Last night I learned another friend had fallen sick. This time, the illness was lymphoma. When I got the news, he was already in the ICU, hooked up to all sorts of things that go beep in the night. This morning, I learned he’d died. In calling this man a friend, I exaggerate a little. Nearly two years have passed since I last saw him. (Somehow, in spite of all the best scientific evidence, this seems far too short a... Read more
After reading Fr. Cory Sticha’s opinion piece on blessing kids in the Communion line, I wrote a priest friend to ask his own opinion. It turned out that the gentleman — who describes himself as a “fearless truth-teller, defender of orthodoxy, voice of decency in a decadent age and living, breathing affront to relativists everywhere” — has some very pronounced views on the sujbect: Kids. Can’t stand ’em. Monsters of ego, every one. You know how you can tell a... Read more
If, this Easter morning, I failed to leap out of bed and sing the praises of a risen Lord, I had good reason. My lower body bore the marks of a stressful pilgrimage. These included a blister an inch and a half long on my left arch, and a cut of about equal length on the right big toe. Add to those a certain soreness in the quadriceps, a tenderness in the hamstrings and a general enervation about the gluteus... Read more
Liturgical dancing! Even to speak the words means stirring the passions of anyone who believes the post-Conciliar Church became, and perhaps remains, too wordly, too progressive, or too people-friendly. They serve as a shorthand for aggiornamento gone wild. Once I posted a video of Stephen Colbert spastically jigging to “King of Glory” on a friend’s Facebook wall. A man of decidedly Traddish tastes, he posted back, “Coming soon to a Nervous Order Mass near you, I’m sure.” “Ha ha,” I... Read more
A little more than halfway through the film Romero, the title character, played by Raul Julia, walks nervously into a church that’s been occupied by the Salvadoran National Guard and announces his intention to remove the Eucharist. Expressing the contempt felt by the Salvadoran military establishment for the Church, an insolent, gum-smacking goon of a first sergeant empties his assault rifle into the tabernacle. Struck mute, Romero can do nothing, for the moment, but gape. It’s a wonderful scene. Unfortunately,... Read more
On its face, the legal justification for Trayvon Martin’s shooting — Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows citizens to use deadly force to protect themselves or others from harm — is race-blind. The question remains whether the same can be said for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who pulled the trigger. His father says absolutely so — George, a former altar boy, had plenty of black friends, and even some black relatives. Though some listeners claim to have... Read more
I haven’t visited my dad’s grave since I helped — per religious custom — to spade the dirt back into it. It’s in Upstate New York, about three hours north of the City. Since his death, ten years ago, I’ve made several trips to Manhattan, but these stays were so brief, and undertaken on such a shoestring budget, that to push farther always seemed too ambitious a project. My mother, from what I can tell, manages a visit to her... Read more
Heigh-ho, gang. Over here at Diary of A Wimpy Catholic, it’s been a melancholic week — less a case of “Why hast Thou forsaken me?” than “Why doth Thou not just forsake me and beget it over with, already?” If you relate well enough to my writing to have become a regular reader, you must know the drill firsthand, bless your heart. Around midweek, I began searching for a cheap, wholesome, non-addictive cure for the blues. My first stop was... Read more
Okay, here’s a list of the angles related to the Fr. Guarnizo controversy I’m not covering: 1. Whether or not Guarnizo was right to deny Communion to Barbara Johnson at her mother’s funeral Mass. (Canon law professor Ed Peters says no; at least half the people in Deacon Greg’s combox disagree with him.) 2. Whether the archdiocese has stated its real reasons for placing Guarnizo on administrative leave. (According to archdiocesan vicar-general Bishop Barry Knestout, it’s reacting to charges that... Read more
Byron is an old ASU classmate of mine. We lost touch in 2000, when he rejoined the army. Ten years later, he tracked me down on Facebook, and every month since then we’ve exchanged a few messages. The other day he PM’d me: “Turns out I have Asperger’s Syndrome. Does that freak you out?” “Not at all,” I wrote back. It was the truth. In fact, I might have added: “Et tu?” Just a few months earlier, an ex-girlfriend named... Read more
Diary of a Wimpy Catholic
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