Perhaps a better question: How can he stand us? We’re so…so…vulgar, sometimes! Sigh. Nativities to blow your mind. The spam one…the bacon one…the — are those geese? Read more
Kitty is back in the hospital for the third time. Another infection. Please keep her in your prayers. Read more
By turns clever, cute, and cutting, Stephen Colbert is like a covert catechist, bringing his lessons into what some see as hostile territory, and teaching beyond the laughs. He might be American Catholicism’s best thing going. That’s what Matt Emerson posited a while back, and it’s hard to argue that he’s wrong. Here Colbert takes a look at the New English Translation of the Mass and a few other Catholic-interest-stories. Check it out. Read more
Someone asked me if I could recommend a good book for reading during Holy Hour. Lots of great books, of course, but I am particularly fond of Jesus, Present Before Me: Meditations for Eucharistic Adoration by Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P. Then again, for Adoration, I like to bring my breviary, mostly, as it is a chance to pray an hour (usually Vespers) before the Blessed Sacrament. I also like old-fashioned prayerbooks like this one. They’re kind of comforting and... Read more
I’m an awful photographer but took this in Rome last May — happily, mass began in one of the side chapels just a few seconds after I snapped this! Sant’Andrea della Valle is much simpler than many other churches but very beautiful, and I lingered, here. It’s recently cleaned-up exterior is very pretty, too — much more so than the image at the link would suggest. At News.va we read how the relics of Andrew first came to Rome: In... Read more
Jennifer Fulwiler began her “Our Father” project a long time ago. As she writes here: When I wrote the first post for this series back in March, I thought I’d have it wrapped up by the end of Lent. I would have never guessed that the final post wouldn’t be up until almost December! Well, all things happen in God’s good time, but Jen — who is one of those superwomen (like Simcha Fischer, Danielle Bean, Betty Duffy and others)... Read more
That was actually a pretty fast decision: A District of Columbia government agency says Catholic University does not discriminate against its students by forcing them to live in single-sex dorms. Catholic University went back to single-sex dorms for incoming freshmen this school year. University president John Garvey wrote in the Wall Street Journal in June that the change would reduce binge drinking and “hooking up.” A George Washington University law professor, John Banzhaf, filed a complaint with the district’s Office... Read more
You only love God as much as you love the person you love the least. — Servant of God, Dorothy Day It is an awful indictment, but it’s true. Dorothy Day (“I am an obedient daughter of the church”) died 31 years ago, today. The more confused our world becomes, the more her voice speaks plainly and with clarity. Right now I am reading her diaries, The Duty of Delight (it’s diary entries; I can read a little each night,... Read more
We don’t often picture God has having a longing for our sake; the image is too startling and goes against the idea of God’s omnipotence. Most people would reject an image of God, like a parent watching from a distance, hoping we’ll make the right decisions, the best decisions — grounded in his realities — so he can be more fully involved with our lives. We think, “God can do anything; if he wants something for me, he’ll make it... Read more
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