The Catholic Bard is the one blog I love to read. I recommend everyone read it. –Pope Francis (Leader of the Catholic Church)

2 years ago the Patheos Catholic  grand poobah Rebecca Bratten Weiss decided to take me in and graft me into the Patheos Catholic family. This has so far this has been my first and only real  professional writing gig. Kristin and I published our first post on Mother’s Day May 10, 2020. Now on this May 10, 2022 Post 400 has been published. God willing will publish 400 + more posts.

Rebecca for some reason believed in an unknown Facebook commenter who left his opinion on several FB posts of different Patheos writers. I also compiled a list of quotes in a document on my unknown and unread blogger blog, Joking with Immortals.  She is very kind and generous, passionate and fiery person. Thanks Rebecca for giving a focus to expanding my creative skills as a writer.

I originally wanted to call this blog Joking with Immortals but went with Kristin’s title of Catholic Bard.

With all the chaos going on in the world and even in our own little corner of it, its’ good to remember that everyone around us have been brought into existence and are now a permanent part of it. Lets remember that before we comment negatively about someone else.  C.S. Lewis reminds us that…

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (1942) Joking With Immortals | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Here is a guide to our posts.

Catholic Bard Easy Access Part 3 | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Happy Mother’s Day to All Mothers (2 days ago)

Some Writing Goals for the Future.

I would like to grow my readership. Not sure how.

I am really unsure how many people actually read this blog.

This post has generated more then 290 comments. Most likely all of them are SPAM.

So the bots are reading it.

The Way I Write Now

I believe you write the way you read.

If your someone like me who is constantly skimming their way through mostly online articles and blogs and grabbing bits and chunks of them, you’ll end up writing posts with lots of other people’s quotes. If your constantly browsing and surfing and catching titles and synopsis of things you’ll end up like me by making lists of books, movies, music, and other people with perhaps links and videos of them in your blog post.

I guess that is what type of writer I am. What Type(of)Writer Are You?  

My Writing Partner

Kristin doesn’t do as much writing as I would like her to. Her well is dry. But I would like her to contribute more to this blog. Actually I would like other friends and writers to contribute to this blog as well. Sometimes I came home from work and want to dash to my room to write for our blog but my wife wants  me to spend time with her. She asks me if spending time with her watching TV or playing games is more important than writing to a bunch of strangers. Of course I told her it was.

Kristin Speaks

Hello, most of you don’t know me.  Statically speaking almost none of you do.  My name is Kristin Wilson.  I was born and raised in the United States, though according to one of those spit collection tests I am primarily Irish, with skin white like snow covered in brown dots that look like they are trying to reach out to one another, otherwise known as freckles. I call it my Celtic pigment.

I write poetic thoughts, while Mark mostly quotes from here or there, from the dead as well as the living.  I’m not nearly as tech savvy as my dear husband.  That being said, I let him take the reigns and run with the Catholic Bard.  Tonight as we talked about the anniversary of what was going to be a joint effort, I agreed to start contributing to the Catholic Bard much more frequently.  That being said (or written) I hope you enjoy poems that look at prayer, reflection, realities of our world today written by a 47 year old woman who is disabled, a Secular Carmelite, a wife, mother and grandmother who is quick to laugh, yet prone to cry.  I am many more things besides this and I looking forward to sharing a bit of my spiritual life and thoughts with you as a Catholic Bard.

   Some of Kristin’s Poetry:

There is too much noise,
too much busy,
too much clutter
I want to throw it all away
to scrap the unneeded
buried below is the whisper
of
Our Jesus

Sometimes time flies faster than the speed of light
and you suddenly realize a week has past or even a month
You work, you pray and you help others, and you spend time with your family then you tweet about it
then time keeps flying before you know it eternity will be yours

    Writing Right Now

I want to keep writing Writing Right Now. This is the new version of Last Week in Life where I do a sort of week in review. I find relevant timely well written articles and I put a spotlight on them.  I noticed that the National Catholic Register has something similar called The Best in Catholic Blogging. And Deacon Greg Kandra does a lot of similar highlighting of stuff in the blogs he puts out. So I’m not in bad company.

