Love Sarah Palin or not, one has to admit the press is so undone by her that they are both aggressive and passive-aggressive in their hate, and they betray themselves continually in all sorts of ways. They betray their snobbism; they betray their spitefulness, and most emphatically, they betray the fact that our “fourth estate” is populated mostly by perpetual adolescents. Our press, with a few exceptions, is largely made up of people who, at age 14, decided they were... Read more
In pop culture, Vampires are currently (again) all the rage, and Fr. Z makes the amusing and not so off-base observation that this icon of our dear friend, Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, looks a bit like a vampire slayer. The Dominican Tertiary from Italy is actually shown holding his rosary and his beloved skis, but I thought it was amusing, just the same. And since we know (in fact we have the pictures to prove it) that Pier Giorgio had... Read more
I was doing a little catalogue shopping, and thought, “before I order this stuff, let me see if any of it is on Amazon, and a bit cheaper.” Turns out, quite a few things I was looking to buy were sold through Amazon, and in every case cheaper than the catalogue prices. This, I fell in love with: a clever bit of the auld sod for an Irish-mad friend who -like me- is married to a Man of Italy. It... Read more
This is really very good. Head over to Pajamas Media and take a look at Ed Driscoll laying out how hap-hap-happy the NY Times has always been to celebrate the state, and statism. I do love to see alternative media bite the ankles of the media establishment, particularly these days, when a paper like the Washington Post can publish something as lazy, cliche-ridden and vapid as this so-called “review” call it “journalism.” But I’m just in a cranky mood about... Read more
Got this in an email from Fr. Martin over at America. It’s a riot! A nice parody of the sort of “Catholic Kitsch” we see in the catalogues and elsewhere. WELCOME: Hot Air readers, and thanks for the headline, Ed! While you’re here, please look around; we’re talking about fun Christmas Gift Ideas, and my hairshirt among other things! Read more
Her feast day was last Friday, November 13, but somehow I missed writing about the first American saint, a diminutive, iron-willed woman who left a rather wealthy family in Italy to work with the poor Italian immigrants in NYC: from Italy, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. Gaining her citizenship in 1909, Cabrini is the Patron Saint of all immigrants who leave their homeland for a new place. She was canonized in 1946, and I remember her being much loved in the... Read more
Three days I’ve had this song running through my head like a crazed earworm. At least it’s a good song! And cheerful. Read more
I did not get to hear it, but the transcript is here. My take on Palin’s appearance yesterday on the Oprah Winfrey show has generated a pretty rousing and entertaining debate in the comments thread, and I have updated it with this link to Melissa Clouthier, but I wanted to also quote Melissa here, because her post is very interesting and serious: […] here’s Sarah Palin going into hostile Obama-loving territory on Oprah. She was on edge, and fought defensiveness,... Read more
I have written frequently about the great consumables and products offered by various monastic communities. This year, happily, there seem to be a number of news outlets taking the time to visit with communities to get the low-down on their wares, and in the process, we learn about more great monastery items, and (happily for us) just in time for Christmas shopping! Here, for instance we find some discussion of the monastic life of prayer, combined with the news that... Read more
Back when we talked about head coverings, I made a point of following up on it as the experiment went along. I’m still covering at home, and still covering at Mass, too. I’m less self-conscious about it than I had been, although I do note the occasional hairy-eyeball directed my way, by some. One priest, after several weeks, finally asked, “okay, why? You tried this once before, I know, and didn’t stick with it.” “Yeah, it’s such a pain in... Read more
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