I want to say just a few words about the shocking, tragic news coming out of Canada, about the remains of 215 innocent children found buried on the Kamloomps Indian Residential School grounds. I want to keep my words brief, not because this news is unimportant, but because I would far rather you listened to indigenous voices than to mine. I’m not a Native American. There are plenty of voices of Native American victims of the residential schools out... Read more
Two days ago was the best day I’ve had in years, and I am thankful. Today was one of the worst in recent memory. I was supposed to get the oven I bought with the Biden money in April delivered, but they told me at the last minute it was yet another victim of the nationwide appliance shortage, and had been postponed until almost July. The ancient oven that came with the rental house has a busted door and only... Read more
We went to the beach. I wish I could tell you just how much wishing, prayer, longing and despair I’ve done, in the past fourteen years, about going to the beach– about going anywhere. I’ve been living in Steubenville without my own transportation for fifteen years– chronically ill, riding the bus, walking when my health allowed. This year we have a car. I told Rosie we were going to a state park with a lake and a beach. Those... Read more
It has been about fifteen months since the first COVID-19 death in America. About fourteen since the lockdown began last March. Fourteen months ago, churches all over the country shut down public Masses, non-essential businesses closed, and we went home to shelter in place. Now, mostly thanks to vaccination, we seem to be pulling through. New cases and death rates are way down in America. Everything’s opening up. Catholic dioceses who still had a dispensation from the Sunday obligation in... Read more
We were running errands when we stopped by the church. This is what we do now. I have a car, and I take Rosie on errands. Today was exciting because we got an extra big tip in the tip jar after a horribly lean month. We paid down the bills just in time to avoid shutoff without bouncing the rent check, and then we drove to Wal Mart and Aldi to buy everything we’d run out of, and then we... Read more
I had to buy coffee, so I went out early. And then I decided that I was too lazy to go home and make coffee, so I bought a cup of iced coffee and drank it in my car. It was too bright and sunny to drink coffee in the car in the parking lot, so I drove down the block to Union Cemetery. I have gone for walks in Union Cemetery time and again, every year since I came... Read more
Hello folks, I just want to notify you of three things I’ve been up to when I wasn’t here, and some ways for us to perform the Works of Mercy. First of all: for those of you who have been waiting patiently for my book to come out: it’s been delayed, twice by my count. But it’s still coming, and it will now be released on June 10, just twenty-two days from now. You can already preorder it here.... Read more
It started with a photo of diapers. My friend Father Schneider shared a photo of a stack of free diapers and wipes in the men’s room at the grocery store, with a sign that said “Here for life’s little emergencies, please help yourself.” He said he was glad to see things like this to help parents out. Another priest, Father Stinson, retweeted this with “we should put these in our parishes TBH,” and a lot of people jumped on... Read more
Things are slowly inching back to normal after a year of horror. Here in Ohio, the governor is going to lift the mask regulations in June, and along with that lifting comes the grand re-opening of churches: the dispensation for Sunday Mass will be lifted by the bishops in Ohio very soon. And this is good, because Mass is very important. I’ve been going back to Mass in person most weeks since a little before Easter, and I’m especially... Read more
It was one of those days where I just want to disappear. I wished I could fall through a crack or dissolve into steam like the Wicked Witch of the West. Anxiety does that to a person. I was driving downtown to report one more episode of harassment by our neighbor, and to talk with the police about what evidence I would need to file a restraining order. Police scare me to death, but I didn’t know what else... Read more
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