Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” — Revelation 20:4 ISIS has discovered one way to bring Christians together.... Read more
Over at Aleteia, Father Dwight Longenecker has a piece about Pope Francis as “reformer”: Francis is hailed as a “reforming Pope” and he certainly seems intent on carrying through the plans initiated by Pope Benedict. Is it best, however, to regard him as a “reforming Pope”? People can and will make their own determination about that, but Dwight’s not wrong that — public perceptions and media narratives aside — Francis is certainly moving forward on some Benedictine initiatives, even as... Read more
Love stories, courtesy of National Review, where you will find Charmaine Yoest, Elizabeth Kantor, John J. Miller, Richard Brookhiser, and many others talking about their favorite love stories. I’m in there, too. Were I holier, I would simply have said “The Incarnation” but since I am a sinner and self-obsessed, I told about “How I met my husband; aka An Irish Love Story”: At age 20 I began the process of discerning a vocation as a contemplative religious, specifically as... Read more
Well, the hacks are back. They’ve been mostly quiet, since 2008, but the 2016 election is looming, so preferred narratives are unfolding, Alinsky-esque choosing and isolating of subjects is beginning, as we see with the sudden (and laughably clumsy, yes, hackish) obsession with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The New York Times’ Gail Collins is leading the charge with her dull machete, declaring “Scott Walker needs an eraser”, in part because he referred to a gifted educator as a “teacher of... Read more
Over in our Evangelical Channel, a brief post by Samuel James, entitled “50 Shades of Self-Loathing” has gone mega-viral. In conversation with an Evangelical friend, I’ve learned that some Evangelical energy has put into promoting a “boycott” of the movie. The Evangelical community is very exercised about 50 Shades of Grey, and I’m trying to figure out why we Catholics seem less so. It’s not as if bishops have not spoken out about the film and exhorted us to holiness.... Read more
When Representative Gabrielle Gifford was shot while meeting constituents, a reckless press took no time at all to blame ideology: obviously the shooter must have been a crazed Christian Tea Partier following the instructions of a hapless Sarah Palin who — like some Kos diarists — had used “targeting” language and imagery in discussing election strategies. You could tell the press really, really hated it when they had to admit that the shooter was so truly, pathetically, deranged that no... Read more
Yes, yes, yes, I’ll recover my head and my bearings in an hour or so, but just now I am weary unto death with the headlines I am reading, because so much of it is — excuse my vulgarity — unrepentant bullshit. And I’m tired of the government and the press ladling bullshit at me, as though I have grown accustomed to the taste and smell of bullshit and now crave it and would, in fact, happily bathe in it,... Read more
Irony of ironies: several hours after posting a grouse about the internet wasteland and what it is taking from us, we must now talk about how powerfully this instrument can keep us informed, especially when mainstream media outlets will not. Back when ISIS was casting the Iraqi Christians from their ancient homeland at gunpoint, and rampaging through the Nineveh plain, there seemed a dearth of coverage, all of it lowkey. In the opening days of their genocidal assaults on Christians... Read more
The other day a friend asked me what I was doing for Lent, and I immediately launched into plans for articles I hoped bloggers here in the Catholic Channel would be undertaking. “No,” she said. “I meant you, personally, what are you planning for Lent?” That inspired a longish reply full of lugubriously spiritual yearnings all introspect-y and lumbering gracelessly toward what passes for deep thoughts in my plebeian brain, but somewhere in there was an acknowledgement that I’m feeling... Read more
A few years ago I happened to be sitting at a conference breakfast next to Sister Mary Ann Walsh, who at that time was serving as director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. — a position of weight, responsibility and connections that might be a terrible temptation to ego in another person. Sister Mary Ann managed to wear it lightly, yet powerfully and to great effect. As we munched on sausages and scrambled... Read more
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