Finding the Frog: Egregious Twaddle on Pilgrimage

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 11:03 am By Joanne McPortland

In which we learn that pilgrimage cultivates a different way of seeing: We come to honor visionaries, and are expected to come away visionaries ourselves. Pilgrimage 2012, Day 4: Fatima to Salamanca, Spain, by way of Coimbra, Portugal I’ve gotten behind in posting, due to a combination of the exhaustion that accompanies cramming so many powerful experiences into each day and the instability of network connections. The downside is that you’re probably wondering whether, like that Italian sailor who hung... Read more

The Peace of the World: Egregious Twaddle on Pilgrimage

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 11:03 am By Joanne McPortland

“Tell everybody that God gives His graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask graces from her, . . . for the Lord has confided the peace of the world to her.” ~ A message from the Lady of Fatima, according to Lucia Pilgrimage 2012, Day 3: Fatima We pilgrims spent yesterday in Fatima. In the early morning, a tour of the Sanctuary, the huge devotional complex that encompasses the Chapel of the Apparitions on the site... Read more

Floating Martyrs, Desperate Housewives, and What Really Matters: Egregious Twaddle on Pilgrimage

Last updated on: September 14, 2015 at 6:38 pm By Joanne McPortland

On the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we venerated a miracle wrought by desperation, and experienced one of our own. Saturday, September 15: Lisbon to Fatima by way of Santarem Landing in Lisbon after our mad scramble through the 9 circles of Charles de Hell Airport yesterday, we met our guides Guida (her name means Guide, so she is Guida Our Guida) and Francoise and boarded our buses. We are a two-bus pilgrimage (the Red and the Blue; I’m... Read more

Hollowed Be Our Aim: Egregious Twaddle on Pilgrimage

Last updated on: February 29, 2016 at 6:22 pm By Joanne McPortland

Prepare to Yield. That’s what the sign flashed when we entered the departure lanes at Cincinnati/Northern KY International Airport yesterday (was that only yesterday?) afternoon. Other than Whan that Aprille with his shoures shoote, I can’t think of a more apt start to a pilgrimage. That’s what pilgrims are called to do, after all—to yield themselves to God’s will and the vicissitudes of the road, to let the Spirit blow them where the Spirit wills, to break down those resistances... Read more

The Dance of the Cross and the Crescent: Egregious Twaddle on Pilgrimage

Last updated on: February 29, 2016 at 6:21 pm By Joanne McPortland

Our bags are . . . well, not actually packed yet, but close. We’re . . . well, not exactly ready to go, but with a flurry of last minute chores (sync the iPad, stock up on protein bars, don’t forget the European plug adapters) we’ll be leaving on a jet plane tomorrow afternoon, after Mass at the Cathedral of St Peter in Chains in Cincinnati. Tomorrow, of course, is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and... Read more

‘Who Would True Valor See’: Egregious Twaddle Goes on Pilgrimage

Last updated on: February 29, 2016 at 6:20 pm By Joanne McPortland

We’re going on pilgrimage. You, me, the Archbishop of Cincinnati, and 80+ assorted pilgrims, hitting the road Friday for 10 days. We may be packing light, but we’re carrying priceless cargo—our prayers and those of others who’ve asked our intercession, the burdens and fears and and hurts and losses we long to lay in the lap of the Mother of God, the weight of our heart’s devotion. The Marian shrines of Portugal, Spain, and France are our destination, but we... Read more

Happy Birthday, Dear Mary!

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 11:03 am By Joanne McPortland

As with any family stories, some of the best family stories of our faith are embroideries, fashioned from tradition, love, and a longing for closeness with those who went before us. They tell us as much about ourselves as they do about our ancestors in faith. Today, September 8, the universal Church—East and West—celebrates Mary’s birthday. The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, the God-Bearer, in Orthodoxy) is one... Read more

Between Two Shores—But Not Lost

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 11:04 am By Joanne McPortland

As Church and as individuals, we are always neither here nor there. Up early on the West Coast, getting ready to fly back to Dayton, my heart (as always) in ribbons at leaving family for “family,” home of record for the place to which God inexplicably called me. I’m hearing Neil Diamond’s “I Am, I Said” in my head: Nowadays I’m lost between two shores: LA’s fine, but it ain’t home, New York’s home, but it ain’t mine no more.... Read more

Holier Than None–UPDATED

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 11:04 am By Joanne McPortland

Why are we so shocked when priests go rogue? After all, holiness isn’t applied with chrism. In the same week that a good part of the Catholic blogosphere was convening in Texas for the Catholic New Media Conference, and the Republicans were convening in Tampa for whatever it is they were convening for, and Hurricane-then-Tropical-Storm Isaac was convening to make the folks of the Gulf even more miserable, my external and internal news feeds filled up with reaction to two... Read more

A View from the Gentler Foothills

Last updated on: May 2, 2016 at 11:04 am By Joanne McPortland

My post refuting a Facebook meme on same-sex marriage continues to draw comments from people who challenge my right to say anything about this topic, even though I prefaced my remarks with quite a bit of personal history that contributes to my own ambiguity on the topic. I understand that I come across as doctrinaire and unfeeling, just as the Church does when she defines marriage. I understand that if it is your life that is being questioned or limited... Read more