Guys, I have a friend who is in desperate need of help. I’ve been friends with Angela for a couple of years now. She and her husband, Luis, are courageous and hardworking parents who are trapped on opposite sides of the Mexican border right now, separating Angela from her young children even though those children are United States citizens. You can read all about Angela’s predicament here. The short version of the story is that they all moved to... Read more
I have been thinking about suffering all day. I was copyediting the beautiful guest post my friend Celia just provided us, and I read that haunting paragraph where she describes trying to “offer up” her trauma and addiction to God, as she’d been taught to do– as we were all taught to do; Celia and I went to the same church as children. It got me thinking about my own journey and the way I was taught to “offer... Read more
(This post is part three in a planned four-part series by my courageous friend Celia O’Keefe. The first two posts can be found here and here. Let the reader beware, Celia is speaking honestly about sexual assault, the resulting trauma, and how they led to drug addiction and prostitution, so this post comes with a content and language warning. ) In my last post, I detailed some family history and traumas which all worked together in shaping the mind... Read more
This happened a couple of months ago, in Spring. I was downtown, here in Steubenville, trying to catch a bus. I wanted to take the 3:15 bus home. I had a lot to do and I’d already been waiting an hour. The city buses during the two o’clock hour in Steubenville don’t drive a normal route; instead, they pick up teenagers from Steubenville High School, known as Big Red. Other passengers are allowed to ride the bus during that hour... Read more
Did you ever read something that seemed darkly funny right up until you realized it wasn’t fiction, and then you found the same thing absolutely hideous? That’s not exactly the reaction I had to reading Stephen Parisi’s withdrawal letter from Christ the King Seminary, where he was a seminarian and dean of seminarians, because I didn’t doubt his account’s veracity in the first place. Still, the accusations in the letter are so enormous that I kept lapsing into thinking I... Read more
I was walking home from the grocery store earlier this week, when I saw an odd flier stapled to a telephone pole. It wouldn’t have been odd any other week of the year, but it was odd this week. It was a flier for the weekly church service at Tower of Power, the non-denominational Protestant church a couple of blocks from my house. They seem to put up a new one every week. The services are seasonally themed; this... Read more
(This post is part two in a four-part series on addiction by my friend Celia O’Keefe. The first entry in the series can be found here. In this episode she talks about the history of trauma that led into her addiction, so let the reader be advised, there is some potentially disturbing content.) In my last post, “Addiction Doesn’t Discriminate and Neither Should You,” I explained some ways which addiction could potentially take hold of anyone. This time, I’m... Read more
Today is the solemnity of the Assumption. When I look at my facebook and Twitter feed on the Solemnity of the Assumption, the most frequent Assumption Day greeting I see is not anything about Mary. It’s a reminder that you have to go to Mass or you’ll go to hell. I see it again and again. “Assumption Day is a Holy Day of Obligation. You have to go to Mass. Mass is a beautiful gift of mercy and joy for... Read more
(This post is part one in a guest series on addiction by my friend Celia O’Keefe.) When I was nineteen, I moved my son and I to a new neighborhood. I lived on the main drag, across the street from a Starbuck’s Coffee. (Now, before I continue, it should be noted that this wasn’t just any neighborhood; This was a solidly middle-to-upper-class, midwestern ‘Ville. One whose city council had only that year relented and allowed such a degenerate establishment... Read more
I saw a blog post circling Facebook the other day, and it’s been on my mind. Larry Denninger at A Catholic Misfit writes that he was at his usual holy hour, one Tuesday night. A woman and her teenage daughter who were not regular adorers came in. The daughter was wearing jean shorts that were on the short side. Denninger’s fellow Tuesday night adorer, a woman in her fifties, embarrassed the teenager by getting up and draping a jacket over... Read more
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