Jen Fitz “Sticking it” to you, at Patheos

Possibly, in visiting our channel’s landing page, you have noticed a new thumbnail on the left side, one that suggests this image:

That would be the banner of a new blog by Jennifer Fitz, who wants her readers to “Live it like you mean it” — it being the faith, of course, but knowing Jen, I think she also means every aspect of our lives: marriage, illness, parenting, work — live it all like you mean it.

Between living her own life like she means it, writing here and here, and here, authoring a book on catechesis, and contributing book reviews at Julie’s place, Jen is pretty busy and when I asked her if she wanted to come blog with us, she wasn’t sure she would have time to do much. The advent of mysterious and ongoing health issues has found her with a bit of time on her hands, at exactly the point where she was ready to come aboard, and she’s been blogging very busily, practically since her first day here, managing sixteen posts in sixteen days, and writing about everything from movies to papal economics, to Sabbath rest to Catholic dynamics at their best and worst, and always very thoughtfully.

My favorite piece of hers, thus far, has been the one on Pope Francis, Same Sex Unions and the Case for Regulartory Reform, in which she manages — “like a Catholic” — to apply faith and reason to one of the most urgent issues of the day, and to do it like she means it:

If the folks in your community know you, and like you, and are on board with your choice of self-chosen next-of-kin, the hospital and medical thing doesn’t have to be a problem. But one doubtful hospital administrator or psychotic-but-closely-related kinsman, and you’ve got a battle on your hands just when you’re least able to do battle.

And here is where I think the Holy Father may be thinking out loud, and where I most certainly am: When it comes to basic questions of social justice, it doesn’t matter what the relationship between Bill and Dan is.

Are they cousins? Old college roommates? Longtime colleagues? Brothers? Just a couple of very good friends? There are any number of perfectly legitimate scenarios that would put someone in the same legal bind that same-sex couples face. Even if Dan and Bill’s relationship is not chaste in the least, Dan still has a right to depose of his earthly goods, and direct the final decision-making in his medical care, and receive visits at the hospital, in the manner he chooses.

The reality is that every unmarried person, and a certain number of married persons for various unfortunate reasons, needs to be able to make certain legal decisions easily. In much of the United States, doing so is a royal pain in the rear end. We bumble along and hope things shake out well. They don’t always.

Read it all here.

She’s a busy person, what with being a veep with the Catholic Writer’s Guild, and all that writing, plus family and household concerns. I’m really glad she found a way to fit us in! Welcome, Jen Fitz!

Why “Sticking the Corners”? Well, that’s its own story.