Someone reminded me it was Advent this Sunday. Yikes. But it doesn’t have to be that bad, and indeed it should not be, as Simcha reminds us. Here are our plans for 2014, thrown out there not as an example to emulate, but so that you can have that sordid Catholic reality-show experience without needing cable. 1. The Great Advent vs. Christmas Debate Left to my own devices, I’d cover my house in a giant purple tarp and not come... Read more
At New Evangelizers this week I’m chatting about “small groups.” Specifically, small discipleship groups (as opposed to say, small gatherings to play poker, or shoot up stop signs, or whatever it is you think of when you hear the words small group). Gosh I talk about a lot of stuff, I’m not even sure what to excerpt. The big topics: What makes a discipleship group different from, say, the parish women’s club? How does the one fit in with the other?... Read more
It is not necessary for other people to miss out on Thanksgiving so that you can be adequately amused. Just because the stores are open does not mean you have to go shopping. Here’s a list of alternate ways to entertain yourself on Thursday. 1. Visit with your friends or family. 2. Bake a pie. 3. Watch a movie. 4. Go for a walk. 5. Play Scrabble. 6. Serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless. 7. Build something with Legos. 8.... Read more
You’re supposed to be happy now, because it’s the holidays. The rest of the year, a civil disposition generally suffices. But for the next eight weeks, if you aren’t madly in love with every gift, every canape, every delightful holiday fete . . . you aren’t just an ungrateful wretch, you’re a menace to society. There are Good Reasons to Hate the Holidays The thing about the modern holiday season is that it’s come unmoored. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, we... Read more
Your must-read column for today is Calah Alexander’s essay on what it’s like being part of the current generation of incompetents, “Those Pathetic Millenial Moms.” . . . I was raised by a loving, attentive mother who stayed home until I was in high school. But culture is pervasive. Kids learn it through osmosis, and unless you lock them in a fortress, they’re gonna pick up on it. “Stay-at-home-mom” had a negative connotation for me from the time I... Read more
I’ve joked all summer that I need Lisa Hendey to write me a companion volume to her new book, The Grace of Yes. It would consist of a single index card with the word NO in giant letters. She assured me: There’s a chapter for you. So when my copy of the The Grace of the Yes arrived, I stared at it nervously for a minute, then quick checked the table of contents. Chapter 7: The Grace of No. Written... Read more
Over at Catholic Writers Guild this month, I’m talking about social media for writers. I start with some comments on why marketing matters, and why it can be a struggle for Catholic authors: For about 5% of authors, marketing is a delight: A chance to get out of the writer’s box, meet people, chat, share the exciting news. For the rest of us, it’s a chore. I’d rather be writing. I’d rather be holed up in my hermitage minding my... Read more
The topic of Catholic vs. Protestant views of salvation has come up several times in conversation lately. With that in mind, here’s a reprint of the review I wrote several years ago of Jimmy Akin’s book The Salvation Controversy, published by Catholic Answers in 2001. The book is currently in print in electronic version only, but you can find hard copies used here and there. Read on, and see if you are the target audience. If you’re not, give it a... Read more
Eve Tushnet’s new book Gay and Catholic is this month’s Patheos book club book, so you can see a pile of reviews and comments here. I give it a nearly-unqualified Buy recommend. What is this book? Gay and Catholic is a combination memoir, meditation, and how-to manual for both Catholics who experience same-sex attraction and the people who love them (or ought to). Think Catholic Nerd Girl’s heart-to-heart about life, the Church, and everything. It’s funny, it’s literary, and there’s something... Read more
Deacon Greg Kandra writes about a recent NY Times piece on priests who forsake their vows, and the women who help them do it. You would think from the way people talk that there’s something about a man in holy orders that just makes him irresistible. It’s as if there’s a force field emanating from that Roman collar that disables free will: Don’t get too close, ladies, or you might have no choice but to fall in love! Well, the don’t... Read more
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