I have told you about February in the Ohio Valley, which is gray on gray. I’ve told you about March, which is gold. April is green and full of consequences. The month of May in the Ohio Valley is a patchwork of color. Lilacs break out all over LaBelle, and then they die off in a week. The vacant lots spring high with tassle-topped grass, yellow dandelions and purple clover– and the next minute, they’re mowed into a flat patch... Read more
People all over the internet are shocked at PBS, for the thousandth time. This time, apparently, the hullabaloo is about a same-sex wedding on an episode of the cartoon Arthur, which aired for the first time today. I didn’t watch the episode, but apparently it went something like this: Arthur and the gang are shocked when their fussy male bachelor teacher, Mr. Ratburn, answers his phone in class. Then they are shocked to witness him berated and ordered around by... Read more
We got on the bus to go downtown, at the beginning of our school year. There was going to be a “free backpack giveaway,” for all children going back to school, and I’d been told that homeschoolers would not be turned away. I hoped it was true; I’d encountered a little hostility to homeschoolers around town before. And that began again when I got on the bus. “You ain’t allowed to get a backpack,” said a boy from the... Read more
Hi friends, This is your periodic reminder that Steel Magnificat, and my family, are run almost entirely on gratuities. I have been so often home-bound from my chronic illness that my husband is a full-time homemaker and takes care of our daughter; I support the family here at Patheos, writing three to seven literary art projects per week. I get a very small monthly check from Patheos based on clicks, and the rest of my family’s income is based on... Read more
I have a message to any priests out there, or any clerics at all for that matter, planning your homilies and sermons for tomorrow. At this rate I’m going to miss the homilies written for the vigil Mass, but the ones you’re still putting together for Sunday. Sunday is Mothers’ Day, at least in the United States. And on Mothers’ Day, it tends to be the unspoken tradition that priests preach on Mothers’ Day rather than the gospel, or... Read more
You have surely heard by now that Georgia passed an extremely strict “heartbeat bill,” set to go into effect on the first of January, that would treat women who get abortions like criminals. It’s been suggested that this bill will also put mothers who miscarry in danger of prosecution. I have things to say about the bill, but I want to get back to them at a later time. First I need to address something that’s happening in my... Read more
The Friendship Room’s new Little Free Grocery is going wonderfully. Every time I walk by, it’s at least half full with shelf-stable food and toiletries. Generous people drop them off as they walk by. And Molly says that hungry people are taking what they need home and using it on a daily basis– hardly anything stays in very long. When I looked inside the other day, I saw all kinds of good things: in the toiletry section there was body... Read more
I am surprised that I had to write about the Diocese of Buffalo again so soon. But I have to put in another word for the seminarians who blew the whistle on sexual harassment by priests there. I have just read, in a report by Buffalo’s ABC 7 Eyewitness News, that these seminarians are now being subjected to a “leak investigation.” They are being interrogated to find out who “leaked” the story to the press, by the very official to whom... Read more
I had an odd conversation with a priest, after I posted my article about the sexual harassment of seminarians in Buffalo. The priest said that nothing like this had ever happened at his seminary– there were no abusive priests involved in the formation there. However, he said, there were many women on campus and in the classes at his seminary, which provided “a challenge to human formation–” which challenge, he didn’t elaborate. And then he said, “choose your poison, I... Read more
I have just read a deeply upsetting article about the Diocese of Buffalo. I encourage you to read it yourself– but be careful if you read the attached complete written account, as it is extremely graphic. The article concerns a report from a group of seminarians who wish to remain nameless for fear of repercussions. These seminarians were forced to listen to extremely disgusting, sexually explicit conversation and jokes about sexual abuse made by priests at a party. These priests... Read more
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