Is Your Debate Style Passionate or . . . Poisoned?

Last updated on: January 6, 2021 at 3:26 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Later this month, I am co-hosting a small, pro-bono conference-retreat for Catholic communicators — professional and amateur writers, speakers, media personalities, and social-media conversationalists of every level. You can learn more about the conference, and request an invitation, here. The only firm requirement for attending is that you be someone who truly wants to eliminate bitterness and vitriol from your work as a Catholic evangelist. This is an area that is difficult for me to get my head around. Like... Read more

When you’re ready to change, Jesus is ready to heal you — Catholic pundit edition

Last updated on: December 15, 2020 at 10:23 am By Jennifer Fitz

This morning’s Gospel is the perfect text for conference-retreat I’m co-hosting in a month-and-change from now. Short version: If you or someone you know is tired of being bitter, obnoxious, and confrontational, but you also recognize that your passion for the truth of the Catholic faith is a gift from God, you aren’t alone. Please pass along the link to the Good Discourse conference-retreat coming up online the weekend January 22-24, 2021. Now, back to the Word from our Sponsor:... Read more

Fr. Rutler and Other Sinners

Last updated on: December 2, 2020 at 7:22 pm By Jennifer Fitz

I don’t always agree, even remotely, with what Rod Dreher has to say, but today he hits an awful lot of nails on their heads, in this fantastic reflection on sin, mercy, and the frailty of faith. To clarify before you go read it: I don’t think that the sins of Catholic priests are a good reason to leave the Church. I do think, though, that Rod’s story is one that every evangelist needs to hear. A few excerpts that... Read more

A Week in Politics and Church Scandals

Last updated on: November 11, 2020 at 9:28 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Happy Veteran’s Day! My favorite veteran-related post (from my own archives — many other people have done more and better) is here. The deceased veteran, a young man I never got to meet in person, son of a longtime internet friend and whom every year at this time I remember the most among all the veterans I have known more personally, is memorialized here. *** Blog silence over the past week or so is because I haven’t had anything helpful to... Read more

Mind the Triumphalism re: #ACB

Last updated on: October 27, 2020 at 10:44 am By Jennifer Fitz

Suggested Bible verse for conservatives who are raucously celebrating the confirmation Amy Coney Barrett: Proverbs 16:18. I say this as someone who has zero reservations about ACB’s appointment to the Supreme Court. I recognize that the Republicans who made excuses in 2016 rather than just saying, “We have the ability to block Obama’s nominations, and we do not like them, and therefore we will exercise our power to provide a check on the executive branch,” were foolishly, shamefully dishonest. Still, there... Read more

Feeling Pushed Towards Trump

Last updated on: October 23, 2020 at 11:44 am By Jennifer Fitz

This is a post about my feelings, and if you aren’t too thrilled with these feelings, welcome to the club. I write about them not because I’m going to tidy up the loose ends at the conclusion with a neatly reasoned-out policy recommendation, but because I think I am not alone in feeling this way, and so I think my current feelings are pertinent to the public discourse. Here is the feeling I am having: I am a never-Trumper who... Read more

Constitution-Friendly Health Care Reform

Last updated on: October 12, 2020 at 1:47 pm By Jennifer Fitz

I read through Senator Dianne Feinstein’s opening remarks on ACB’s confirmation hearings hoping to get more t-shirt ideas, but what I found instead was: I’m worried the healthcare law I passed is unconstitutional, and people will die as a result. I differ from Senator Feinstein in this worry, because I am a user of our post-ACA medical system and can attest: It’s still broken. My concern, therefore, is not whether a failed attempt at reform will stand up to court scrutiny,... Read more

Ways “Systemic Racism” Might Happen, Hospital Edition

Last updated on: October 2, 2020 at 1:43 pm By Jennifer Fitz

There are different definitions of what “systemic” can mean, and what it can mean specifically in terms of “systemic” racism. I don’t think it is necessary for ordinary people to sign off on every possible meaning of those terms in order to acknowledge that, in some form or another, there appears to be a disparity in outcomes that (a) creates obvious divides on racial lines and (b) is not so much about individual acts of discrimination as it is some... Read more

A Snapshot of Systemic Racism in Action

Last updated on: September 27, 2020 at 11:25 am By Jennifer Fitz

A series of three tweets caught my attention this morning, from Mandie Landry (@votelandry), a Catholic lawyer and representative of Louisiana’s District 91. In the first tweet, she establishes her Catholic credentials and that she is pro-choice. #Prochoice is also in her Twitter bio, so this is clearly an issue she campaigns on, or at least strongly identifies with. In the second tweet, which is a reply to the first so we can infer that one thought leads to the... Read more

How to Defeat AI Disinformation Campaigns

Last updated on: September 21, 2020 at 11:01 am By Jennifer Fitz

At The Atlantic: “The Supply of Disinformation Will Soon Be Infinite” explains the advances in machine-generated propaganda. How can we trust anything we read? Guys. The solution requires just two steps, one easy and one slightly more difficult, and both of which have been part of the human toolbox since before the dawn of language — if lying monkeys are to be believed. #1 Learn How to Think Currently circulating among my internet friends (I know!) is an astonishingly badly written... Read more