Examples of who is WRN

Ultimately, season two of Russian Doll is about Nadia’s realization that her present and future self is inextricably tied to who her ancestors were and what happened to them. Nadia comes to see that she is not her own creation and cannot care for herself alone—a discovery depicted in a mind-bending storyline in an episode where Nadia gives birth to herself. At the same time, Alan, who travels to 1962 East Berlin where his Ghanaian grandmother is a student, realizes he cannot change the past but can only appreciate it more deeply as the means of forming his character to effect his present circumstances. When Alan speaks to a young version of his grandmother, she reassures him, “There’s no other way that it was supposed to have been.”
ANDREW PETIPRIN “Russian Doll” Flourishes in the Present Thanks to the Past (MAY 6, 2022)  Word on Fire

Even while advocates on both sides of the issue will argue to change those laws (arguments will now be subject to political compromise rather than adjudication solely at the Supreme Court) there will remain a need for public policies that reduce the demand for abortion by helping people avoid unintended pregnancies and offering the resources needed to make welcoming a child easier, safer and more economically secure. Such resources, as pro-choice advocates often point out, are likely to effect a greater reduction in the number of abortions than legal restrictions alone ever can. Cooperation toward those ends requires a deescalation of the zero-sum conflict between pro-lifers and pro-choicers that has too often been the dynamic under Roe.
Sam Sawyer, S.J  I support overturning Roe. But pro-lifers need to understand why so many Americans fear this decision.  (May 06, 2022) America Magazine

Deeper Dive

I would like to deep dive into more singular issues.

News of the day.

The coronavirus has spread across the world like a flaming fire, destroying anyone and everyone in its deadly path. It has touched rich and poor, famous and unknown alike. As I write these words a friend of mine is in the hospital unconscious due to covid-19. I work in a nursing home where several people have died due to this virus. But there is an even deadlier disease that has spread throughout the world. One that doesn’t kill the body, but one that kills the soul. That is racism.

As the new millennium approaches, there remains another great challenge facing this community of St. Louis, east and west of the Mississippi, and not St. Louis alone, but the whole country: to put an end to every form of racism, a plague which your Bishops have called one of the most persistent and destructive evils of the nation.
JOHN PAUL II HOMILY St. Louis, January 27, 1999

On memorial day 2020 when we are supposed to be remembering the brave sacrifice our uniformed men and women gave to our country, we instead witnessed a spark of hate that has ignited an internal war. The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has helped bring a spotlight to this killer and has birthed a reaction to it.  Protests and civil unrest have arisen in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas, Little Rock, Ark., Atlanta, Seattle, St. Paul, Minn., Miami, Charleston, W. Va., Columbia, S.C., Houston, Chicago, Trenton, N.J., Brockton Ma, just to name a few. And this spiritual unrest has also spread to Melbourne Australia, Beijing, and Paris.

Catholic spiritual stuff.

We can also suffer a spiritual darkness. This is not apathy but the opposite, mixed with suffering that feels like depression or loneliness. Who do we miss in this instance? God. Even if we are trying to pray, attending daily Mass, receiving the sacraments etc. Our greatest Love seems to be hiding Himself from us. That feels painful.

God never promised that Christians would not suffer. The gospel of prosperity is a lie. Jesus himself suffered a lot. He died for us. We are meant to offer up our sufferings. In doing so we are relying more on God and less on ourselves. He is our true happiness. It sometimes happens that when a spiritual suffering of this sort seems to end, we are more joyful and more in love with Jesus than we might have been had we not suffered at all. You Did Not Lose Jesus | Kristin Wilson (patheos.com)

After I read this part to Kristin she said to me, “that sounds like something I would write.”

I told her, “you did write it.”

“I did?” she said surprised.

Cool Interesting Stuff

Before Tom Cruise became a spy, a fighter of aliens and a hot shot navy pilot and lawyer, he was actually in the seminary and on his way to become a potential priest. But alas he took his path down a different road then the Catholic church and became a scientologist. Who knows what would have happened had he become Fr. Cruise. He made his film debut  in a minor role in Endless Love and then a major role in Taps both released in 1981.

And now image this possibility for election year 2020

Catholic (mostly) Entertainment Trivia | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Weird interesting stuff.

