There was some debate among internet-Catholics about the recent findings by the Pew Research Center concerning the growing departure of young people from the faith – any faith. Some were asking whether the statistics were accurate. I had an impulse: How about an informal poll? My parish youth program has a private Facebook group, and I figured we had a good pile of parents of older children — kids in that target 18-30 age range. Maybe our youth director keeps tabs on... Read more
I was clicking through Facebook this morning and of course there were lunch boxes everywhere. Certain children of mine have been campaigning for shiny new lunch boxes and leaving up browser tabs full of end-of-season clearance choices so that I’m sure to stumble across the good deals. Facebook knows. Facebook knows when I buy shoes, and gamely suggests I buy another pair just like the ones I bought. Facebook knows when I am in the market for a new pair... Read more
The responses to the first Listen to Me survey have been astounding so far. If you are charged with the care of souls, could I recommend you do this? It takes about twenty minutes to whip together a Google form, and then you have a free, confidential way to ask open-ended questions that let people tell you what they are really thinking. Even the shy people. Even the people you think you have pegged, but really you don’t. Do this, guys.... Read more
Updated to preface the comments below with responses to two readers who scrupled in various directions. 1. For a clear understanding of what it is we humans actually do 99% of the time, read Simcha Fisher’s seminal work on the topic, “Go Forth and Get Me Butter, Says the Lord.” 2. When you get down to the reality-check paragraph, here’s the expansion pack comment: There are a lot of reasons a ministry might not “succeed,” and one of them is... Read more
I’ve lost my patience with church people who just won’t listen to the real stories of the Catholics and not-quite-Catholics they are supposed to be serving. So I’m starting a survey series, and survey #1 is for Catholic mothers. If you’re a mother and you consider yourself Catholic, then you’re part of that group, even if you’re not a very good Catholic. (As you’ll see, the questions reflect this.) You can find the form here. The only required question is... Read more
Father Longenecker* writes about his frustration as a homilist here, and he raises a good question: Does good preaching matter? And if so, what kinds of homilies (or lectures) are effective, and what effect do they have? I’m going to answer as someone who teaches the Catholic faith outside the pulpit, who’s been subject to the very best and very worst of Christian preaching and teaching, and who spends an awful lot of time with Catholic lay people who say... Read more
It’s that weekend again, and people, nice people, have already started wishing me happy Mothers Day. I’m generally a good sport, but if this holiday fell off a cliff into the abyss, I’d be okay with that. Specifically, I’d like it to fall off a cliff and be replaced with of multitude of much better holidays. MD Evil #1: People expect you to do things. I have four children. I am expected to do things all the time. The... Read more
I’ve written on the topic of transgender Christians before, see the last two links in the list below. Today I want to answer a few questions that came up in the course of a private conversation concerning both gender dysphoria and body integrity identity disorder. The two are related in that both involve a sense that one’s (otherwise ordinary) body is profoundly wrong-as-created. The two are also related in that the moral (and thus physical) response to both conditions is... Read more
I’m reminded by Ruth at Wheelie Catholic that May 1 is Blogging Against Disablism Day. My message this year is real simple: Don’t kill innocent people. Specifically we’ll talk this year about the people in your family. Do not kill them. 1. Don’t kill your children. Even the disabled ones. If you are hoping to have a child, do not make plans to kill that child if he or she isn’t good enough for you. That’s fake parenting. There are... Read more
I’d like to invite those of you with the means to do so to contribute to the fund for Emma Esherick and her two children, one yet unborn, both freshly orphaned. Sadness and shock, that’s all I can say. It sucks being a writer who has to go around sounding like a cliche, but “at a loss for words” sums it up. I can vouch for Emma and her family that they live out the Gospel values of simplicity, devotion,... Read more
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