I’ve had to walk by the former House of Prayer and Peace several times this summer. It’s on the way to the pool, and Rosie is learning to swim. I try to walk on the opposite side of the street, because the abusive nun’s only recruit to her self-aggrandizing religious order still lives there. She is not allowed to wear the habit or go by her name in religion anymore, but somehow she got to keep the house. I have... Read more
As I write this, it is Saturday, July 13. The ICE raids planned for Sunday have already begun in Detroit and some other places, according to what I’m seeing online. Their goal is to sweep up thousands of families– men, women, children and infants all over the country. Families will no doubt be broken up and sent to those squalid and inhumane prison camps we’ve all been seeing on the news. I’ve been trying for days to write something... Read more
I just saw the most brilliant idea for a quick way you can help the migrants imprisoned at the Southern border by supporting one of my favorite charities, Immigrant Families Together. Immigrant Families Together is a charity that works fast to pay the bond for migrants trapped in those inhumane prisons, one prisoner at a time. Then they provide that person with legal representation for their asylum hearing, and pays for their housing, medical care, food and other... Read more
[Blogger’s note: this piece was submitted to me by someone I’ve verified is a Catholic seminarian, currently studying at a seminary in the United States. I offered to let him write anonymously so that he could reach others without his privacy being endangered at the seminary. I think that young men like this, who understand what abuse really is, are the very people we need more of in the priesthood if we are ever to heal the Church. –Mary... Read more
We got through another Feast of Saint Maria Goretti and its aftermath, somehow. It’s over for a whole other year. I’ve already mentioned that I didn’t have a nice time. A rape survivor doesn’t look forward to fielding hordes of people who think that being raped makes you impure. That isn’t the saint’s fault; it’s the fault of victim-blaming culture and terrible catechesis. Still, I dread this time of year. The person who asked if I was “slandering Saint Maria... Read more
It’s been a rough twenty-four hours on the internet. It started Friday evening, with a man drunk-friending me on facebook so that he could tag me in a post bragging about how much tequila he’d had and how much he’d enjoyed watching a fight between me and somebody I’d blocked. Yes, he tagged the blocked person as well. The next thing I knew, someone who has screenshotted my friends-only posts to bully me before was on the thread accusing me... Read more
I took Rosie on a shopping expedition. She spent most of the bus trip chattering me about her television shows: which characters were heroes and villains, what silly puns had been made, what fun facts she had learned. “Did you know that pigeons give milk? Do you know why the prairies have grown rare? Did you know that orangutans are endangered?” “Yes, they’re endangered,” I said, slightly frantic. I’ve been listening to synopses of the Kratt Brothers’ shows for a... Read more
They say the world is burning up. Wildfires have broken out this summer in Europe and in the Everglades. Here in the Ohio Valley, the power went out at the Follansbee coke plant, causing a blaze. There is always a little fire burning at the top of the plant. I could see it from my dormitory window when I first lived in Steubenville, smoldering day and night. I used to call it the Eye of Sauron. But the night... Read more
Do you know why the prairies have grown rare? My daughter knows. Rosie has been watching quite a few nature shows, lately. She loves the irritating Kratt brothers best of all, and has been devouring every program they hosted in the past few decades thanks to our Amazon Prime subscription. She likes to chatter about them, and tell me the fun facts she’s learned. “Do you know the difference between the African and Indian elephants? Did you know that pikas... Read more
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A Clarification of a Curious Comment
It is yet again time for that part of my job that hate most of all. I hate it worse than moderating comments, or answering the phone, or reading Chapter Two of a Baby-Sitters’ Club book. It’s the time when I remind everyone about my tip jar. I try to keep the number of reminders down to one or two per month, unless there’s an emergency. This month I saw a very puzzling comment, from someone who said that... Read more