Leonard Cohen, the famed singer and songwriter, passed away today at the age of eighty-two. The cause and exact time of death have not yet been given, but just after eight o’clock, his facebook page was updated with the message: It is with profound sorrow we report that legendary poet, songwriter and artist, Leonard Cohen has passed away. We have lost one of music’s most revered and prolific visionaries. A memorial will take place in Los Angeles at a... Read more
Two days ago, I witnessed an arrest. After I took my daughter Rose to the polls with me, while we were waiting at the bus station for the next bus up the hill to my house, there was a woman waiting on the bench next to ours, with a man I assumed was her boyfriend or husband. She was skinny and dressed in tight jeans that made her look skinnier; her red hair was disheveled and wild, like the... Read more
The egg is officially on our faces. We at Steel Magnificat wish to sincerely and deeply apologize on the occasion of our first ever retraction. Contrary to our reporting earlier this morning it has come to our attention that “pro-life” HAS NEVER BEEN listed by Donald Trump as part of his official policies. Trump’s “pro-life” position was listed on the website only in a several different press releases. These press releases have been removed from his site post-election, as have... Read more
Update 12:20 pm 11/09/16: You can read our retraction and apology here. Update 11:16 AM 11/09/16: We have received reports that “pro-life” was removed from Trump’s list of policies several days ago or, counter to our understanding when this was published, may never have been there at all. Other pro-life content seems to have been removed from Trump’s site between Nov 6 and today. We will update further as soon as we have anything clearer than that. I... Read more
I didn’t watch the Returns last night. I watched an old video of Bob Ross with my daughter, and then I went for a walk in the rain. I went to bed, and had nightmares. I woke up, and here we are. I did not like either candidate very much. I like this result least. Instead of the woman who believes the unborn aren’t human, we elected a president who hasn’t demonstrated that he believes anyone but himself is human. Instead... Read more
The statement of Bishop Patrick J. Zurek reads as follows: November 8, 2016 • Priests for Life, Inc., is not a Catholic institution, but a civil organization, and it is not under the control or supervision of the Diocese of Amarillo. • Father Frank Pavone has posted a video on his Facebook page of the body of an aborted fetus, which is against the dignity of human life and is a desecration of the altar. We believe that no... Read more
Here at Steel Magnificat, we have heavily leaned towards viewing this election in terms of nightmares, delirium, and a number of mostly humorous election updates. As for what other posts have touched on the election, like St. Paul struggling to remember whom he might have baptized at Corinth, I am by now not entirely certain where all we have mentioned the election. In any event, I remind you that both fear and blind faith in political promises are equally... Read more
I learned somewhen in the early morning hours that today, in addition to being Election Day, and the feast of Bl. John Duns Scotus, and the Eastern Christian feast of the Holy Archangel Michael and all the Bodiless Powers of Heaven – is also the 99th birthday of Dorothy Day. (Just wait- maybe before all is said and done it will turn out to be The Day the Saucers Came too.) Regrettably, I don’t actually have much of anything to... Read more
Dear Bishop Zurek, I am writing to urge you to discipline Father Frank Pavone of “Priests for Life.” You have no doubt heard of his escapades desecrating an altar with a dead infant in the past day. Besides being liturgical abuse and further violating that slain baby’s dignity, this is extremely traumatic for many of us who are faithful Catholic mothers and have suffered traumatic pregnancies or miscarriages. And his responses on his facebook page are completely unbecoming of... Read more
What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here, you should be voting! Oh, I see by your haggard expression that you’ve voted already. I’m sorry. Come in. Put up your feet. Have a cup of whiskey-laced tea with me. I made gluten-free sandwiches. Let’s watch a movie together. It has absolutely nothing to do with politics; it wasn’t even made in the United States. It was made partly in South Africa, and partly Somewhere in Time and Space.... Read more
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