There’s a group in my region that provides help to women feeling they have no choice but to abort. They pray at the local Planned Parenthood, and on mornings when abortions are performed, they are available in the immediate vicinity to assist any parent who asks for their help. In the past few weeks they’ve helped a young man who wanted to support his girlfriend through her pregnancy, but she was feeling like abortion was the only option. They’ve helped… Read more
June 19, 2018
Confession – Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe
June 19, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
In light of Australia’s new law requiring priests to break the seal of confession, a friend asked for some tutorials on the sacrament for sharing with those who don’t really understand what the issues are. Starting with the basics, here is Catholic TV’s primer on How to Go to Confession. Catholics Come Home has this excellent collection of resources on why we go to Confession and how it’s done. Did Catholics just make this stuff up? (“Medieval invention” maybe?) By… Read more
June 18, 2018
What Kind of Crime is Illegal Immigration?
June 18, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
In the present debate over what to do with illegal immigrants and their children, there seem to be two main camps: Those who see innocent people in a desperate situation, who deserve to be treated with as much kindness and help as possible. Those who see law-breakers, albeit in a desperate situation, who must be dealt with firmly, no differently that native-born criminals must often face harsh consequences. Call it: Why do you hate families? vs. Why do you hate… Read more
June 13, 2018
How Ideological Purity Destroys Real Purity
June 13, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
The latest in the Ideological Purity Wars is the public shaming and repentance of Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey for the sin of posting that he’d gotten a discount at Chick-fil-A, this month of all months. As I understand it, the reason for his tweet was to promote his company’s “boost” cashback reward program. The trouble is that obviously the man has been eating all the wrong chicken. Why would someone as woke as Jack Dorsey eat ideologically unsound… Read more
June 13, 2018
Blogging Around: Suicide, Evangelization, St. Anthony, and Competent Teens
June 13, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
It’s been a crazy few weeks here as school wrapped up, the internet went down (why no, a merger of AT&T and Time Warner does not cheer my heart), and I’ve been trying to get a few big projects knocked out. But fear not, the internet has not been entirely deprived of my presence! For your reading pleasure: Surviving the Suicide of Someone You Love Patheos blogger Leticia Adams and her colleague Gabe Jacobs talk with me about what it’s like… Read more
June 1, 2018
Can a Protestant Church Get “Too Catholic”?
June 1, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
South Carolina is basically one big small town, so the odds are high that I have kin or acquaintance at Red Bank Baptist Church. I have nothing ill to say about the place, not even after the congregation’s latest art problem went viral. I do think, however, that there’s something Patheos readers across the channels should be thinking about in the whole “Too Catholic” problem. It’s Not About the Art There is nothing to be gained by quibbling over whether… Read more
May 21, 2018
Who’s Protected by the Current Irish Abortion Laws?
May 21, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
One of the myths about abortion laws — lately the Irish amendment, but it could be any country’s — is that if abortion isn’t legalized, doctors will be obliged to let women die of fatal complications of pregnancy. So let’s look at a case in present-day Ireland (pre-repeal) and see if that is true. Over at The Catholic Conspiracy, budding blogger Leah Gaines tells the story of her daughter Naomi, born at 26 weeks, 4 days: My first two pregnancies went… Read more
May 18, 2018
Economy with an “O” & Other Good Stuff
May 18, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
I haven’t read it yet, but with great joy I see that there’s something more interesting than Laurel & Yanny on the internet this week: “‘Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones’. Considerations for an ethical discernment regarding some aspects of the present economic-financial system” of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, 17.05.2018 *** For those who are wondering how I’ve fallen off the internet again, the answer is that I’ve been doing… Read more
April 25, 2018
What Happens When We Abandon Subsidiarity #AlfieEvans
April 25, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
Subsidiarity is the organizing principle that a matter should be handled by the lowest level of authority competent to handle it. This is why, for example, we have potty-training: It’s important for parents to change diapers up to a certain point, but then one day your child becomes capable of handling matters for himself, and needs to be taught to do so. The same is true of family life: Inasmuch as your family is able to choose its own meals, employment,… Read more
April 11, 2018
How Easy it is to Watch Facebook’s Demise
April 11, 2018 By Jennifer Fitz
A couple days ago a friend of mine, and then a second one, announced on Facebook that they’d started up an account on MeWe. Within another twenty-four hours, more friends were doing the same, and two of the groups I’m most active in had counterpart-groups started up at the new (to us) platform. Today I see that my Patheos colleague Father Longenecker is making the move. It was the first announcement though that got my attention, because it was Tom… Read more
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