Hello Friends, I’ll be back on later with a post worth reading; this is just my something-like-monthly reminder that Steel Magnificat, and the author’s family, run almost entirely on tips. I get a very small paycheck, sometimes as high as three figures, from Patheos per thousand clicks in the United States, and the rest is just gratuities from satisfied readers. This is how I keep my family alive in the dreaded gig economy. The virtual tip jar is labeled “donate”... Read more
I have felt without a home lately. I still long to go to an Eastern Catholic church but our move away from this corner of the Ohio Valley is still indefinitely stalled, and my attempts to learn to drive and secure a vehicle are taking a bit longer than expected. The ride we can get on Sundays is to a pleasant Latin parish with a pleasant musician and a pleasant pastor. There’s nothing wrong with it; I just feel out... Read more
I read a thoughtful article today, by my friend Kristy Burmeister. I do recommend that my readers give it a look. The article, entitled “Giving Thoughtfully: Not all Charity is Charity,” is about what it’s like to be poor at Christmas and what kind of gifts for a poor person might be the most useful. Burmeister relates the story of a well-meaning group of richer teenagers who thought it would be more fun to buy nine dollar-tree gifts for a... Read more
Today, we’re all digesting the sad news that Sesame Street‘s legendary Caroll Spinney, the genius behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, has passed away. In one sense it’s hard to be sad. He was eighty-five years old, after all; he lived a full life making people happy. On another– it’s awfully sad and unsettling to think that, in a sense, Big Bird and Oscar are dead. When I was at the age to be fascinated by Sesame Street,... Read more
On Friday, I suggested that we all need to be converted, and start living in the Kingdom of God instead of in the kingdom of the world this Advent. I warned you that I was coming up with a list of suggestions of things you can do to begin. Then I too Saint Nicholas Day off, except for squabbles on Twitter. Now I’m back with my list. I like having a list like this, not because it takes the place... Read more
Yesterday, I delivered the last of the presents from the First Annual Parish Giving Tree Raid. Yes, first annual. I’m going to make this a tradition– hopefully next year with a car, possibly next year not in Steubenville. For those of you just joining us, what happened was this: my friends and I conspired at the spur of the moment to grab all the remaining tags on the Giving Tree at church and buy a pile of presents and snacks... Read more
As I write this, there has still been absolutely no confirmed, official story of why Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s beatification was indefinitely postponed yesterday. Catholic News Agency released a story that, according to several unnamed sources, the Bishop of Rochester requested the delay in case Sheen’s name was mentioned in any way in connection with the New York attorney general’s investigations into clerical sexual abuse going back decades. They also released a story, again based on unnamed sources close to the... Read more
I have no opinion about Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Well, that’s not true. I have many opinions about Archbishop Fulton Sheen. I thought his television show was very comforting to me when I lived alone and watched vintage episodes on EWTN more than a decade ago. Now I’m inclined to think him fishy because I’ve grown cynical and automatically assume Catholic TV personalities are trying to sell me some beachfront property in Arizona. I think he looks a little... Read more
As I’ve already mentioned, I went to Mass yesterday for the first Sunday of Advent, and had my heart broken. We got there late so we were in the back, by the foyer Christmas Giving Tree, with some tags still on it– each tag was a request for a Christmas present from a poor person of the community. The tree had been full of tags which parishioners had taken home; now there were presents they’d bought under the nearly bare... Read more
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but please check on your parish Giving Trees. Most of the Catholic churches I’ve been to have had a “giving tree” in the foyer for Christmas, and I can’t imagine that that’s some kind of exclusively Catholic tradition. If you’re Christian, celebrate Christmas, and go to church, you probably have seen something like this in your community. It works like this: the poorer members of the parish write down their requests for... Read more
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