Aloysius Instructs: The Papacy

Last updated on: September 5, 2019 at 7:44 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

Being the Thouhts Thowgths Thauts Thinking of a Spectacold Bear [Readers will please forgive this interlude, of which a more eloquent version may be found here. I own a rather assertive and temperamental bear, Aloysius, and I can only face so many arguments with him. He will insist on contributing—according to his own idiosyncratic, not to say inaccurate, understanding of both theology and current events. His spelling also leaves something to be desired, but we have made great strides in... Read more

Parables

Last updated on: September 2, 2019 at 3:28 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

There met Jesus out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Him, he cried out, and fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech Thee, torment me not.” (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.) And... Read more

To Marry Or To Be a Flamer, Part Three

Last updated on: August 29, 2019 at 12:16 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

Part One; Part Two I do think the Side A appeal to the text It is better to marry than to burn, (1) as a reason to accept gay marriage, has some teeth. I also think it’s not enough. And I think it fits into a broader framework, one that’s characteristic of American Christianity. To explore this characteristic, I’d like to consider another text I’ve often heard cited as an argument against Side B: Ye shall know them by their... Read more

Attack on Eden

Last updated on: August 24, 2019 at 10:08 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

I’ve entirely lost patience with the self-appointed inquisition on the Catholic right. I can accept that political conservatism (in general) is a prudential question rather than a moral one; I can tolerate indiscriminate attacks on gay people as being, maybe, a blind spot rather than a deliberate rejection of charity, and anyway God knows I’ve done worse; I can appreciate and sympathize with a love of antique liturgies and a corresponding dislike of and frustration with a lot of modern... Read more

To Marry Or To Be a Flamer, Part Two

Last updated on: August 29, 2019 at 8:13 am By Gabriel Blanchard

Part One I hope it’s clear, then, that I think we all ought to take the Side A better-to-marry-than-to-burn argument seriously. Dismissing it is callous or complacent, not a mark of holy wisdom. But I also don’t think this argument really says what my Side A friends think it does. I see two major problems with this line of thinking. 1. All of us believe that there are certain sexual impulses that people just have to say ‘No’ to, no... Read more

To Marry Or To Be a Flamer, Part One

Last updated on: September 9, 2019 at 12:09 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

I’m Side B myself, but I have a lot of Side A friends, (1) and follow lots of Side A people on social media. Lest I be misunderstood, I’m not doing this to ‘witness the truth about homosexuality’ to them or anything like that—my truth has a great deal to do with how frail humans are, how fun sin is, and how necessary the Church’s power to absolve is; a person like that would need brass balls to plow merrily... Read more

Gender Jamboree, Part Six

Last updated on: August 16, 2019 at 9:59 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four; Part Five I’d like to address a few more misconceptions about trans people that are common among Christians. Many of them are rooted in the media, both in entertainment and in the news—and even honest and unbiased news can foster misconceptions, since its primary job is to report on bad or exceptional things, not on ordinary ones. 1. That trans people are following a trend of rebelling against gender norms for the... Read more

Some Perks of Being a Bad Catholic

Last updated on: August 13, 2019 at 10:06 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

I recently reread one of my favorite novels, The Violent Bear It Away. It was Flannery O’Connor’s second and last novel—she died of lupus only four years later. I love the book intensely. Its sweet, terrible assurance that God will not let anyone escape his purpose and will use anything and everything to draw us back to his love is extremely comforting, without being sentimental in the slightest; the book includes rape and infanticide, this is no rose-window-colored-glasses optimism. I’m... Read more

Chi Ni Wa Odayaka

Last updated on: August 8, 2019 at 12:08 am By Gabriel Blanchard

The sun rose plum-red above her native ocean into the white sky. Her trailing branches caught with them a woman, made of steel, big with child. She was heavy with a deathly issue: her son and her Little Boy. Accompanied by two others, she flew westward o’er the rising sun. It was the feast day of the Light behind the sun, a white, deathless Light. Upon a mountain westward, near the Old World’s edge It shone long ago. It was... Read more

Gender Jamboree, Part Five

Last updated on: August 16, 2019 at 10:00 pm By Gabriel Blanchard

Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four I’ve spent my last few posts outlining some ideas about the basis of trans identities. As I’ve said, I’m no expert, and I encourage people to go to trans sources. But based on what I do know, it seems plausible that trans identities may have a spiritual root, a neurological root, or both. I’d like to turn now to a widespread opinion among Christian culture warriors that I think is without merit,... Read more