I meant to post this yesterday but didn’t have a chance. The first nurse to contract Ebola in the US is a TCU graduate, whose family attends Our Lady of Fatima in Ft. Worth. She went to Nolan High School, which was in the same district as my high school. Tony Rossi wrote more about her yesterday: Since local officials announced Ms. Pham’s positive test early on Sunday, the news has resonated through circles of friends who worked with... Read more
Elizabeth Duffy writes the best thing I’ve read in a long time — also the thing I most needed to hear, today and every day. My friend Karen noted that if the Synod does lead to a change in the Church’s approach to divorced and remarried Catholics, expediting the annulment process and their return to communion, it won’t be Catholic lay people who get a free pass, so much as the pastors who would no longer be entrusted with shepherding... Read more
There has been lots of thoughtful commentary about the Relatio. Sadly, it’s mostly been drowned out by panic or fist-pumping. It seems to me that many on both sides have quickly forgotten the substance of the Relatio (not to mention its context) in favor of finding the best ways to dismiss the other — at least on social media. Social media being what it is, we all tend to reduce other people’s positions to soundbites, GIFs, or memes. It makes... Read more
Gradualism is the new hotness at the Synod, according to John L. Allen, Jr., who reports that gradualism, “which not so long ago seemed on the verge of being stricken from the official lexicon, is back with a vengeance.” Predictably, hysteria has ensued and the blogosphere has once again lost its ever-loving mind. From equating gradualism with fornicating for Jesus to predicting that when your children need a condom, the bishops are going to “walk with them” to CVS, the... Read more
If I had a penny for every time someone asked me to stop blogging about something, I would be able to build a life-sized replica of the Statue of Liberty out of them. That may be a slight exaggeration, but it’s really only a slight one. The amount that people either ask or order bloggers to stop blogging about something really boggles the mind. It’s not just me, either. Every single blogging friend I have has been asked at least... Read more
The Extraordinary Synod on the Family is in full swing this week, and in my imagination, this is what’s going down behind Vatican walls: The Patheosi have been busy little hobbits over the summer, writing all kinds of pieces in anticipation of the Synod. I stuck with the subjects I know something about, since narrative, not logic, is my strong suit. I’ve gathered them here in case you’re curious, confused, or just killing time while you wait for Papa Francesco... Read more
My mom is visiting this week (yay!!!!) so I don’t have much time for thoughtful blogging, but the Ogre showed this to me this morning and I’m both disturbed and intrigued by it. I can’t see this helping much with that whole “kids getting sucked into video games and not eating or sleeping” thing. But on the other hand, Doctor Who in my living room. Read more
Last night I wanted to read the Psalms before bed, but when my Bible fell open in Jeremiah, I started reading. I don’t know why I did that; I knew better. My subconscious must have absorbed the way I’ve been reading the news for the past few days and programmed itself to follow the pattern: find the most sensational and frightening thing to read, then despair. Behold, I am against you, O proud one, says the LORD God of hosts;... Read more
At a campground in Western Australia over the weekend, a feral pig guzzled down 18 beers that had been left out improperly secured. And just like anyone 18 beers in at a rural dive bar, the pig got big-headed and decided to start a fight with a cow, resulting in the cow chasing the pig around a car. (Read the rest here) This delighted me. Happy Friday! Read more
Barefoot and Pregnant
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In