Can Catholics Celebrate Pride Month?

June 1, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

It’s Pride Month again. It’s a strange, often paradoxical mixture of corporate sponsorship and revolutionary fervor. Pride means celebration, mourning, fellowship and a lot – a lot – of infighting. This year, the biggest debates center around gay police and kink. The debate about Catholics marching in pride is considerably less central. But for myself, and many LGBTQ+ Catholics, it carries top priority. Here in New York, there are a few Catholic parishes, all Jesuit, that regularly send contingents to the Pride parade.... Read more

In Political and Moral Debate, Hypocrisy is a Red Herring

May 24, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

Are people fundamentally good or fundamentally selfish? The debate on human nature is one of the oldest, and silliest, arguments of all time. People are a tangled mix of motivations. Most people genuinely want to be good, but they also want what’s best for them personally. In the attempt to balance conflicting desires, they may not even notice their own hypocrisy. We love to point out hypocrisy in the behaviors of people we disagree with. Standard logic teaches that inconsistency is evidence... Read more

My Mask is Not a Political Statement (At Least, It Shouldn’t Be)

May 17, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

On Thursday afternoon, my husband stuck his head into our bedroom, where my work-from-home setup is located, and announced that the pandemic was over. “What the h*** are you talking about?” was my measured response. “The CDC says if you’re vaccinated you don’t have to wear a mask, basically anywhere.” I couldn’t help myself. I cheered. Of course, the pandemic is far from over. My husband knows this, and so do I. India is in the midst of a devastating... Read more

If Mother’s Day Was Hard For You, Celibrate Your Holiday Today

May 10, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day, a day of honoring and thanking our mom’s for doing the enormous, and often thankless, job of raising humans. In my family, this has usually meant Mass and brunch with Mom, gifts, cards, and a visit from Grandma. Unfortunately, due to work obligations and distance, I was not able to celebrate with my family in person. My Mom knows I love her, but due to other ongoing circumstances, my absence was a little harder this... Read more

To Deny Joe Biden Communion is to Commit Scandal

May 3, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

This June, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will vote on whether to to formally deny Holy Communion to President Joe Biden. President Biden, like so many of us, is a devout yet dissenting Catholic. For some Catholics, this seems like a contradiction in terms. How can a person claim to be devout while also dissenting? In reality, it’s pretty simple. People have consciences. They believe in the basic theological tenets of Catholicism, the Eucharist, and the Creed. As... Read more

Is Celibacy a Higher Calling? Does It Even Matter?

April 26, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

The Catholic Church has long taught that celibacy is the highest vocation. This is, to put it gently, a really confusing teaching. Every six months or so, the celibacy discussion rears it’s ugly head online and lends itself to egoism, misunderstanding, and hurt. This entire discussion is completely unnecessary. What does this teaching even mean, and what practical applications does it have for lay people? (Spoilers: 1. Not what you think and 2. Not many.) What Is Celibacy All About?... Read more

Hello, Religious Privilege is Good and Here’s Why

April 19, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

On Wednesday’s episode of The Daily, A Legal Winning Streak for Religion, The New York Times took aim at what they describe as religious privilege. Religious privilege is when religious people are afforded certain legal exceptions that others are not. On it’s face, this seems like a terrible idea and a grave injustice. But bear with me a moment. Because a certain degree of religious privilege is the only way to guarantee meaningful religious freedoms, especially for religious minorities. And... Read more

St. Thomas and the Receipts

April 12, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

This Divine Mercy Sunday, we heard the story of St. Thomas. We’ve heard it a million times before. Thomas missed out on meeting the resurrected Jesus, because he was off fishing. (Fishing? Herding sheep? Details, I’m not sure.) When the other apostles told Thomas what they had seen, he famously responded “Show me the receipts.” Or something like that. Thomas had good reason to have doubts. The dead, after all, generally stay that way. But while this story is often... Read more

Easter 2021, Season of Renewal

April 3, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

Yesterday was a Good Friday I will remember for the rest of my life. I received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a CVS on Staten Island. While Easter is always a time of renewal, of symbolically coming back to life, this year is especially poignant. Flowers are blooming, yes. But neighborhoods are also reviving. Friends will be reuniting soon. Churches will be full again. All of this, of course, will come with precaution and limitation. But there... Read more

My Veil Keeps Slipping (A Holy Week Reflection for Sinners)

March 29, 2021 By Emily Claire Schmitt

My black mantilla is gorgeous, as is the thought behind it. It’s a gift from my husband’s grandmother, who knows about my appreciation for chapel veils. “It will be perfect for Holy Week,” I observed when I unwrapped it. “And the lace is so soft.” Ah, the paradox of the chapel veil. It’s an archaic tradition full of mixed messages and missed signals. Although intended as a tool for modesty, I was initially drawn to chapel veils for their beauty.... Read more