Three follow-ups re: Family Honor: I had some questions about Family Honor that I’d like to answer for anyone else wondering the same thing. I just got an update on the online course in my inbox, which I share below. Here’s a round-up of chastity resources I put together for CatholicMom.com. FYI – I’m not an official spokesperson for the group, I’m just a fangirl. My opinions are purely my own. First question from a reader: Has anyone done this in... Read more
Time for another cultural update from the backwards southerners, and to get us started let’s hear from the guy so southern and backward nobody can stand him: 129. In order to continue providing employment, it is imperative to promote an economy which favours productive diversity and business creativity. For example, there is a great variety of small-scale food production systems which feed the greater part of the world’s peoples, using a modest amount of land and producing less waste, be... Read more
In my reading this past week I was struck by a passage that seemed to sum up the state of the Catholic Church in the United States today. It’s describing a completely different time and place, but if we switch out a few words (noted by italics), we get: Indeed, the effects of doctrinal and liturgical conflict were even more far-reaching than changing religious attitudes and parish membership patterns suggest. A decade of “enforting themselves,” of hearing the horror stories of refugees and the... Read more
So I spent NFP Awareness Week cleaning my house. Not just ordinary cleaning, but epic, Biblically-proportioned it’s as if we’re trying to get our life in order cleaning. Not done yet, but one can only make so many decluttering decisions before it’s necessary to run away and ride roller coasters all day, which I also did. There are scripture verses about this. But fear not, we do NFP all year around here. Technically the bishops do, too, but probably they try... Read more
Patheos is hosting a symposium on “The Future of Faith in America” and you can read the Catholic highlights at Elizabeth Scalia’s place. I don’t do predictions, but I do like strategy, so let’s talk about that. We Have Everything Going For Us If we want it, the Catholic faith could be on the verge of a renewal to knock the socks off all the other renewals. In our favor: Being Catholic today is weird and countercultural. It’s not something you... Read more
Or a coconut? Pineapple, I think. Yeah, pineapple. Good thing I pre-prayed today’s Gospel, because I was getting nothing at all when I went back at it this morning. Conveniently I had already come up with just what I needed to hear. The introduction, which just happened to match this morning’s state of mind: Take my yoke upon you . . . and you will find rest. Lord, I am willing to suffer anything for You. I offer up all... Read more
Max Lindenman has been on a roll with his essays lately, and his piece on people determined to fix the South is insightful as always. I especially like the bit about how the South is dragging the rest of the country down, and the US would be some Euro-Canadian paradise if it weren’t for those backwards folk wrecking our numbers. You’d almost think someone’s arguing for secession after all. I’m not going to contest these claims. Let me assure you, the... Read more
Shortly after the Supreme Court decision imposing same-sex marriage laws, I read this reaction from Lindsey at A Queer Calling: If you were to ask me to name my top fear, I would tell you that I am most afraid of Sarah losing health care access. Currently, Sarah’s health care access rests entirely on my employer extending coverage to domestic partners. We first opened the conversation about protecting ourselves legally over 20 months ago. We’ve been encouraged to grant one... Read more
UPDATE: Here’s the link to the Quick Give form (hosted by OSV), where you can designate your gift to be used for Catholic Radio. From in the inbox, a request for help from St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Columbia, SC, to fund a local radio station ASAP. This was a bit of a surprise, and is a use-it-or-lose-it situation. Details in the pastor’s letter: At the end of the three Sunday Masses I celebrated last weekend, I announced that... Read more
H/T to Joe Long for the link to this history of the conversion of Nathan Bedford Forrest, which begins by explaining just how unconverted the man was: Nathan went on to become a very successful and wealthy businessman. Though uneducated and “backwoods” by nature, he was a skilled entrepreneur, albeit in an immoral trade. He made his fortune as a slave trader and as a plantation owner, and by the time the Civil War began in 1861, he was worth... Read more
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