Many years ago, when we were only a few years married, my husband and I joined friends at a local club, for a New Year’s Eve celebration. As the night progressed, we discovered that part of the entertainment included a young woman performing a strip-tease, down to her g-string and miniscule pasties, which she proceeded to set “fire” to, as she vacated the room. Perhaps it is because of my childhood history, but I have never been comfortable around such... Read more
A friend of mine, reading about Pope Francis’ admission to children that he is sometimes fearful, wrote admitting that he too was often fearful — debilitatingly so — particularly when reading the headlines and watching our social dynamics. He wondered how to not be afraid. I told him, “I know I sound like a broken record, but get a crucifix.” I told him to “study the crucifix while pondering the words of Julian of Norwich.” Her words, juxtaposed against the... Read more
If the headline strikes some as offensive, it will nevertheless remain, because that’s the case I’m making, and I’m sticking with it: a gay CEO with a pair of brass ones needs to step up and speak truth to a growing, and most illiberal new power. He or she needs to hire Brendan Eich in some sort of corporate leadership capacity for the sake of the most fundamental of freedoms — the freedom to think what you want to think,... Read more
How is your Lent going? Are you feeling like you’re making some spiritual progress, with the fasting and the alms-giving, and the extra prayer-time? Well, Lent is almost over and if you think you’ve been working hard on your faith in these forty days, know that the evil one has worked even harder. He always does. Every Lent, it’s something; every Lent the evil one exploits a matter, with four reliable effects: It impacts the culture-at-large It foments doubt about... Read more
:::BREAKING!!!:::PATHEOS EXCLUSIVE!!!:::PARODY!!!!!:::LIGHTEN UP PEOPLE!!!::: This is huge, guys, and I’m so proud that we’re breaking it here at Patheos! In a move that is sure to reverberate within the deepest corridors of the Vatican, members of the Society of Jesus have today announced that they will be admitting women into the Society as full Sisters. “They can’t be ordained, at least not yet,” said James Martin, the Jesuit author of the best-selling book Jesus: A Pilgrimage, “but as Jesuits in... Read more
In my capacity as managing editor for the Catholic channel (and also as the anointed “Mommabear of the New Homophiles”) I am seriously thinking about laying down a decree to Patheos’ Catholic bloggers that the word “homophobia” will no longer be used, unless it describes a truly “phobic” situation. This comes after watching Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry’s piece on anti-gay laws in Uganda get waylaid — and made irrelevant — due to people, in comboxes and social media, landing on a variation... Read more
Very much enjoyed Mike Barnicle’s piece on “The Timeless Beauty of Baseball”: But nobody really grows out of baseball. Go ahead. Do it. Put the glove on your hand. Flip the ball in the air and it’s 1958 and Teddy Ballgame is in the batter’s box, or it’s 1967 and ‘Yaz’ is dragging the Red Sox across September into the impossible dream of a world series. Catch it and you can still hit and still run and still stand in... Read more
I just spent more time than I had planned typing the word “ejaculations”, along with my name or blog name, into search engines and, later, into document files. Okay, let’s get it out of our systems: “she said ‘ejaculations’! Heh-heh!” I was looking for a phrase I had written about what we used to call “ejaculations of prayer,” and I was sure I had talked about it in Strange Gods, but I couldn’t find it in my files and the... Read more
Over at Patheos’ “Public Square” page, they’re asking whether religious freedom is under threat in America. Not as many takers on the offer to opine on this topic as I had supposed, but some of the essays may (or may not) surprise you. Indianapolis’ Bishop Christopher Coyne is a participant and he points out that “Freedom of Worship” is not “Freedom of Religion”: [Catholic Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Iraq] issued a very clear warning to the gathered American bishops on... Read more
Yesterday’s piece at First Things discussed how an ingrained lack of gratitude can skew all of our reactions away from both generosity and joy. How we receive a good has a great deal to do with whether we receive more good. In truth, within the continual embrace of the Creator, we are on the receiving end of constant-good. As the saying goes, “it’s all good,” except as our limited human perceptions may perceive. It is precisely because our perceptions are... Read more
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