I would like all of my readers to join me in taking a stand for life. Remember, our Holy Father has declared the death penalty inadmissible in all cases. The death penalty is like abortion– it’s direct killing of a human being. It’s one of those things you are simply not allowed to do, because it’s gravely evil. In just a few days, the State of Nebraska is going to execute Carey Dean Moore. Dean Moore grew up in poverty... Read more
 I have some very difficult things to say in response to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’s statement on the disgraced Cardinal McCarrick. On August first, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, the president of the USCCB, issued a statement which I quote here in full: The accusations against Archbishop Theodore McCarrick reveal a grievous moral failure within the Church. They cause bishops anger, sadness, and shame; I know they do in me. They compel bishops to ask, as I do,... Read more
 My friend was abused. Yes, in that way. I won’t go into detail because thinking about it makes me sick, but it was horrific, and the perpetrator was not only a respected pillar of the Catholic community but also her pediatrician. She’s gone public with it so you can read about it yourself. Marie found out this week that her abuser had abused many other people, and had been arrested; he’s facing more than 70 charges. There was a... Read more
 To Donovan W. Pepper National Director, Local Government Relations Walgreen Co. 104 Wilmat Rd, MS# 1415 Deerfield, Illinois 60015  Dear Sir: As a frequent customer of Walgreens, I would like to express my horror at your intention to close the Rite Aid in downtown Steubenville, leaving nothing in its place. It came to my attention last week that your company had bought Rite Aid, and was planning to close the Rite Aid location at 138 North Fifth Street,... Read more
It has likely come to your attention that the Holy Father has made a change to the Catechism’s passage on the death penalty, and everybody’s got something to say about it. Some people are thrilled. Some people are incensed. Some people curiously are claiming that the Holy Father has no right to change the Catechism. They seem to have forgotten that the Catechism did not come down the mountain inscribed on stone tablets carried by Moses. This catechism was composed... Read more
Hello friends, this post is your periodic reminder that Steel Magnificat, and my family, are almost entirely run on gratuities. I work from home as a writer due to my chronic illness, churning out three to seven literary art projects per week here, and my husband is the homemaker who takes care of Rosie and does the housework since I’m so often too sick to get off the sofa or out of the house. I get a very small monthly... Read more
This is the week of the year where I’m supposed to say something about birth control, NFP and Humanae Vitae. Lucky me. Last year I wrote a bit about NFP Awareness Week and how I honestly find Natural Family Planning a boring topic. I practice NFP. I obey the Church’s teaching on contraception and so forth in my own life. But I’m always at a bit of a loss for words when it comes to cheerleading for NFP. In my... Read more
  I once had to do a tricky take-home exam on Plato, over a break when I wasn’t at the university. I didn’t have a laptop, just a giant desktop computer. I had a copy of the quiz, my great big anthology of Greek philosophy, a pen and a notebook, but I didn’t have a quiet place to read. I was living in a house with six other people, two of whom were a quarrelsome married couple and a... Read more
 I learned to drive. Well, almost. I can nearly drive. A friend gave me an enormous tip on the blog, which a prudent person would have squirreled away and made last longer, but I was desperate to learn to drive. I have a friend who’s going to get rid of a used car pretty soon, and my mother-in-law is moving out near here not long after that, if nothing else goes wrong (it usually does). Mother-in-Law wants me to... Read more
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