The Anchoress
Some seriously brilliant look-alikes, here, particularly Rowan Williams, Camilla and Prince Harry! (H/T) Read more
Some seriously brilliant look-alikes, here, particularly Rowan Williams, Camilla and Prince Harry! (H/T) Read more
My column at First Things this week looks at the aphorism that “those who can’t do teach,” and wonders what lessons have been learned from those bishops of ours who did not know how to do their jobs: If “those who can’t do teach,” then a few of our teacher-bishops imparted some profoundly important lessons to us over the past six weeks. The shocking story of Belgium’s Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, and his stomach-turning delusions about what constitutes love and “moments”... Read more
If Abbot and Costello had gone classical…(thanks to Joseph) Read more
I finally got to watch the video of Sarah Palin’s speech, which is up in two parts at Hillbuzz. Gotta say it — Sarah Palin doesn’t use teleprompters, she doesn’t use Orwellian double-speak that is so preposterous even Jon Stewart has to call it out; she is not contemptuous of her audience, as the president increasingly appears to be, she has enough wit to grab a phrase and have fun with it, (“so yeah, we’re here, we’re clear, get used... Read more
Just to keep all updated — my cousin Joseph, who you may recall has been seriously affected by radiation treatment of a brain tumor, was making progress; earlier this week he was moved out of ICU and taken off the respirator. Although he still cannot use his voice and it is unknown if he ever will speak again, his comprehension is much improved (thank you for the prayers!). There was hope that he would be taken to a rehab facility... Read more
Lots of excited talk this weekend about the Blogger-meetup scheduled in Rome scheduled for May 2 — the day after the beatification of Pope John Paul II — and instigated by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. We might call this gathering of international bloggers a “baby step” toward helping disparate voices to get to know each other less as “contingents” and more as hale-fellows-well-met. It will also, hopefully, help to coalesce blogdom’s diverse, multi-focused alternative media into something that... Read more
” . . . let us spread before his feet, not garments or soulless olive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed in his grace, or rather, clothed completely in him. We who have been baptized into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before him. Now that the crimson stains of our sins have been washed away in the saving waters of baptism and we have become white as... Read more
At the cross, her station keeping + + + + + + Mary’s role in the life of the church, in the Christian experience did not end with the deliverance of her placenta and the taking of her ritual bath. Rather, Mary – The Mother – walked with and monitored every part of her son’s life (as mothers do) and his ministry. Far from being a toss-off, a mere minor player in the story of Christ and the Christian experience,... Read more
Comments will be closed throughout the weekend, possibly through Holy Week and perhaps beyond that, depending on circumstances. I do not take this step lightly, but to come into moderation tonight to find people attempting to hijack a prayer request for my very ill son in order to rant about a suspended priest, a Catholic layman, my “fake” Christianity and my apparently long association with the Evil One, strike me as such an offense against basic charity that I am... Read more
Some browse-ables for your reading pleasure: I have always loved this image from Ariel Agemian, and indeed all of the illustrations in my lovely old Imitation of Christ tend to catch me and hold me in rapt contemplation. New translations come and go, but I still love this old edition, put out by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood the best. What brought that etching to mind was Lisa Mladinich’s passionate exposition on the urgent importance of the Holy Eucharist... Read more
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