I do a full roundup of Nun News every autumn, usually around the Feast day of Saint Therese of Lisieux, and I am beginning to collect for that post now, but these pics are so neat, I thought I’d share them: The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church have a new novice, and she is very cool: The Passionist Nuns of the Diocese of Owensboro added a second postulant to their young noviate this week. The Poor Clares of... Read more
So, Max Lindenman, one of our earliest bloggers here at the Catholic channel, has folded up his tent, for now. He’s gone all Bedouin on us, and is going to be wandering the heated deserts of the secular freelance world: After a long hiatus and a lot of hard thought, I’ve decided to close up shop here at Patheos. With all the loyalty and generosity you’ve shown, you’ve earned an explanation, so here it is: I’m not enough of a... Read more
Last time, I shared some thoughts on the Christian left and the obstacles it might have to overcome in order to become a bona-fide movement. I focused primarily on the threat posed by tribalism, and the pressures to conform that can come from both within and without. I promised four warnings and a fanfare, so onwards we go… 3. Watch out for those crazy kids Stoker Bruenig alludes in her Salon article to the somewhat… contradictory nature of millennials’ preferred policies.... Read more
The story of ISIS plowing through Mosul, where it has destroyed the shrines of both Christians and their peaceful Muslim neighbors and allowed the Christians to choose exile, subjugation, conversion or death, is a story that is haunting me, as you readers must have figured out. It haunts me because our government saw it coming and said nothing and did nothing. Even now, our leadership and much of the West is silent, and silence implies consent. Churches are destroyed, people... Read more
Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig writes at Salon on the beginnings of a resurgence for the Christian Left. She uses data from Pew’s typology survey, the somewhat idiosyncratic policy preferences of the millennial generation, and the powerful witness of Pope Francis on poverty and social justice to argue that a left-wing politics genuinely inspired by the Christian message may be having something of a moment. I’m a big fan of Stoker Bruenig’s writing and an economic lefty to beat the band. The... Read more
I am sorry to be writing so frequently about the terrible situation in Iraq and Syria, but it needs talking about. The USCCB has just released a pdf of Bishop Pates’ letter to White House national security adviser Susan Rice Last month I wrote to you about the escalating violence in Iraq that targets Christians and otherreligious communities. I asked that the U.S. government urge Iraqi political leaders to form aninclusive government representative of all ethnic and religious groups, thus... Read more
A maddening admission from an administration that really doesn’t seem to give a crap about anything, and also seems perfectly content to have that known: Obama administration knew Islamic State was growing but did little to counter it: In congressional testimony as far back as November, U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials made clear that the United States had been closely tracking the al Qaida spinoff since 2012, when it enlarged its operations from Iraq to civil war-torn Syria, seized an... Read more
It is perennially interesting to ponder who and what were Nephilim, and how instrumental were they to God’s decision to wipe out humanity once upon a time. He spared only Noah and his family, who alone were still “righteous” and uncorrupted. The wondering is interesting, but never conclusive, because there are so many opinions, so many schools of thought. I read a three-part novel a while back — one of those endtimes fictions I usually avoid but picked up at... Read more
The choice is leave or take a bullet to the head; you have ten hours to get out or die; take nothing but the clothes on your back; oh, you need that glucose meter? Your blood pressure meds? That’s too bad. The Christians interviewed here make me feel very proud, and very humbled. They are obviously hurting, obviously shocked and displaced, yet full of spirit. And who wouldn’t be a bit angry and undone in such a case? As the... Read more
“Elizabeth, if I think too much about it I just break down. So many shrines I have visited destroyed. So many brethren I have know. battered, beaten or dead. Absolutely devastating.” That’s a quick note from my friend, Michael LaCivita. Having worked for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association for decades, he knows and loves these places, knows and loves the people who are looking into the face of evil — true evil, the all-too-familiar kind of evil that keeps... Read more
The Anchoress
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In