Earlier this morning, I contacted Priya Dua, a spokesperson for The Satanic Temple, and she confirmed for me that the organization’s May 12 “Re-enactment of a Satanic Black Mass” would involve the use of a Consecrated Host. Shortly after our conversation, I was put in touch with Lucien Greaves, who appears to be a lead spokesperson for the group. I asked him how the Host had been obtained, and why such an effort had been made. He seemed unsure that... Read more
Following up on this post, I have made a couple of phone calls to the The Cambridge Queen’s Head where Madelyn, an events manager, first promised to “research this,” saying that her computers were down. During a subsequent conversation, sounding very flustered, she and told me she had no comment to offer at the moment. Confirming that she is the Events manager, she promised a response later today. She did confirm to another caller that the Harvard Cultural Exchange is... Read more
I saw this last night at the Women of Grace site, and was skeptical. I remain so today: The Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club is hosting a black mass on May 12 to be staged by The Satanic Temple and which will include a consecrated host. According to a press release from The Satanic Temple, they plan on presenting the black mass at the Queens Head Pub in Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA along with “an academic narration... Read more
Kathy Schiffer calls a video of Emily Letts getting an abortion “weird”, and if all you take into account is this young woman’s words, they are weird; they make almost no sense. “I know that sounds weird, but to me, this was as birth-like as it could be. It will always be a special memory for me. I still have my sonogram, and if my apartment were to catch fire, it would be the first thing I’d grab.” If you... Read more
Be on the lookout, for the next couple of days, for horns blowing and confetti flying at random as you open pages here at Patheos, because we’re celebrating our Fifth Anniversary online! Woohoo! (#patheos5yrs), and we’re making it interesting, too, by giving you a lot to look at and learn about starting with some background on our energetic founding under Leo and Cathie Brunnick, and also a little bit about how we’ve grown as a ‘net presence (the Catholic Channel... Read more
Sarah Palin is not the same woman in 2014 that she was in 2008. Sarah Palin in 2008 was a governor who had a solid reputation for being able to work across the aisle, with both Republicans and Democrats. She was not yet someone capable of saying, as she does here, “not all intolerant-anti-freedom-leftist-liberals are hypocrites. I’m kidding, yes they are.” “If I were in charge…” (Audience cheers on cue…fade to black.) That’s nowhere near the quality of her former... Read more
I’ve gotten into a terrible habit of watching Mad Men with one eye on the twitter thread (#MadMen) partly because — as a tail-end baby boomer — it’s an easy way to quickly get info on some of the show’s references which escape me (this week’s opener, with Don in a theater watching The Model Shop, for instance) but also because reading people’s reactions to the show is hilarious entertainment. Twitter reactions to that show were particularly passionate — and... Read more
Billy Crystal used to do a great bit mimicking Edward G. Robinson in The Ten Commandments: An echo of that appeared in my email the other day from a traditionally-minded Catholic who — having taken previous exception to my having “made excuses” for Pope Francis’ very different style — was incensed over the news that the “Cold-call Pope” had done it again, to great general confusion. The writer was at pains to be civil, but between the lines, I could... Read more
When asked to define the greatest commandment, Christ Jesus answered: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It sounds simple, but that one-two punch of a commission is a constant challenge, and the work of a lifetime. The whole point my writing Strange Gods was to illustrate... Read more
On the Cross, God’s eros for us is made manifest. Eros is indeed – as Pseudo-Dionysius expresses it – that force “that does not allow the lover to remain in himself but moves him to become one with the beloved” (“De divinis nominibus”, IV, 13: PG 3, 712). Is there more “mad eros” (N. Cabasilas, “Vita in Cristo”, 648) than that which led the Son of God to make Himself one with us even to the point of suffering as... Read more
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