If you want to eat something with an unbelievable unlikely very intense taste that reminds you of spicy Mediterranean pastures with a delicious aftertaste that stays with you for hours, head to the Italian island of Sardinia that sits in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea. There you can dine and enjoy the delicacy known as Casu marzu ,The World’s ‘Most Dangerous’ Cheese, as dubbed by the Guinness World Records.

What causes Casu marzu (rotten cheese) to be dangerous (as well as delicious) is the generosity of the Cheese skipper flies (Piophila casei) who lay their eggs in the cracks that form in cheeses, usually the Sardinia cheese fiore sardo, the island’s salty pecorino.

Maggots emerge from the eggs and make their way through the cheesy paste, digesting proteins as they mender along, and transform the product into a soft creamy cheese.
CB WIRE March 15 – March 21, 2021 The World’s Most Dangerous Cheese | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Particular Individuals

I want to continue to highlight particular individuals or different apostolates.

I have written posts focusing on Mark Shea  Fr. Stephanos Pedrano ,Jimmy Akin ,  Rebecca Bratten Weiss , Fr. Casey Cole   Steve Skojec  Independent Recording Artist  Katie Curtis   Fr. James Martin,   Dave Armstrong, Scott Eric Alt, Thomas Howard  Fr. Matthew P. Schneider LC  Mary Pezzulo and others in posts featuring more then one person.

Clare Crockett’s goal was to become a Hollywood star. She was a party girl interested in beer and hooking up with boys. That is until God transformed her life at 17. She eventually became Sr. Clare Crockett. She was part of the community of Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother that was headquartered in Valencia, Spain. She served in various places including Jacksonville, Florida and became a missionary sister in Ecuador.  On April 16, 2016, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador, killing at least 676 people, including Sr. Clare Crockett.

Two years later her order released a film about her remarkable life in both English and Spanish. “All or Nothing: Sr. Clare Crockett” now has more than 3.5 million views on YouTube.  Just this month the nun responsible for the movie Sr. Kristen Gardner released a book on September 8, 2020 about her life  called “Sr. Clare Crockett: Alone with Christ Alone” .

Already reports of miracles are being reported to her community including fertility miracles attributed to Sr. Clare’s intercession.  I hope that reports of miracles continue to pour in, as I and probably many others would like to see her canonized. She is a very inspiring soul who I hope more people learn about.

She is the Patron Heavenly Companion of the Catholic Bard.

Honestly, the vocation to the religious life is such a great gift that it confuses the person chosen. God fixes His gaze on a poor soul so that she can live with Him and in Him, and in that way help Him save the world. That really is crazy… but, blessed craziness! We would be crazy if we did not respond to what God asks of each one of us, because what He asks is the best for us. We have been created for great things, not for comfort.- Sister Clare Crockett.

TTTCC and BCCT

I don’t want to continually focus on these two things in my writing but still want to publish blog posts with these two subject matters in mind having to do with quotes. I quote all types of Catholics. Liberal, Conservative, and in between. Catholics I agree with, Catholics I disagree with. Even non-Catholics and non-Christians as long as they don’t say things that contradict a Catholic worldview. I hope I never do. I do this in two ways.

The diversity of thought within Catholic teaching, like variety within the strictures of sonnets,  is one of its most beautiful features. It is nevertheless important to listen, as much as we can, to a broad chorus of Catholic thinkers. I have found great consolation in the fact that someone holier and smarter than myself has likely asked my questions already; my job is to find them and to listen, and then to make as many people as possible read block quotations about it.
Sharon Kabel , OSB vs. UFO: Stanley Jaki and the Theology of Aliens (June 16, 2021)- OnePeterFive

My seemingly bottomless capacity for distraction and sheer lassitude (“oh look, something new on Facebook!”) knows no limits. I am addicted to “push notifications” (like the latest missive from “uber eats” dinging on my iPhone and beckoning to me with Pavlovian power) and feel almost depressed when my phone falls silent for longer than half an hour. Doesn’t anybody love me anymore? I am a person too you know! Where is my digital dopamine? “Only one ‘Like’ for my last Facebook post of my dog? Seriously? Who are you fools anyway? Don’t you see my genius? Time to get serious and ‘unfriend’ some of these slackers. You don’t appreciate my dog photos? I better write something about why cats are Satan’s Marionettes.” Then there is the ever present temptation of the “academic” on Facebook: “I better respond to this comment since if I don’t defend Balthasar and de Lubac who will? … Crap… that took two hours.” Larry Chapp, The New Word on Fire Liturgy of the Hours and Bishop Barron Derangement Syndrome | Gaudium et Spes 22

Janet@Mystagogy1013:  Tweeting to the choir gives us all support and encouragement, which is much needed in these days.

