Days ago I inadvertently knocked over a powder keg with my frustrated rant about bad Christian art. Apparently a lot of people agree with me, as that rant has been shared more than any of my other much better posts. And in the comments on these shares, I’ve seen many people asking questions. What should we do? How should we change? What is art, anyway? Isn’t it subjective? Who gets to decide what art is good and what art is… Read more
April 14, 2016
So What is Good Art, Anyway?
April 14, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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When I was a very small girl, my family went to Mass at the Cathedral. I loved everything about it. I loved coming inside from the bright sunshine to the dark foyer, all built of sandy stone that looked like it was covered in sugar. There was hardly any light in the foyer; it was blocked off on one end by the grille that surrounded the Baptismal font, like the bars to a cage in a dungeon. There were holy water fonts… Read more
April 13, 2016
I Am Very, Very Ashamed: The Problem With Bad Christian Art
April 13, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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Due to my love of films and my being a glutton for punishment in general, and due to the inexplicable popularity of my panning of God’s Not Dead 2, I have already decided to review another Pure Flix film, I Am Not Ashamed: The Rachel Joy Scott Columbine Story, when it comes out in September. And I’m trying to keep an open mind about it– it’s based upon the actual writings of the Columbine victim herself, who seems like a… Read more
April 12, 2016
Be Sweet!
April 12, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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I’ve said it at least a thousand times since we left the house for Tot Time. It started when I saw another woman at the bus stop. Rose is shy and doesn’t like saying hello to strange grown ups; she hadn’t got much sleep, and was already promising to be cranky. Mommy got even less sleep. Mommy was on the verge of dozing off as I walked. “Rose,” I hissed, “Be sweet. Mind your manners. Say hello.” Rose did not… Read more
April 11, 2016
Is God Good? All the Time?
April 11, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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You may recall that last week I went to see God’s Not Dead 2, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t have time to mention that I met a new friend on the way to my movie. There was a talkative gentleman sitting in a new electric wheelchair at the front of the bus, and I heard him ask the driver for directions to the Social Security office behind the mall, the bus’s last stop. I told him it… Read more
April 8, 2016
Take This From Me: A Review of God’s Not Dead 2
April 8, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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I am an unabashed lover of films. Films are among my favorite things. I am obsessed with Stanley Kubrick; I am very fond of the Coen brothers. I like to memorize Hollywood musicals and sing them in the shower. If you ever see me in public not watching a late 90s J-Horror movie, be assured that I’m only planning the quickest way to get home and watch a late 90s J-Horror movie. I love films more than just about anything… Read more
April 7, 2016
Man Judges Comically; God Sees the Heart
April 7, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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Okay, get this, you have got to hear this. You have got to hear this one. A Dominican priest walks on to a college campus and is mistaken for… oh, you’ve heard that one? Never mind. How about this one? A Franciscan TOR from the local university and a Byzantine Catholic priest from the church across the river walk into a Chinese restaurant. The host says “Is there a Star Wars convention in town?” Yes, that really happened. This one… Read more
April 6, 2016
Faith Comes By Hearing
April 6, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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Father Reginald* was a young Franciscan priest in a long brown cassock, with sandals on his feet and three knots on his belt to represent the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Father Reginald was also very tall and spare with buzzed hair and a short brown beard. He didn’t look much like the real Saint Francis is supposed to have looked, but he looked quite a bit like the standard kitschy representations of Saint Francis on prayer cards. I was… Read more
April 5, 2016
The Unprofitable Servant
April 5, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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a meditation based on Matthew 25: 14-30 A man was going on a journey, so he called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To the first he gave ten talents; to the second, he gave five. To the unwise and unprofitable servant, he gave only one talent, and went on his way. The servants with ten and twenty talents took the gold and went to the nearest city to trade, taking the main road and moving slowly, for… Read more
April 4, 2016
Those Who Sow in Tears
April 4, 2016 By Mary Pezzulo
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This is my first year to plant potatoes. “When do they go in the ground?” I asked the lady at the garden shop. “Around Saint Patrick’s Day,” she said. I found that oddly appropriate. In the Ohio Valley, Potatoes go into the ground on Saint Patrick’s day. Onions go in earlier, as soon as you can work the soil; Candlemas is not too early if you can manage. Garlic should be planted with the onions, or plant it during Advent,… Read more
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