Thrilled to see that the Among Women Podcast Pat Gohn & I recorded is now posted and ready for your listening pleasure. I have not listened to it yet, you’ll have to go check it out yourself to find out exactly how fabulous it is. I seem to recall I said my usual things, such as, “You have to actually believe the Catholic faith.” Told people to evangelize, maybe? Stuff like that. Great conversation. If you ever get an invitation... Read more
16th of the month, and that means I wake up pre-prayed. (Just kidding! Just kidding!) This morning at CatholicMom.com, I latch onto this bit of the Gospel: I thank you Father that you have hidden these things from the learned and the wise, and revealed them to the childlike. And then I ask myself, “What does childlike mean?” Since I have both children and a teenager, I am eminently qualified to answer this question: As a child, we learn what we’re taught.... Read more
The boy and I stayed up late last night watching I Confess, long overdue and hands down one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. [Note, the wikipedia link includes the complete plot synopsis, so don’t read it until you’ve watched it.] I had not watched the film sooner because I thought Hitchcock = Too Creepy for Me, but it was fine. Mature themes and violence, suspense in the many-plot-twists meaning of the term, but not a scary movie. Having just... Read more
Thanks to Kathy Schiffer for pointing out the link to this study, which reports a difference in the way Catholic and Atheist brains work in the face of a moral dilemma. I’ve only looked at the abstract, and of course one must never overdo in one’s inferences. There is a Bible verse that relates to this phenomenon, one that the spouse made it his goal to memorize years ago when he first became a Christian: Do not be conformed to this... Read more
My children expressed interest in making movies, and we’ve been slowly assembling the necessary equipment. Cameras, editing software . . . by the start of the summer, they had everything they needed to get going on YouTube except one thing: Now there’s no excuse. If they have to borrow money for college, it’s their own fault. Serious post over at Kathy Schiffer’s on the effect of social media on your relationship with God. I’ll put my answer here later today... Read more
My spouse writes: Have you ever thought you were filling a unique niche? http://www.phatmass.com/ Love at first listen. If your poetry brain was made happy years ago by Sir Mix-A-Lot, but now you need something your catechist brain can love, too. From the website: With orthodoxy, charity and humility, phatmass will infiltrate the entire planet earth with Catholic propaganda. The “phat” in phatmass stands for “Preaching Holy Apostolic Truth”. Founded in the year 2000, we are an online community, infiltrator... Read more
Some time ago, my husband went to confession with a particularly thorny sin on his soul. The kind that he wanted to avoid, and yet seemed to be utterly unable to shake. Father used an expression that we both contemplated thereafter at long intervals: Sin bravely. Apparently it’s a Lutheran thing, and I assure the scandalized reader that Father B. is neither Lutheran nor proposing that we go through life with sin as our goal. Rather, I inferred, in the battle... Read more
Turns out the Holy Father has announced a Jubilee Year. [Quick update: Fr. Capo writes, “@TheAnchoress @Jennifer_Fitz The Jubilee Year is to be celebrated just in Isernia, Italy, where Pope Celestine was born 800 yrs ago.” Thanks for the clarification, Father!] I was scratching my head, vaguely remembering JPII had done such a thing back in the early years of my reversion (2000, as it happens), and sure enough, even Wikipedia wasn’t expecting another such until 2025. I’m unclear, given... Read more
Rebecca Hamilton has written a beautiful and moving testimony on the nature of family life, and I think it gives us exactly the answer to the problem of Catholics who struggle with the Catholic faith. What’s the right thing to do with our fellow Catholics who don’t quite have it all together? People who are egregiously mistaken in their understanding of serious matters? Our Lord answers the question quite plainly: Treat them as you would the pagans and tax collectors.... Read more
“The good news,” I found myself telling a new arrival recently, in giving her the lay of the land her new home city, “Is that I’m pretty sure all your priests are Catholic.” You either know what I meant or you’re in willful denial, and I mean that in the kindest possible way. As we gear up for the Synod for the Family, one of the realities we have to face is that the reason we are in such a... Read more
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