How Did I Get Here This started as a reply to a tweet—a reply that got sort of out of hand. I didn’t think to ask the original tweeter whether they’d be okay with my cross-posting their material, but they aren’t locked or anything, so as a middle ground I will reproduce the text alone, without directly crediting or linking (unless they ask me to later). The original tweet was a complaint, one that I had and have a lot... Read more

I. I had hoped to continue my series on Christian nationalism a bit more promptly, but (drum roll please): I finally got Covid! Two and a half years, and I tested positive for it on the day I’d been planning to go get my booster shot—real adding-insult-to-injury move there, virus. Had to miss a coffee date with a friend that I’d really been looking forward to as well. However, I can thank God that I seem to have had a... Read more

Vade Retro I sure amn’t! Let’s talk about him. To start: I have only the vaguest idea of who William Wolfe is. (In fact, when I wrote my first draft of this post, I included some info that was apparently about an entirely different Wolfe.) I gather he was some sort of official in the Trump administration? At its best, I find nationalism terrifically boring,1 and I have nothing but disgust for anyone who willingly involved themselves with Donald Trump’s... Read more

Annuntiamus: We Proclaim Tiring of trying It’s a necessary dying Like the horseshoe crab in its proper season to shed its shell Such distance from our friends Like a scratch across a lens Made everything look wrong from anywhere we stood —Aaron Weiss, “Messes of Men” This weekend, I’ll be taking a very brief trip to San Jose. I’d appreciate prayers for this trip, both for myself and for the event I’m attending. Eve Tushnet has put together a group... Read more

Forty Lashes, Minus One I’ve found more than once in the history of Mudblood Catholic1 that, when I run into writer’s block, it’s usually because there’s something I need to put down here that’s very vulnerable and raw, and I’m resisting. That certainly seems true with my current series. That is, I say “current series,” but I’ve published a grand total of two posts in it, and have had a second not-quite-finished one in my drafts for over a month.... Read more

I. As people who’ve followed me for a while may have guessed, I’ve been in a funk for quite some time. It’s hard to write; it’s especially hard to write about faith-related stuff. Given that that’s, you know, the main premise of my blog—it’s got Catholic right there in the name—that does stick a wrench into things here! I think the series I’ve been attempting is extra tough, though. My plan was (and still is) to go through the Apostles’... Read more

The Symbol of the Faith Catholic Christianity claims to be a lot of things: a family, a mystery, a school, a dynasty, a way of life. One of the things it claims to be is a coherent system of belief. This system is defined by certain philosophical and historical claims about God, the universe, and humanity. Those claims are summarized in an old confession of faith, derived from the baptismal liturgy used in Rome in the early centuries of the... Read more

What Is Even Going On Up There? I’m not sure how clear this has been to my readers, and it certainly isn’t my most original quip, but I’ve been having a rough couple years. To my surprise, the pandemic (in itself, anyway) has kind of been the least of my worries. My friends and loved ones have all stayed healthy, or come down at worst with fairly mild and uncomplicated cases of the disease. The financial side of things has... Read more

If you’re wondering what or whomst I’m talking about, America Magazine recently posted an article titled “I’m a Catholic priest. But please don’t call me Father.” As it happens, this sort of thing is one of my many berserk buttons, so I read the thing and decided to reply. Let’s dive in. Preliminaries I actually did wrestle with whether to write “Fr. McDermott” or “Jim McDermott” in the title here. Being obnoxious is fun, of course, especially when we have... Read more

Go here for Part I. Gnosticism: A Hinge Profile So, to recap, Gnosticism: involved a good-evil dualism that was frequently also a spirit-matter dualism tended to believe in complicated hierarchies of deities or angels, one of which was typically the fallen creator of matter offered liberation from evil primarily in terms of secret knowledge and post-mortem escape from the world, not forgiveness of sins or final resurrection did not accept Christian doctrines like the Incarnation, the Passion, or the efficacy... Read more