It is strange, how becoming a grown-up and a mother changes your perspective. When I was a little girl, I liked The Tale of Peter Rabbit. We had a videocassette of a woman with an extremely affected English accent reading it aloud, to a montage of original illustrations, and I enjoyed it. My heart went up into my throat every time I watched Peter come round the corner and encounter Mr. McGregor. I hated Mr. McGregor; I thought he was a... Read more
(Image via Pixabay) This post is a part of the Patheos Catholic Channel series, “Catholicity: Identity and Its Discontents.” Steel Magnificat both cordially invites and heartily encourages our readers to read more here. Regular readers will know that the more alarmist elements of the public face of Catholicism have recently caught my eye. I am going to go a little further today and seek to identify the common theme to all the diverse forms of catholic alarmism. Also, I am advocating that... Read more
(Image via Pixabay.) The friends of a friend would greatly appreciate your prayers and any help you can offer for their newborn daughter Lily who was deprived of oxygen during birth. You can read the details here. Read more
(image via pixabay) So, it turns out that I’m the only person in the whole country who enjoyed watching Ben-Hur. That’s fine, and I will address why I enjoyed it in another post. But I want to take a moment to respectfully disagree with Kate O’ Hare (of Kate O’Hare’s Pax Culturati here on Patheos Catholic) about first reaction to Ben Hur. Writing last Friday, she didn’t endorse it for its good points, but because she thought we ought to buck up and financially support... Read more
(image via Pixabay) Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How... Read more
(image via Pixabay) When I was very little, before I lived on the Planet Charismatic, when we were just generic scrupulous Catholics, I went to a small Catholic kindergarten run by a group of religious sisters from Germany. My mother said that they came as refugees from the Nazis, and stayed as refugees from communism. In the Old Country, they had run orphanages. In this country, they ran a kindergarten and a daycare. By the time I got to Kindergarten there were... Read more
(image via Pixabay) This post is a part of the Patheos Catholic Channel series, “Catholicity: Identity and Its Discontents.” Steel Magnificat both cordially invites and heartily encourages our readers to read more here. In my neck of the woods, there are a great many Catholics. You can always tell them because their houses are nicer than the others, and they have religious statuary on their porches. They usually drive vans with Rosaries dangling from the rear-view mirror. They fret about poor... Read more
(Image: the official poster for the 2016 re-make of Ben-Hur, used in accordance with fair use principles for the purpose of a film review.) Do me a favor: think back to every faith-based film you’ve seen in the past two decades. Any film that was produced, marketed or encouraged by Christian folks because it had Christ in it, or portrayed a Christian message wholesomely. All right, now think back to the ones that were actually fun. Films you’d watch again, not... Read more
(all images are via pixabay unless otherwise noted) I knew I was in trouble when I named a regular series “Things I Learned on the Internet This Week,” because I’m only horrible at doing things on a schedule if I commit to doing so. But here I am, about twelve days out from your last weekly update. Mea Culpa. Let’s get to the slideshow. First of all and most important, Alacatraz Versus the Evil Librarians is being re-issued!!!! With a... Read more
(Image via Pexels) No grouching from me today! At least in this post- maybe later. I just wanted to share two wonderful bits out of my morning’s reading. The first: “Finding Joy in the Kitchen with the Help of Brother Lawrence” from David Russel Mosley of Letters From The Edge Of Eflland here on Patheos Catholic. Today he was able find some simple peace in the ordinary as refuge of from the day’s frustrations. One thing that stood out to me particularly... Read more
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