I’ve been watching talking heads “explain” the election results for days now. I get the impression that Michael Moore and I were the only living Americans who knew that the election was going to be close. I know that’s not true, but in the alternative universe of made-up “news,” it’s the pretend reality. So, as one the two unofficial only living Americans who knew the election was going to be close, I suppose I should share how I came to... Read more
I chose St Thomas More for my name saint. Since I spent much of my adult life as an elected official, and Thomas More is the patron of saint of elected officials, that might seem obvious. Of course, Thomas More’s political career far exceeded anything I ever accomplished. He was an internationally recognized thinker, who became, for a short while, the Chancellor of England. He was also a martyr who gave his life rather than take an oath saying that... Read more
My Patheos colleague, Fr Matthew Schneider wrote a post about the anti-vax statements being made by his crazy brother priest, Fr Chad Ripperger. I’d never heard of Fr Ripperger before I read this article. I Googled, and he’s evidently an exorcist who writes books and posts YouTubes and who has also decided to bless Denver with a new community of his own making for other “traditionalist” exorcists. Along with casting out demons and such, Fr Ripperger has decided to start... Read more
The Parkland school shooter, who murdered 17 people and maimed many others, dodged the death penalty today. I don’t normally watch trials, but I watched parts of this one. We’ve got to stop these mass shootings. I watched mainly to see if there was anything we could have done to stop this shooting and others like it in the future. As I watched it, I concluded that the only reason the jury might not give the shooter the death penalty... Read more
Republican reaction to President Biden’s very limited bail-out of the millions of young Americans struggling to build their lives under a crippling weight of student loan debt ended up being something of an expose of the Republicans themselves. The Republican Party has a record going back decades of opposing anything — and I mean any single thing — that helps We the People. They oppose, and have the votes and the speechifying to prove that they oppose, spending any part... Read more
Republicans, their media, and, of course, their “religious” organizations — including right wing “Catholic” ministries and apostolates — have raged for the past 24 hours because President Biden actually did something to help America’s young people. Biden allowed forgiveness of between $10,000 and $20,000 of student loans. Republicans have been wailing and raging and calling down doom in a mass concert of spite for the 24 hours since. Interestingly, there is another loan forgiveness program that right wing politicians not... Read more
President Biden just gave a huge help to young families all across this country. It isn’t enough. But it’s very important, and no Republican would have done it. I fully expect right wing religious leaders, including “star” right wing internet priests, to oppose it. But this old granny who paid off all her student loans decades ago is thrilled that President Biden is providing between $10,000 and $20,000 in student debt relief to our young people. I think it’s just... Read more
So … are bullet rosaries “a thing” or did somebody make it up? Atlantic Monthly recently published an article discussing what it called the “weaponization of the rosary.” The reaction from right wing Catholics was immediate and predictable. They latched onto the article as an opportunity to generate outrage — and clicks and donations and revenue from advertisers — among and from their followers. The whole thing reached such a crescendo that Bishop Baron hopped onto Fox News, to excoriate the... Read more
I heard the bomb. The blast rattled the windows of my house. I heard the explosion, heard it continue rumbling after the initial crack. I didn’t know what it was, didn’t know that the extended sound was the building, pancaking down. My three-year-old and I exchanged looks. “What was that?” I said. We had just taken my husband, his father, to work so that we could have the family car for the day. The drive had taken us past... Read more
In the face of this deplorable evil, the church kneels before God and implores his forgiveness for the sins of her children. I myself wish to reaffirm this, with shame and unambiguously. I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples. Pope Francis I have read that a certain segment of Catholics are upset and angry because Pope Francis apologized to the native people of Canada. They are outraged that... Read more
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