Owl! at the Library ��‍♀️@SketchesbyBoze (May 3)
a good friend will say “I love you.” a great friend will say “the Ring of Power forged by Sauron himself is now in your possession,” thus launching a quest that will change the course of your life.

More Reviews

I want to watch more movies and write good reflected movie reviews on them.

I couldn’t help but think of Father Stu as Fr. Wilson was talking about being washed from sin and the importance of confession, and the priesthood, and my wife being stuck in the kneelers. It is the phenomenal new film starring Mark Wahlberg (Daddy’s Home), Mel Gibson (Daddy’s Home 2) Jacki Weaver (Penguin Bloom)  and Malcolm McDowell (St. Patrick: The Irish Legend). It is about the life of the irreligious hard drinking foul mouthed boxer who eventually became a priest. A priest who consecrated the Eucharist and forgave people’s sins in the confessional. Kristin and I saw it right before going to Mass and the overall tone and emotional impact of the film stuck in my mind as I prayed and participated in the mass. The film brought laughter and tears to both of us as it told a very human and spiritual story. Fr. Stu Unstuck and Washed From Sin | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

‘Despite being a predictable unrealistic cliched driven show with characters who should be dead because they do incredibly stupid things that would get anyone killed, it’s compelling to watch for some strange reason. It’s probably something about kids running away from dinosaurs.  

The movie Belfast was really sad. But it really was basically how it was for these people. I went to Ireland in 1982 for the first time.  It really wasn’t all that long ago when you think about it

Even though we listen to the IRA songs by the Wolftones growing up, I hadn’t thought too much about the true true reality of the sufferings of the Irish people and the conditions in Northern Ireland.

In 1996 I went to Northern Ireland for the first and only time so far and as my family and I drove around, especially through Belfast. While driving through that city we locked the doors of the car and did not park it or get out of it. The reason being is because my father was too afraid.  I noticed the neighborhoods with barbed wire on their fences. I can’t imagine how I would react if I lived through the horrors of those Northern Irelanders and the prejudices they experienced. The movie reflects this unfortunate reality rather well.

It reminded Mark of the Wonder Years as a man looks back on his childhood, minus the narration.

It reminded Kristin of the time the Nazi’s went and smashed the windows of all the Jewish business in Germany during WWII.

Judi Dench was in the movie playing the role of a caring though old grandmother. Though I do not know alot about her personal life, I always enjoy her as an actress and did not recognize her at first or second. My husband had to point her out and even then I was not sure.

I want to read more books and write book reviews on them.

It’s not just a book you read through, but a book you can study. In the book Deacon Greg gives a catechesis on prayer coupled with interesting stories from his life and those of others. Some stories that stand out is his prayerful life as a subway rider on his way to work, his visit to a Trappist monastery and his love of pie. He ends each chapter with something to Consider. This consists of  comments from well known and lesser known ordinary praying Catholics. This helps to give the reader a perspective of their baptized brothers and sisters who are journing on the same road of faith they are. He also gives the reader a prayer exercise to Try and a original Prayer to pray. CB Book Reflection: The Busy Person’s Guide to Prayer | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

And maybe do more things like this.  In this writing segment I give my wife a title of a book and ask her to tell me what she thinks it is about. She has never heard of the book before, so she is going in blank. Here is what it looks like.

Discovery!

It is about the history/founding of the Discovery channel.

I then read her the real description.

Sisters Ann, Tommie and Rita are part of a classified mission to explore an alien ship that has crash landed on an asteroid three billion miles from earth. Humanity’s first contact with beings from beyond the solar system is bound to unlock the mystery of life in the universe, but the crew have their own secrets; hidden fears, desires, horrible sins – and a mission to kill. Researchers discover something unique about the third arm of the ship: something wonderful, something terrifying. Something holy. This discovery challenges Rita and Ann to confront their own pasts in order to secure the safety of the mission and the very souls of the crew.

