Got a wonderful email from a reader who is being received into the Catholic Church in 2015, and it is in many ways thanks to internet web sites, both secular and religious. Writes this reader, whose privacy I am protecting, but who is very excited to be entering the church: In the beginning was National Review Online, back when Jonah Goldberg was starting it up and the blogosphere was young…NRO named lileks.com as their Site of the Day. I started... Read more
Via last Sunday’s edition: Ballet is built on moments of trust and connection like this one. Partnering is an essential part of telling a story, creating an emotional undertone and suggesting the deeper implications of the relation between two people, traditionally a man and a woman. The man’s assistance allows the woman to create an impression of freedom and amplitude, as her range of motion expands. In her book “Balanchine Technique,” the former New York City Ballet dancer Suki Schorer.... Read more
In an earlier post, I asked whether men should be permitted to flirt, or if an attempt to chat up a woman and get to know her is something we, as a society, can no longer allow. I wondered whether every man is now to be treated like — in a twist on the famous phrase from The World According to Garp — a “sexual suspect”. In a world where the common courtesy of holding a door open for the... Read more
On her Facebook page, Elizabeth Stoker (whose blog can be found here) posted a question which — in an era where men are routinely depicted by Madison Avenue as either slovenly slackers or pathetically stupid-and-neutered — is well-worth asking: When a guy flirts with me out in the wild i always turn them down because i am married, but i have also for sometime offered like a brief performance review, example: [me at starbucks]: a gingerbread latte please [dude behind... Read more
The holidays always bring out these sorts of conversations. A Catholic friend who confesses to being “lukewarm” to the faith “because it’s so crazy, with all the people who are not welcome” expressed some consternation at the idea that there are actual “rules” about receiving Holy Communion. The rules, she complained, “get in the way of a person and Jesus.” Once upon a time, I believed that, too. I am still not one to go bug-eyed and cry “heretic!” if... Read more
On January 1st, Sister Mary Magdalene of the Immaculate Conception, OP will be pronouncing solemn vows, promising to live out the rest of her life within the enclosure of her monastery in Summit, New Jersey. Sister writes of what that means to her, here. We are called “sister” as spiritual mothers, we have a duty or right to maternally care for the spiritual well-being of our spiritual children and the salvation of souls, particularly as contemplatives recommending them in prayer;... Read more
The silence of which we sing so wistfully at Midnight Mass, is at an all-time premium at Christmas; it is so difficult to find a silent night, let alone sit within one and become immersed in it, that the possibility of a seasonal soothing of the heart—a quieting of the grief of the world—seems the stuff of illusion and myth. Christmas has, in too many ways, become the equivalent of an overdone theme-park vacation. By its end, one is knock-kneed... Read more
My husband, sitting across the table at breakfast, pointed to a lovely photograph in today’s Wall Street Journal: under a heading, “In Detroit, Christmas Means Volunteering for Many Jews, Muslims” was an image of two women, one wearing hijab, working together in the kitchen of Congregation Beth Shalom, to feed the homeless on Christmas Day. The article is not online but there are other sources telling the story. The press is so frequently negative about religion, particularly about relations between... Read more
Christmas day never comes without my remembrance of “Uncle Charlie”, a family friend who once appeared on our doorstep, decked out in all of Santa’s raiment and tripping in his boots only slightly. He had apparently been Santa for a party at the local soup kitchen (or the local bar; this was never clear to me) and — just a trifle in his cups — had decided during his walk home that he would stop at the houses of his... Read more
In the successive pages of this modern day City of God… Say whuuuuut? From a review of Strange Gods than left me a bit speechless, when I read it last week! A couple of days ago, I shared old news that my regular column at OSV had been honored with an award. And a friend said, “I thought it was your book, not the column, that was recognized.” Which reminded me that oh, yeah, Strange Gods was also recognized by... Read more
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