It seems I have to remind people that empathy is not a sin. In case you’ve been living under a rock this week, get back under it, because I’m going to talk about a situation involving President Trump. On Monday, we had the inauguration of Donald Trump, and I’ve made my opinion quite clear about Trump. This isn’t about him. It’s about the woman who preached a sermon to him, Bishop Mariann Budde– or rather, it’s about the reaction to... Read more
I drove out to the overlook at Fernwood State Forest, not feeling too well. Adrienne was with me. We listened to the radio and chatted, casually, as we so often do now. I wish someone had told me sooner that when you stop being a homeschooling mother, you don’t stop being a mother. In fact, it’s easier to be a mother, because you’re not a drill sergeant constantly wielding a math book. You just have to be a mom.... Read more
I’m not going to watch the inauguration. I don’t see why anyone would. We all know what’s going to happen. The inauguration will be attended by the richest men in the world. Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Musk will be honored guests. Other CEOs will be there. Right wing populist demagogues from all around the world will be there. Cardinal Dolan, who never met a rich and powerful politician he didn’t want to curry favor with, will be there. Franklin Graham,... Read more
We’re having a snowy winter. We haven’t had a snowy winter in at least two years. Last year it only snowed for two weeks, and the year before that was even milder. Instead of a proper freeze, we have been tending towards three whole months of the worst part of February, rain and clouds and fog with no snow. I was afraid we’d never see a proper snow again. This year, it’s snowed. We had snow before Christmas, a... Read more
It started with a chicken stir fry. I am very good at reading labels. I have to be. But this package wasn’t labeled. The grocery store had donated all their soon-to-expire meat to the wonderful little food pantry in town for a tax break. We were having a bad week, so I went to the pantry and came home with the stir fry, whose label must have fallen off somewhere in the great big meat freezer. I saw the discount... Read more
Hello friends, this isn’t a real post. I’m writing an actual post in a tab right now. This is just the every-several-weeks boilerplate about what I’ve done lately, where to catch me when I’m not on Patheos, and how to keep my lights on so I can keep writing! This past holiday season has been bleak and bright all at the same time in the Pezzulo household. Here on the Patheos blog, I finally put my garden to bed for... Read more
It was a difficult night. Things have been a bit easier. I will never not have religious trauma, but I’ve been able to go to Mass most of the time, stimming in the back instead of sitting in the pews, only stepping outside once in awhile to catch my breath. I have gone from feeling as if I’d rather claw my skin off than go to confession, to wishing that I could find a way to go to confession without... Read more
One thing’s for sure: you’re going to have to get used to being a pest. You are only going to get through the next four years with your conscience intact, if you get over yourself and are willing to be a pest. When your country falls to Christian Nationalism, a Christian who realizes that Nationalism is heresy is obliged to be a pest. When people are acting as though a Caesar, any Caesar, a tsar or an emperor or... Read more
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke: Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, ... Read more
The first two days of winter were brilliant, and then they weren’t anymore. The sparkling crystal and white thawed into mud, and the sky went cobblestone gray. The dreary neighborhood of LaBelle became drearier than ever, until it seemed the whole world was rust and sludge. And then Jimmy the Mechanic’s car broke down, for the hundredth time, and he didn’t have the money for parts right before Christmas. If there were any justice at all in the universe,... Read more
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