She then gives her reaction.

So I wasn’t even close. But I do hope they have a priest with them. I wouldn’t want them to miss Sunday mass or any holy days.

Lizzy and the Cloud

Kristin’s Guess: It is about someone whose real name is Elizabeth. This is a children’s story. Her imaginary friend is a cloud. This cloud can take many shapes depending on Lizzy’s mode.

The Actual Description: From the critically acclaimed, award-winning creators of Ocean Meets Sky and The Night Gardener comes a whimsical and sweet tale of a young girl who cares for her pet cloud as it grows.

It’s a little out of fashion to buy a pet cloud, but Lizzy doesn’t mind. She’s not looking for a big one or a fancy one, just one that’s right for her. And she finds it in Milo.

Soon, she’s taking Milo out on walks with her family, watering Milo right on schedule, and seeing Milo grow and grow. But what happens when her pet cloud gets too big for Lizzy to handle?

Kristin’s Reaction: Wow! I wasn’t that far off. Considering the story could have been about practically anything. To be honest I did glimpse a picture of the book while Mark was reading up on it.

I want to write some reviews of tmusical albums.  Not just snipps of certain ones.

Their is both an objective and subjective aspect to music.

Not everyone sings along together to the same radio station.

A song can be constructed together with all the right cords, carefully arranged words and well orchestrated musical notes but still be disliked by an individual in much the same way a person might not like the taste of a fancy gourmet meal prepared by a master chief. Some people just prefer something off the dollar menu at McDonalds.

A song can also be terribly written lyrical and musically but yet still be sung with gusto by someone who has let that song seep into their soul by way of their ears.

You can just stick with songs stuck in your head that you know by every heartbeat of the track or like me you can venture out into the world of unknown music and add new tunes to your ever expanding playlist.

With all the melodies being produced and distributed online, it can be hard to keep track of new and upcoming works of poetic toe tapping sing-alongs.

You haven’t heard it all.

Here is one such song with a great beat and even greater poetic reflection that caused this reflection by Kristin.

This song ‘Somebody’s Daughtehr by Tenille Townes reminds me of my daughter.  She has a estranged herself from us. And I wait to hear from police that she is in jail or was found dead. While I also think of the happy times we had with her when we would laugh or just spend time getting to know one another. Now I worry about where she is and wonder if there was anything we should have done differently that could have saved her from her unhealthy life she now lives now as far as we know. Please keep her, the boyfriend and their daughter/our granddaughter in your prayers.

Interviews

I have a interview I did with someone that I have not finished editing yet. I want to do more stuff like that as well. Somehow I was able to get this very well known Catholic to have a written interview with me.

In his first ever interview about the show, Jimmy graciously let the Catholic Bard know the secrets of the Mysterious World podcast.

CB: What is the Mysterious History of Mysterious World? Where did it begin?

JA: About 15 years ago, I was taking a road trip around the desert Southwest, and I visited Roswell, New Mexico. I started thinking about writing a book called Jimmy Akin’s Book of the Weird, which would look at things like UFOs, Bigfoot, and the Kennedy Assassination and evaluate them from the perspectives of faith and reason. Because of various factors at the time, that didn’t come together, but it was the core concept of what became Mysterious World. Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious Interview | Mark Wilson (patheos.com)

Satire and Fiction

I would like to write more things like this.

Write a Book

Perhaps write a real book someday. Either fiction or non. Maybe a best of Catholic Bard with selected writings. Kristin has written a few e-books.

Publications – Catholic Bard (patheos.com)

And other things I haven’t even thought of or remembered.

Non-writing goals

Develop a more active prayer life.

Life a full Catholic Life.

Don’t Miss Daily Mass when I have an opportunity to go.

Reconnect with friends and family I haven’t spoken to for quite some time.

Clean the  Condo and keep it clean.

Learn Doodily

Resurrect my video making skills.

Go on more adventures and holidays with my wife.

I hope I can continue to write and expand my skills and I thank you for reading and hope you will still read the Catholic Bard.