Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, and send ’em all to me for St. Valentine’s Day! And in return I will give ye a linkfest of love, and a useful app, free for Valentine’s Day Start with Deacon Greg: Who was St. Valentine, anyway? He also offers a poem about lovers being alive together! For film buffs and lovers of screwball comedies (Me! Me! I am one!): Joseph Susanka writes “Divorce Granted,” a fun stroll through three Cary Grant films... Read more
ORIGINALLY OCTOBER 23, 2006 from the WAYBACK MACHINE — Michael J Fox fighting for bad science – UPDATED Filed under: Culture of Life/Death, Medical, TV/Pop Culture/Music, Election 2006 When I was a little girl, I remember a neighbor of ours who spent every Labor Day raging at Jerry Lewis for “parading those poor crippled children around to pull on the heartstrings so that people will send him money…” As though the funds raised by the Muscular Dystrophy Association were going... Read more
My archives are not all moved over yet, so I can’t find most of the posts, but we do sometimes muse about suffering here. Often the topic comes up because we are sharing sad news that reminds us once again that no one gets through life without experiencing what it is to suffer. We have been trained in the secular world to disregard life as something holy and to understand that our human potential is inextricably tied to our personal... Read more
. . . and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun. – Romeo & Juliet, Act 3; Scene 2 It was a great sadness to learn today of the passing of Joshua Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of Lucianne.com and Blogs Lucianne Loves. He was the son of Lucianne... Read more
It occurs to me that the ouster of Hosni Mubarak and the potentially world-changing events that are occurring today in Egypt have happened on a Marian feastday: today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Recalling that Nelson Mandela was freed on this very day, in 1990, I started looking up other dates and events. My friend Paul helped me out, and here is a partial list of recent historical events that have occurred on days set aside to... Read more
A few days ago I wrote about the new confession prep app developed by two priest and approved by the Bishop of Fort Wayne. While I thought the tool could be a terrific aid in the examination of conscience, I also worried that — despite repeated declarations that the app did not constitute a confession, or dispense absolution, that it did not preclude the need to go to confession — some would go through the app process and decide that,... Read more
When I made my first inquiries about becoming a Benedictine Oblate, I received this icon with the monastery’s response. It sits on my desk, still. Today is the feast of St. Scholastica, the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia. Very little is known about her, historically, and there is some debate about where her relics may be. While in Rome, we were able to take a tour of the monastery and cave at Subiaco, where Benedict founded the order,... Read more
Gabriel Malor sent this my way, with the note: “very cool!” Catholic Church OK New Confession App for iPhone. An iPhone app aimed at helping Catholics through confession and encouraging lapsed followers back to the faith has been sanctioned by the Catholic Church in the United States. Well, no, that’s an extremely misleading headline and lede. The “Catholic Church” has not approved the app; Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of the Diocese of Fort Wayne in Indiana, has given his imprimatur, though.... Read more
I don’t know, I look at these pictures and then consider the NYC Subway system, or others and think, why aren’t we doing staggering, creative things like this, anymore? Art Deco gave way to Peter Max and then to minimalism, but this is fun! It’s the Swedish Subway System, and it’s awesome! I wonder how many stimulus dollars have been spent updating and re-creating our subway spaces. Must look that up. Read more
The Crescat’s Katrina Fernandez has long been at war with “ugly” church art and architecture which she insists “makes Baby Jesus cry…”. She has an interesting essay up over at Patheos, where she argues that beauty is part of our spiritual sustenance: On any given day I am too-little exposed to beauty. I sit in traffic each morning staring at grey asphalt; I ride through treeless streets lined with utilitarian, ugly, ornament-free buildings and spend the remainder of my day... Read more
The Anchoress
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In