I like this gown very much; the color is great on the First Lady, and I like the blingybelt, too. She looks regal and gorgeous. Not as much as I liked this exceptionally flattering dress that she carried off with perfect posture in 2009 (and I have always said she looks best in an antique gold effect) but this is a lovely dress, and it’s too bad neither of the ladies was “ready” for the shot. Meanwhile, look at the... Read more
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, Writing at the USCCB Media Blog: There seems to be a new unwritten reg at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It’s the ABC Rule, Anybody But Catholics. It showed up in a letter from HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to advise the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Office of Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) that it would not receive a grant to continue its services for victims of human... Read more
A couple of weeks ago, Elizabeth Duffy, the proprietess of BettyDuffy.com, shared her Examination of Conscience in Real Time with us, here at Patheos, and her voice was so fresh and singular, we asked her if she’d like to join our ever-growing gang of columnists and bloggers in the Catholic portal. And were we ever happy when she said, “why, yes!” So, say hello to Elizabeth Duffy and her new, twice-monthly column, The Constant Convert, which she launches this week... Read more
…because that’s what I do! I know you know October is dedicated to the Rosary, and that is why I have directed you here and here over the past weeks. So, today, let Pat Gohn dispel any idea you might have that the rosary is the prayer of blue-haired old ladies: I have an aversion to being called a “Rosary rattler.” But to those who know me, this isn’t news. That was the name the local hipsters dubbed the so-called... Read more
Our Coptic Brothers and sisters in Egypt need our urgent prayers need our prayers: It was against the unmistakable backdrop of St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday that the Holy Father spoke of his deep sadness at the violence which engulfed the Egyptian capital Cairo last Sunday. 26 people mostly Coptic Christians where killed when a peaceful protest by Christians demonstrating over an earlier attack on a church in southern Egypt turned violent. The Pope said he was united in sorrow... Read more
This article in Slate was intriguing: The bear joke is a Scalia classic…“The story is about the two hunters who are out in the woods in their tent and there’s growling in the brush near them,” Scalia told the committee. “And they open the tent flap and there is a huge grizzly bear and they start running. … And—and the guy who’s a little heavier and he’s running behind, he says, ‘It’s no use. We’re never going to outrun that... Read more
From the halls of Montezuma and so forth, Patheos has happily taken aboard a Mary-lovin’ Marine. Welcome Frank Weathers and Why I am Catholic to Patheos’ growing gang of Catholic bloggers! He’s rambunctious. He’s energetic. We just brought him over and he’s already written his second post! A few years ago, the Dalai Lama (seen above visiting Thomas Merton’s grave) was asked the question “what do you find most surprising about humanity?” His reply, Man. Because he sacrifices his health... Read more
This week at First Things I’m talking baseball again but only peripherally. I’m actually talking about the depressing and annoying little playlets Madison Avenue writes for American consumers — the emasculated men, the unbearable women, the know-it-all children. The only good thing about watching your baseball team get eliminated in the post-season is that, after launching a frustrated shoe at the television, one is excused from having to endure repeated viewings of the detestable little playlets written by Madison Avenue... Read more
I am ashamed to admit I have never read it (as I warned below, I am no intellectual), but I certainly will read it now, as it appears John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize winning A Confederacy of Dunces may have been prophetic, in a way. Note Max Lindenman’s exposition of the book’s anti-hero, Ignatius Reilly: [Ignatius] is a figure few readers would care to identify with. Obese, a sloppy eater, and a fashion nightmare—the earring, though exceptional for him, does... Read more
Back in March, writing for his “In Ages Past” column, Pat McNamara filed an informative piece on Orestes Brownson, a name that left many scratching their heads and wondering, “whozat?” In 1937, New York City police investigated a vandalism case on West 104th Street and Riverside Drive, where teenagers had toppled and defaced a statue dedicated to Orestes A. Brownson (1803-1876). After extensive investigation, police couldn’t find anyone that knew who Brownson was. It turned out that he had a... Read more
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