I’m coming to the Islands (Bainbridge and San Juan, respectively): December 15 7:30 PM St. Cecilia parish, Bainbridge Island, WA. Topic: Mary, Mother and Disciple. Contact: Ann Nagle. December 18 6:30 PM. St. Francis Parish, Friday Harbor, WA. Topic: Mary, Mother of the Son Hope to see you there! Read more

I have a ton of stuff to do before the holidays, then I plan to goof off between Christmas and New Years, so I think my blogging will be sparse to non-existent till the New Year. Blessings of Advent and a Merry Christmas to you all! I am very grateful for your readership! You guys are way more than I deserve. Please forgive me for my failures this year and pray for me that I’ll do good work next year! Read more

A reader writes: Thank you again for honoring my earlier prayer requests of some months ago. The mother whose daughter died is still grieving, of course, but is doing progressively better. I last wrote to you for prayers for my grandmother–my dad’s mom–who died earlier this fall. Now I am writing for my maternal grandmother. She has been on a steady decline for some time–since dementia really started setting in in early 2008–but over the past few months she has... Read more

Reader Dan Roach writes: I’ve enjoyed your material for quite some time. Thanks for your efforts in spreading the word about Catholicism. My wife and I recently launched a quite large Catholic website that we have been developing for a number of years. It is called Our Catholic Neighborhood. I hope you will take some time to browse thought it in the near future. This past weekend a letter describing the OCN website was included as an insert in the... Read more

The government that gave you “enhanced interrogation” is now giving you “quantitative easing”. I don’t know nuthin’ ’bout high finance or econ, but I know something about common sense and the smell of rats: If the curious cat creatures can be trusted (and who would distrust such adorable cartoon critters?), it would appear that we are being majorly swindled by a cabal of a few rich men, something that has, of course, never happened before in the history of the... Read more

Hello, newcomer! Time to join in the suffering! That is all! Read more

A reader writes: I have started a novena to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (patroness of immigrants) asking for the extreme favor of being approved by Christmas. I was hoping that you could ask your readers to pray for this request as well. Normally I don’t ask for a favor “on a deadline” but the thing is, my getting approved is basically a sure thing (it’s a spousal sponsorship, my husband’s financial status etc has already been approved back in October,... Read more

My job is to provide the suffering–because nothing says “Christmas” like Jefferson Starship: One milllllion dollars! That is all! Read more

Here’s a look inside the dark and oppressive Dominican Order. Ever wonder what these brooding medieval Inquistors are up to behind the claustrophic walls of their sinister cloisters? Wonder no more! (Warning: scenes of chilling violence!) Read more

Mary’s Aggies talks about a good priest who is getting profiled on PBS. It’s rare that the quiet heroism of these guys gets acknowledged. I just got back from Oklahoma and was, once again, impressed by the heroic Fr. Shane Tharp and Fr. Steven Hamilton who, like so many other priests, have dedicated their lives to the service of God and his people far away from the notice of TV cameras in NY, DC and LA. They do good work... Read more