I have no idea how to be a mother. Maybe nobody does. In my case, I find myself raising a daughter without the traditional extended family to lean on for counsel and advice. The last time I spoke to my own mother was when Rosie was five months old. I have to figure things out for myself as I go along, armed with nothing but the knowledge that I love her, and that she’s not my property. Take the pixie... Read more
Sometimes, even though I ought to be used to it by now, I am overwhelmed with shock at the absolute cluelessness of our Catholic bishops. I shouldn’t be. They’ve always been clear about who they are. But still, today, I’m shocked. Bishop Robert Barron, the auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, is what counts for media-savvy for a member of the USCCB. He’s considered one of the hip bishops that has a better understanding of the plight of young people. He... Read more
From the third to the fifth grade, I attended a school called Our Lady of Peace, which was infested with bullies as I’ve written about before. One of those bullies was the gym teacher, a real battleaxe named Mrs. Laurent. Mrs. Laurent couldn’t have been younger than seventy. She always wore the same pink and gray tracksuit with a whistle around her neck. Her voice was a crackly squawk. Like most bullies, Mrs. Laurent could spot an easy target a... Read more
The leaves have peaked for the year, and the color is going away. Pretty soon people will start to put up Christmas decorations, the green and bright color of real trees replaced with artificial trees and electric colored lights, which are also beautiful. People are also a part of nature. In a week or two, the world will look colorful, and won’t go totally gray until January. Right now, we are in a bit of a limbo, where the... Read more
If you read my work at all, it is probably obvious to you at this point that the Ohio Valley has a serious bullying problem. The schools here are world famous for violence and for grown-ups rallying around violent students to keep them from experiencing consequences. And I wish I could say that’s changed, but it hasn’t. I will always remember my neighbor describing her anguish to me when her daughter became anorexic from constant taunting by students in... Read more
Hey folks, I’m getting on later today with a real post. This is just the most awkward and embarrassing part of blogging, the part where I remind you that Steel Magnificat runs almost entirely on tips, and to awkwardly pass the hat. I support my family by blogging here at Patheos. I write about spiritual abuse and the clerical abuse crisis, I write very unpopular things about politics, I keep finding myself calling out atrocious behavior in the pro-life... Read more
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke: At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to... Read more
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God the Father of Heaven Who created all people in His image, have mercy on us. God the Son, redeemer of the world, who descended to earth to suffer with us, have mercy on us. God the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, have mercy on us. Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God, who carried the... Read more
We hadn’t had a Catechism lesson in awhile. Homeschooling is rather disorganized in the Pezzulo household. We have a series of unit studies on ancient history and biology going on bit by bit, and for Catechism we’re reading the Gospels straight through and memorizing certain passages. But when I’m under the weather and when there are a lot of activities going on, unit studies and Catechism tend to go by the wayside and we only do reading, writing and... Read more
It’s two days til Halloween, which I have frequently opined is one of my favorite holidays. The fall leaves are glorious. The air smells of wood smoke and rotting pumpkins. Front yards are awash in spooky bric-a-brac. On Twitter, EWTN’s own Raymond Arroyo is complaining about Christmas carols. Specifically he’s complaining about a re-cut of “Baby, it’s Cold Outside,” which is attempting to take out some of the lyrics that make it sound like the female character is... Read more
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