To begin with, I need to state that the firefighters working to put out the fire at Notre Dame today were wearing white or off-white hats. That’s the color of the hat that the fireman depicted in the photo of the (thankfully mostly undamaged) interior at Notre Dame was wearing. I don’t own the rights to that photo, but I shared it publicly on Twitter here. You can see that he’s wearing a badly smudged, round whitish hat that... Read more
I’m supposed to say something about Notre Dame de Paris. On any other day, you wouldn’t have been able to stop me talking about Notre Dame de Paris. Notre Dame de Paris, or as it came to be known in English, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was my first grown-up book, when I was about eleven years old. It engendered in me an obsession with becoming fluent in French, so as to read Hugo in his native tongue; and with... Read more
Have you remembered your almsgiving penance this Lent? You know, the one you resolved to do, and forgot? Well, I’ve got something you can do right now in honor of Holy Week, and maybe keep up all year. The Friendship Room is looking for donors to stock their Little Free Grocery. They’re hoping to get a different individual, church or organization to commit to doing it on a different day, every day of the month. What’s a Little Free Grocery,... Read more
Somehow, one afternoon, I ended up on a bench in Fort Steuben Park. I had meant to go to the Adoration chapel downtown, but I couldn’t stay long. The constant discouraging news coming out about our church has made the Adoration chapel in the big baroque church a twitchy place, nerve-wracking in the extreme for people like me. I decided to pray as I walked around downtown instead. I wandered down Fourth Street, humming Sacred Harp hymns. David, the... Read more
I was talking last night to my friend who is a member of SNAP. She herself is a survivor, and she has been studying the history and canon laws associated with this issue for decades. She was not surprised, but frustrated nonetheless, about Pope Emeritus Benedict’s “notes” on the sex abuse crisis which were released yesterday. She writes: Ok, this is how it really went. Up until the early 20th century, Canon Law did not provide for the church to... Read more
I have just finished reading Pope Emeritus Benedict’s remarks which were released today. I’ve never pretended to be a theologian and I’m the furthest thing from a canon lawyer, so I don’t have too many interesting things to say. You can read the full text here. The Pope Emeritus compiled some “notes” that he hopes will be helpful to those addressing the sex abuse crisis. He then gives a series of remarks on a cultural falling away from God and from... Read more
Unus ex discipulis meis tradet me hodie: Vae illi per quem tradar ego: Melius illi erat si natus non fuisset. Qui intingit mecum manum in paropside, hic me traditurus est in manus peccatorum. Melius illi erat si natus non fuisset. One of my disciples will betray me today. Woe to him by whom I am betrayed. It were better for him had he never been born. He that dips his hand with me in the dish, Is he who will... Read more
I grew up being told that the Population Bomb was a Liberal lie. I grew up in a good Catholic homeschooling family, and I was told in no uncertain terms that there was a different kind of population problem in the United States. I was told that families weren’t having babies anymore because they were selfish. They were aborting and contracepting away the next generation. Pretty soon the populations of the United States and Europe would implode and be... Read more
Judas mercator pessimus osculo petiit Dominum ille ut agnus innocens non negavit Iudae osculum. Denariorum numero Christum Iudaeis tradidit. Melius illi erat si natus non fuisset. Judas, the vile merchant, required a kiss from the Lord who, like an innocent lamb, did not deny the kiss to Judas. For a large amount of dinarii, he betrayed Christ to the Jews. It would have been better for him, had he not been born. Judas required a kiss from the Lord who, like... Read more
Hey all, this is just your periodic reminder that Steel Magnificat, and my family, are run almost entirely on tips. I am 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
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