Linking Around: Violent Racism and Christian Conversion

Last updated on: August 16, 2017 at 3:21 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Following up from yesterday’s brief blurb on Joseph Pearce’s autobiography, over at the Register you can read his latest essay, “Charlottesville Through the Eyes of an Ex-White Supremacist.” At Aleteia, Patrick McNamera tells the history of Fr. John Markoe, who fought racism within and beyond the Church in the early 20th century. Longtime readers will recall I’ve shared in the past the conversion story of Nathan Bedford Forest: Nathan Bedford Forrest the fierce fighter, gambler, racist, and sinner….was a changed man.... Read more

Speaking of White Supremacists . . .

Last updated on: August 15, 2017 at 6:39 pm By Jennifer Fitz

. . . it is possible for people to change. Joseph Pearce’s autobiography Race With the Devil is worth a look if you want to know how that can happen. He gives a talk version of his story that makes a riveting presentation. Look him up and invite him to keynote your next event. Read more

Parsing the Data on “Childhood Gun Violence”

Last updated on: June 21, 2017 at 10:04 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Pediatrics has just released a study on childhood firearms injuries and deaths, and this CNN article is typical of the news coverage. Unless you read very carefully, deep into the article, you would get the idea that we are having an epidemic of young children shooting one another. (How do I feel about the stories like the one that opens the CNN article? As I’ve said on these pages: If you aren’t committed to keeping your firearms out of the hands... Read more

Pain Bleg Update –> How’s It Going, Jen?

Last updated on: June 20, 2017 at 2:25 pm By Jennifer Fitz

So if you post something like last month’s Name this pain bleg, it’s a good idea to update sooner, rather than later, when you rejoin the happy world of healthy-type people. Otherwise, every time you turn up some friend will peer at you with concern and ask gravely, “How are you?” If you are me, it’ll take you a minute to wonder why they are asking this way, because I’m somewhat forgetful in this regard. (My description of a particularly difficult bout of... Read more

Does the Catholic Faith Permit the Use of Artificial Wombs?

Last updated on: June 2, 2017 at 1:28 pm By Jennifer Fitz

If Brave New World is coming soon to a hospital near you, what does that mean for your premature baby? Over the Register, today I’m making predictions about what the next edition of The Catechism will have to say about “artificial womb” technology: Here at the Register, Angelo Stagnaro has recently expressed his grave concerns about the invention of “artificial wombs.” The technology in question is a medical device that simulates an unborn baby’s environment in utero. It is designed as an improvement over... Read more

Catholic? Like to Write? There’s a Conference for That

Last updated on: May 31, 2017 at 5:49 pm By Jennifer Fitz

I have always enjoyed writing. In school and then at work as an accountant, I was the person who ended up with the writing jobs. If you leave me with no computer for more than about a day, I will somehow get hold of pen and paper and start writing stuff. But I didn’t necessarily think of myself as a writer. I didn’t know how to make the transition from “person who likes to write” to “writer.” Obviously I’ve made... Read more

McDonald’s to Close Down After Accusations of Cultural Appropriation

Last updated on: May 25, 2017 at 8:17 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Just weeks after launching its Great Tastes of America burger series in the United Kingdom, McDonald’s Corporation reports it is shutting down amid accusations that they ripped off their recipes. The accusations arose after advertisements touted a “sweet and tangy South Carolina sauce” that some viewers believed may bear a vague resemblance to mustard-based barbecue sauces used in some regions of the state. Fox News reports: Though the eatery had been open for several months decades, the owners of Kooks McDonald’s were... Read more

Why Does the Ascension Matter?

Last updated on: May 26, 2017 at 4:34 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Jesus isn’t just a warm feeling before we slip into eternal nothing. Heaven is no abstraction. Read more

Bleg: Name this Pain

Last updated on: May 6, 2017 at 3:43 pm By Jennifer Fitz

Two interesting things happened this week: (1) I finally met the physician I’d been referred to last October, and now I know why there was a seven-month wait on appointments. The guy is both competent and humane (like Tod Worner, but a different guy). I like that in a doctor. (2) I’d been planning to tell him everything’s fine now, but actually it’s not fine. I’ve had a wind-up of fatigue and the same kind of pain I was having last... Read more

When Warfare Doesn’t Work

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 12:42 am By Jennifer Fitz

The excellent guest post at Simcha Fisher’s blog about the experience of being a Catholic woman in an abusive marriage provoked a heated discussion among several of my online friends. What is the good solution to this problem? Sometimes there is not a good solution. I’m as prone to, “If we just did ___” thinking as anyone else. Because I’m from Gunlandia, when I read about a domestic abuse victim shot at a school, my instant reaction is: What an injustice... Read more