Happy All Saints Day! I’ll be staying home with a cold, thank you. Which is why we want to talk about the super-novena that begins today and finishes up for Christmas. Here’s the story: I stink at praying. I used to be okay at it, but real life kicked me in the rear, and I’m not one of those people who takes every trial as an opportunity to watch less TV so they can pray even more. If, to... Read more
Put a sword on his belt and a cloak over his shoulders, and send him out to escort the short people. Tell him he’s not allowed to ask, but he is allowed to carry a satchel and accept tips if they’re offered. Do it right, and he won’t be lacking for properly-earned loot at the end of the night. He can have his manliness and his candy too. Photo: Lithuanian soldiers stand in formation to display traditional medieval armament during a... Read more
In light of the coming holiday and the TV show you should not watch, I’m running again my review of Matt Baglio’s The Rite, which I do recommend. A series of caveats follow, and then we talk. The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist, by Matt Baglio, Doubleday, 2009. Caveats: I see on the author’s page that the paperback has updated material in it — my comments here are based on the original hardback edition. I recommend this book, on the condition... Read more
I was raised on the kind of feminism that was about rejecting false stereotypes. Your hobbies, your tastes, your talents — none of these are what defines you as “male” or “female.” You can be a girl who likes sports (curiously, both my grandmothers played high school sports in the 1930’s — but that was Catholic schools, so it was different than normal, I guess) and woodworking and car repair, and that doesn’t make you less of a girl. Boys... Read more
My friend Lisa Mladinich asked me to write today on chapter six of her beautiful new book, True Radiance: Finding Grace in the Second Half of Life. Lisa’s going to be doing a giveaway of her book for readers of this blog over at her place, and yes, I completely forgot to ask whether that will be at AmazingCatechists.com or Water into Wine, so check both! I’ll update here when I have the direct link. (I explained to her that me putting things... Read more
For those who’ve followed the news from afar, The Catholic Miscellany has some great stories posted about the flooding in South Carolina: Here’s the story of a family rescued from their home as the waters hit chest-high on the ground floor: The first two boats wouldn’t start. Anxiety built, but eventually the neighbors were able to crank a pontoon boat and steered it toward the Duprees’ front door. Emory, 8, was trying to keep her 6-year-old brother, Watson, calm as her mom and dad explained... Read more
No no, I’ve got that headline wrong. It’s all about “dignity” when you tell a mentally-ill person, “Why yes, we would all be better off without you, thanks for asking.” Nothing confers more dignity on a suffering person than affirming for them that in fact you’d rather get rid of them, too. But no one’s making anyone kill their neighbor with this kindness, are they? On the contrary: If you’re a doctor in Quebec, you’ll be expected to kill patients regardless... Read more
Building on my previous post, I want to talk some more about the clash of expectations that leads to poverty-nagging. Today we’ll look at the “But she has a smartphone!” line of welfare reform proposals. Back in the 1980’s, my parents bought an IBM PC. This was when getting a computer (of any kind) in your home was first becoming common. It didn’t have a hard drive, it had a four-color monitor (black, white, pink, green), and it most certainly... Read more
Kat Fernandez recently shared her perennial post on poverty-nagging. What caught my attention was the blouse incident: He didn’t have to say yes, he’d help me, but he did. He also didn’t have to comment that I needed to learn to save money or note that I was wearing a new blouse, but he did. Never mind the “new” blouse was actually a hand me down or the idea of a savings was laughable making barely over minimum wage. He... Read more
I received a very flattering compliment about my recent post on teaching logic to teens, and I don’t wish to quibble with the kind soul who bestowed it on me. But there’s a secret I must reveal: Teaching teenagers is easier. What we are studying is the art of identifying bad arguments and replacing them with good ones. One of the tricks used in the book, and that I use in the class as well, is to assert things that... Read more
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