A Literary Feast

September 22, 2017 By Kate Cousino

One of the pleasures of poetry is rolling a particularly juicy turn of phrase over your tongue, like savoring a tidbit of something delicious. So it was maybe inevitable that my friends and I should wind up comparing our favourite (and not-so-favourite) poets to different kinds of cuisine. It started with a friend’s joking comparison of TS Eliot and Robert Frost to “steak” vs “rice crackers.” Ever the contrarian, I replied that I prefer Frost, because TS Eliot is like the cook who compulsively... Read more

“The leaves are different from the trees”

September 20, 2017 By Kate Cousino

Recently, at the end of a busy, stressful day, a friend’s Facebook post started me on a binge of YouTube videos of colorblind people trying out corrective glasses and seeing a full range of colors for the first time. That description doesn’t come close to capturing the engaging, joyful nature of these videos. I’ll wait here while you watch one. Or twenty. I have a vivid memory of putting glasses on for the first time, at 10 years old,... Read more

The consistent ethic of abolitionist William Wilberforce

September 15, 2017 By Kate Cousino

This is the second part of a three part series on single-issue activism and social justice. The first part is here. The third part, Salt and Light, is posted on The Personalist Project. William Wilberforce was an 18th century politician and activist. He was the abolitionist who eventually succeeded in getting the Slave Trade Act of 1807 passed. He continued to campaign against slavery the rest of his life, finally seeing the Slavery Abolition Act passed in 1833. Nobody could call Wilberforce’s... Read more

LifeSiteNews gets it wrong about abolition–and everything else

September 15, 2017 By Kate Cousino

This is the first part of a three-part essay on single-issue activism and social justice. The recent LifeSiteNews hit-piece* on fellow Patheosi Rebecca Bratten Weiss is riddled with errors, misrepresentations, and fallacies, most of which is such tabloid-level gossip as to not merit a response. That said, I would like to address a rather tone-deaf comparison the author, Doug Grane, makes near the beginning of the piece. The comparison is made during the portion of his article is intended as a... Read more

The Peace of Wild Things

September 14, 2017 By Kate Cousino

After waving my youngest off to school on the bus yesterday morning, I found my feet continuing on past the turning back to the house, my office, and the work waiting for me, on along the walking path that runs past the housing development, down along the waterside loop of the trail. My mind had been unsettled and restless all the previous night. A lot of my friends seem to be suffering right now, the news has been filled with... Read more

Not sure which door to take? Look toward love.

September 11, 2017 By Kate Cousino

When I was a student, we called young men and women who waffled for years over the choice between religious life and the vocation of marriage the Brothers (and Sisters) of Perpetual Discernment. These earnest young men and women were well-meant and sincere, but their lengthy state of discernment and hesitant attempts to test one path without giving up the option of the other led to more than one broken heart or frustrated vocations director. It turns out that a... Read more

The Immediate Book Meme (SQT)

September 8, 2017 By Kate Cousino

I have other writing I need to do today, but I’m finding it difficult to transition from my outrage over undocumented immigrants being held for profit in the US, to writing about philosophy and the value of the acting person. So instead, I’m going to take a few minutes to do a fun book meme, h/t DarwinCatholic. Here we go. The Immediate Book Meme There are plenty of memes that want to know all about your book history and your all-time... Read more

Selling the Stranger in Our Midst: The Numbers Behind Immigration Policy

September 7, 2017 By Kate Cousino

The Church has recognized and proclaimed the need to welcome young people: ‘Whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me’ (Mark 9:37). Today, our nation has done the opposite. —from the US Catholic Bishop’s statement on the decision to end DACA *** “‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.’ Then all the people are to... Read more

The Church does not fit in your box

September 1, 2017 By Kate Cousino

“I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and... Read more

Kill Your Heroes: The Fall of Joss Whedon’s Feminism

August 22, 2017 By Kate Cousino

It turns out that Hollywood “feminist” girl-power TV and movie director Joss Whedon is a misogynistic hypocrite in his personal life. Joss Whedon’s ex-wife, Kai Cole, has written an essay, liberally sprinkled with Whedon’s own words from letters to her, about his many affairs and lies during their marriage. Joss admitted that for the next decade and a half, he hid multiple affairs and a number of inappropriate emotional ones that he had with his actresses, co-workers, fans and friends, while... Read more