“Eternally hunkered down in a panic room.” That’s how one psychologist describes the interior lives of people who are sexually attracted to prepubescent children. Who could pity a pedophile? Of all the crimes in the world, child abuse rightly seem unforgivable. “It would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” That’s what Christ said about people who hurt little children. But that’s how we feel about... Read more
Anybody remember this picture from a few babies ago? Our Sunday Visitor is publishing a series of companion piece for the World Meeting of Families Catechesis, Love Is Our Mission. In the latest print edition of OSV, I’m very honored to share a page with Scott Hahn and Archbishop Sartain! My contribution is also online, here: Family Snapshots Capture the Mystery of the Church As Both Human and Devine. It’s an introduction to the chapter 9 of the catechesis, which is called “Mother,... Read more
It helps to know which organs you are hoping to retrieve, Nucatola explains: So then you’re just kind of cognizant of where you put your graspers, you try to intentionally go above and below the thorax, so that, you know, we’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m going to basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all... Read more
Because he didn’t smack this guy right across his smirking puss: (If the video doesn’t show up, you can see a similar one here.) I don’t care what else you think about the Pope: that’s heroic virtue right there. Read more
I don’t have non-Catholic and secular Facebook friends merely because I want to proselytize them (although I try to answer any questions they have about my faith, and I’m delighted when I hear that they have learned something about the Church through me!). Instead, I have non-Catholic and secular Facebook friends because I like them, and find them interesting — and yes, I learn from them. Of course I do. Read the rest at the Register. P.S.: I heartily recommend the book... Read more
1. You’re just trying to get attention with this! Oh gosh-all-whillikers, not attention! You mean that I made an effort to write in such a way as to persuade people to click on the headline, think about what I said, and elicit a response of some kind? Is outrage! Next time I have a thought, I’ll jot it down on an orange peel and bury it under the shed. You know, for the greater glory of God. (If I’m writing flagrantly... Read more
Or she wasn’t canonized just because she managed to remain a virgin, anyway. Let’s back up. When you think about holiness, do you fall into bathwater thinking? Bathwater thinking is when you forget the baby — the living, breathing, vulnerable persons in front of you — and instead, you wallow around in that warm, familiar bathwater of your indisputably worthy cause. Think about St. Gianna Molla. A good many people believe that this woman’s greatness came in her eager, joyful... Read more
You should know that terrible times have a sifting effect, letting the truly important human experiences of loss and pain and death and forgiveness stand out in high relief — and that if your lesser pain gets sifted away, then you just deal with that. You just do. Because to raise your hand in protest at the minor outrage you’ve suffered, when the bodies of the dead are barely cooled, is just . . . .in such poor taste. Good taste... Read more
Behold my triumph in a stealth supplemental classical education! My nine-year-old son, the one affectionately known as “Rat Boy,” came up to me and said, “I really liked that thing you put up, the one about the cows and everything.” He meant the great G. M. Hopkins poem “Pied Beauty,” which I had printed out, matted on construction paper, and tacked over his gerbil’s tank without comment. He and his siblings certainly did not want to memorize poems when we... Read more
Sorry for the bloggy silence lately! Lots of writing deadlines coming up (if you could spare a prayer I do a good job, I’d appreciate it very much!), plus birthday parties, doctor appointments, potty training, and July 4th (which we’re having at our house, and which is bringing out the Marney in me). Maybe you’re wondering where I was on Monday, during my radio spot with Mark Shea. Well, I was lying down, because I forgot it was Monday. Sorry. It... Read more
I Have to Sit Down
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