 Will everyone please join me in prayer? Tomorrow I’m going to start one of my disorganized novenas– I just set myself to fast however I’m able and to pray as hard as I can in whatever way I can manage for the next nine days. I’m going to offer it for the uncontacted tribes in Brazil. You may have seen on the news that Brazil’s newly inaugurated president, Jair Bolsonaro, just got rid of many of the protections for... Read more
 Every time I write about Regnum Christi, the lay arm of the Legion of Christ, and how it felt being compelled to go to their meetings as a teenager, current members of the disgraced lay movement appear in my comment box to tell me that the movement has reformed. They have cast off the long shadow of their sexual predator founder, Father Marcial Maciel, and are now humbly serving Christ and faithful to the Magisterium of the Church. They... Read more
   I have an urgent request from my readers. For the past couple years I have been good friends with Theresa Weiler and gotten to know her family. Theresa has a daughter, Maria, who goes by Mars and who is a brilliant artist. Mars’s gift is drawing whimsical pictures and cartoons that a grown-up artist who went all the way through design school would be proud to create, though Mars is only eleven and self-taught. I’m fascinated to... Read more
 It may have come to your attention that Jerry Fallwell, Junior, doesn’t know his Bible very well. Some of us have known this for years, but recently he really put his foot in it in a tirade condemning those who don’t support the president. Specifically, everybody is shocked at his declaration: “Think about it. Why have Americans been able to do more to help people in need around the world than any other country in history? It’s because of... Read more
 I met a man named Buster, who looked like Jesus. No, I actually did. He appeared in my combox, commenting under the name “Buster” and with a profile pic that was an icon of Christ Pantocrator. I don’t know why I find that combination so funny. It reminds me of something out of a Coen Brothers film. Buster the Jesus impersonator was confused about a post I wrote, a fanciful retelling of the Presentation in the Temple, meditating on... Read more
 I saw a public status on Facebook from my friends at the Friendship Room today: “We are very grateful for all the food donations that so many generously bring to our blue doors – we would kindly remind people that when a certain food item has been recalled we are not the best depository for that food. The store you purchased the recalled food from usually returns you your money. Thank you .” Now, I don’t work for the Friendship Room.... Read more
 A friend just posted the following on facebook: “So, WIC funding is down to state and local resources; SNAP is funded through the end of January. Should the shutdown continue, keep in mind that folks who may be on the edge or already food insecure, may have an even harder time. Donations to food banks are good, but so is just directly asking your neighbors what they need and providing it. This is even true when SNAP/WIC *are* funded,... Read more
 No one looks up when they come in. They’re not the kind of people that make you look up. They’re the kind you notice out the corner of your eye, and you look harder at the floor or the wall. Don’t make eye contact; they might talk to you, and then what would you do? There is a man, a woman and a baby, and they’re not from around here. All three are dirty, tired, smelly, as if they’ve... Read more
This is a baby. In the NICU. Who was in detention in November while 8 months in utero. His mother, who was denied use of the bathroom in detention, developed a kidney infection and baby had a seizure in utero. This is a baby. In the NICU in the northeast US. Seeing his dad for the first time. His Dad who is in detention. In Texas. Quarantined. His dad who is not called by name But by his Alien Number... Read more
 There used to be a fascinating museum, in a defunct Catholic school in the worst part of Columbus. I hope it’s still there. This was a museum of Catholic history: statues and Bibles and Communion rails, stained glass, thuribles, mannequins in nuns’ habits, a whole giant bin of those annoying ratchet noisemakers that used to be used instead of the altar servers’ bells on Holy Thursday. There were Catholic school desks, the kind that were bolted to the floor. There... Read more
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