2015-03-11T16:25:16-08:00

Last updated on: March 11, 2015 at 4:25 pm   By

On March 19, we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband to Mary and stepfather to Jesus, a man who, through no fault of his own, found himself in the ultimate irregular parenting situation and stepped up for both his wife and the child entrusted to him. Like Joseph, not every parent or child gets the perfect nuclear family, even if it’s what they wanted. Biological, adoptive, foster and stepparents deal with unplanned pregnancies, absent or abusive spouses, and other people’s... Read more

2015-03-11T22:39:54-08:00

Last updated on: March 11, 2015 at 10:39 pm   By

There’s been a lot of trading going on during free-agent time in the NFL, and today, former New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham just landed at my team, the Seattle Seahawks (click here for reactions from his new teammates). From a story at ESPN: Graham, 28, is regarded as one of the best pass-catching tight ends in the NFL, a player who often lines up as a wide receiver. He has 4,752 receiving yards and 51 touchdowns since entering... Read more

2015-03-10T17:16:26-08:00

Last updated on: March 10, 2015 at 5:16 pm   By

From Buzzfeed, which has several pictures, a 23-year-old British woman has given over her body to her icon, singer Rihanna (above): [Sarah] Ridge has seven tattoos of Rihanna’s face on her body, as well as imitations of the singer’s own famous tattoos. I’d like to make fun of her, but considering the permanence of what she’s done — and the staggering level of idolatry (one tattoo covers her entire back) — I’m more inclined to pity. Whatever you think about tattoos, to endure... Read more

2015-03-10T16:32:57-08:00

Last updated on: March 10, 2015 at 4:32 pm   By

I will admit to being rather entertained at hearing that Jeremy Clarkson, longtime host of BBC 2’s venerable “Top Gear”  (which airs here on Monday nights on BBC America) punched Piers Morgan in 2004. He stood in as proxy for all the times I’d love to have popped Morgan in the nose during his CNN tenure (although I quite liked him during “America’s Got Talent” and stopped watching when he left). Here’s Clarkson’s explanation: Truth be told, I’ve never punched anyone —... Read more

2015-03-09T22:28:02-08:00

Last updated on: March 9, 2015 at 10:28 pm   By

In this charming new interview with British student Oscar Pearson — half, with Philip Chidell, of ChatLife and ChatPolitics — “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes talks about a number of subjects, from writing to “Downton” to theater (he’s not a fan) to conservative politics (he’s in the House of Lords). Fellowes is a Catholic — though perhaps not a perfectly orthodox one, as I outlined previously over at CatholicVote (and he says in this interview he voted for same-sex “marriage”)... Read more

2015-03-09T19:10:58-08:00

Last updated on: March 9, 2015 at 7:10 pm   By

It doesn’t take the mind of Sherlock Holmes to figure out why an established writer doesn’t want to read an amateur writer’s unsolicited treatment or script, just a working knowledge of how show business functions. Almost without exception, unless that writer is an immediate blood relative or a very close personal friend — and maybe not even then — they won’t even glance at it. A large reason for that is because of our litigious society. Anyone who follows entertainment... Read more

2015-03-09T09:35:18-08:00

Last updated on: March 9, 2015 at 9:35 am   By

As part of the ongoing disruption in the TV industry, pay-cable HBO is helping fans cut the cable-TV cord — but not necessarily the cable-broadband cord — while not giving up such high-quality, morally edifying fare as “Girls” and “Looking.” OK, they’ll also get “Silicon Valley” and “Game of Thrones,” along with such classics as “The Wire” and “Deadwood,” but this is just the first rumblings of a coming earthquake offering viewers more control over what they see and where, and... Read more

2015-03-08T16:49:34-08:00

Last updated on: March 8, 2015 at 4:49 pm   By

The jury’s still out on scientific proof for the existence of a Supreme Being, but it’s a question that certainly resonates with the reading public — even the highly educated, entrepreneurial types that peruse The Wall Street Journal. According to the Facebook page of radio host Dennis Prager, an article by American Christian author, speaker and TV host Eric Metaxas, called “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God,” published last Christmas Day, has just hit 400,000 Facebook likes. Prager also says... Read more

2015-03-08T09:30:41-08:00

Last updated on: March 8, 2015 at 9:30 am   By

I’ve always held that when you put people on a pedestal and act as if they are above ordinary failings, you strip them of their humanity as effectively as if you ground them under your heel. As Catholics, we know that there is no such thing as collective guilt or collective absolution — we all stand before our Creator to answer for what we’ve done, or not done, in our own lives. But in the media — whether it’s news or... Read more

2015-03-08T08:01:26-08:00

Last updated on: March 8, 2015 at 8:01 am   By

There was a lot of controversy at the end of 2014 when Cuban-Americans heard how Pope Francis was involved in brokering a new deal between the U.S. and Cuba, which also secured the release of American citizen Alan Gross from Cuban custody. There are strong feelings over the Communist nation 90 miles off America’s shores, and the announcement opened up old wounds and, in some cases, pitted Cuban-American Catholics against the pope. These days, though, we seem to filter a lot... Read more

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