using sunscreen spend more time in the sun, and thus get skin cancer, because no sunscreen is a guaranteed protection. The same is absolutely true of the use of artificial contraception. You think you... Read more
I have an enormous respect for the way humanity has chosen to describe God. The atheist may mock the “old man in the sky” picture of God as childish, but I admire the same description because it is childish. No, it is not scientifically accurate – nothing is – but it does illustrates a radical accuracy; that we are God’s children. That he is a Father. And that he is above us. Ever noticed that atheists aren’t great at understanding... Read more
“I dare say that when I get out of this bed I shall do some deed of an almost terrible virtue.” – GKC There’s a simple way to look at a Catholic. It’s to take the rosaries, the scapulars, the devotions to obscure Saints, the novenas, the ashes, the fasting and the abstinence; to see all these practices and say, “Legalism. These poor/stupid people are bound to medieval practices. They are not free.” It is this view that causes our... Read more
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