Blurred Lines: Religious Freedom and Indiana SB101

Last updated on: March 28, 2015 at 7:03 pm By Guest Contributor

Melinda Selmys believes some lobbyists behind Indiana’s SB 101 intend to blur important lines of distinction between authentic religious freedom and “Christian freedom.” [While I am still on book-writing break, Melinda Selmys guest-posts about important distinctions that are becoming blurred in our national discourse on religious freedom and the inviolability of an individual’s religious conscience. Melinda is a convert to Catholicism, a contributor at Spiritual Friendship, and the author of 4 books including Sexual Authenticity and Eros and Thanatos. – ES]... Read more

Empty Tomb: The Improbable First

Last updated on: March 28, 2015 at 3:47 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

As part of Patheos’ Easter coverage, some of us are pondering what that morning would have been like for the witnesses of the Resurrection. Imagining the soldiers has been my contribution. For more ‘accounts’ and other resources for Holy Week, visit the Patheos Engaging Easter page. Empty Tomb: The Improbable First What the soldiers saw by Elizabeth Scalia He was not afraid. Of course he was not. Only, he could not seem to open his eyes. The air was soft,... Read more

What Did Mary Get From Visiting Elizabeth?

Last updated on: March 26, 2015 at 8:22 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

I have been so busy working on my project that I have nearly forgotten to point you over toward the Patheos Book Club, where they are looking at Denise Bossert’s lovely little book, Gifts of the Visitation: Nine Spiritual Encounters with Mary and Elizabeth I had the pleasure of meeting Denise during my sadly truncated visit to Israel, and she is one of those people who possesses such a natural depth of beauty and understanding that even casual conversations end... Read more

What Nuns Do on the Annunciation Feast

Last updated on: March 24, 2015 at 8:26 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

Our friends, the Dominican Nuns of Summit, NJ have a lovely tradition on the vigil of the Feast of the Annunciation: they process together to the Solemn Chapter for the Solemnity of the Annunciation, and then have the youngest sister-in-religion give a homily, addressing the community for the feast. This year, the honor went to a very-young-in-religion postulant: Mary is the great contemplative, the model for all contemplatives. What God asks of us is also beyond any ability we have,... Read more

“…and these Thy gifts,” comes to Patheos

Last updated on: March 22, 2015 at 9:53 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

As noted in the post below, I am offline until the end of the month on what we might call a mini “book sabbatical” (pray for me!) but it just occurred to me that in my rush to tie up loose ends, I had forgotten to announce a new addition to our immense line-up of great writers. Please make welcome the very patient Stef as she delivers unto us a blog full of — among other things — recipes and... Read more

For Credibility of the Church, Should Francis Reconsider Barros Appointment?

Last updated on: March 21, 2015 at 1:52 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

I never write about these stories because they make me physically ill, so I leave it to others. But it seems like this story is dying on the vine, and I’m not sure it should. And it’s Lent, when we’re supposed to do difficult things, so here goes. Pope Francis has appointed Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid to a Bishopric in Southern Chile, and Barros is set to be installed there tomorrow, March 21. This may be a problematic... Read more

The Unwitting Compliment Paid to Cordileone and the Church

Last updated on: March 19, 2015 at 6:46 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey is once again guest-hosting the Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio, and this afternoon, around 3PM Eastern, I will be joining him to talk about many things, including Lent, and yesterday’s piece on the Archdiocese of San Francisco and what Frank Weathers calls a sort of Catholic Watergate. I wonder, while we are on the subject, what sort of practical solutions might be available — and not available — in such a litigious age. Could a... Read more

Hosing the Homeless: Important Lesson Still Unlearned from the Scandals

Last updated on: March 18, 2015 at 10:42 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

By now, you have doubtless heard the story about how the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and particularly Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone are under fire for setting the sprinklers on the homeless in order to discourage loitering around Saint Mary’s Cathedral. It’s not a nice story, and it is also a rather “neat” bit of timing that it has broken while Cordileone is being pressured to resist clarifying church teaching and developing morality clauses for the purposes of both instruction and hiring.... Read more

12 Reasons to Love the Irish!

Last updated on: March 16, 2015 at 10:37 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

1) We gave you the Irish Soda Bread Recipe. 2) We gave you we gave you Joyce, Yeats and Oscar Wilde. 3) We gave you U2. Sorry that Bono can be such a blowhard sometimes, but you know…he’s Irish. 4) We gave you Errol Flynn. 5) And Tom Selleck. 6) And John Wayne and Maureen O’ Hara. 7) And Gene Kelly. 8) And the foundation upon which bluegrass and old-timey music were founded. 9) We gave you Daniel Day Lewis... Read more

A Novus Ordo Even a Latin Mass Fan Could Love

Last updated on: March 16, 2015 at 8:37 pm By Elizabeth Scalia

Yesterday, Eve Tushnet, Lisa Mladinch, Tom Zampino, and I had the very great pleasure to participate in a panel on the church and new media at the Oratory Church of St. Boniface, in Brooklyn. The panel was very enjoyable, as the attendees asked some great and sometimes very challenging questions about the impact of blogging and social media and how (or whether) it gives true service to the church, and even about matters of doctrine and what we might expect... Read more