I do believe that with this piece by Calah Alexander, we can put our unintentional Week of Hell Writing to bed. Pretty sure Calah has nailed it: A few years ago, about two years after my conversion to Catholicism, a chance conversation with friends led me face-to-face with the realization that I could actually go to hell. You’ll appreciate the novelty of this idea more if you understand that being raised Evangelical, I had understood from an early age that... Read more
The world is being run by highly-credentialed men and women who have passed through some of our most exclusive universities. Perhaps it’s time to look at haberdashers, again, to see what they know. – Elizabeth Scalia, I Don’t Want to be a Hoo-er (Patheos Press, 2013) As one of my Texas-based friends has said, “I may not know much more about insurance beyond the fact that I’m smart enough to get what I need, but goodgohdamighty, even I could have... Read more
For the past week or so, Patheos writers have been on a Hades kick. You might think it had something to do with Halloween, but you’d be wrong. Apparently things started with Mark Shea defended Father Robert Barron against what seems to me to be a case of misinterpretation. Whatever, I still wasn’t paying much attention, because my kid got pneumonia again. And then young Ryan Adams brought in some Orthodox perspective, and suddenly there were Facebook eruptions of hellish... Read more
It was just about one month ago that I became aware of Jason Bach, and it was via this brilliant and timely cartoon that went internet-viral. And I thought, “what a talented young man!” and I perused his archives and got in touch with him and saw more of his work and thought, “I have a new book coming out and I have no idea what the cover should be. But I know I don’t want it to be a... Read more
Between 9AM and noon today, there had already been five automaticly-dialed, recorded phone calls from earnest candidates begging for my vote. I’m sure they’re not finished with me, and that the calls will continue through tomorrow evening. These robo-calls have to be the biggest waste of campaign funds, ever. To my way of thinking, a politician who spends money on robo-calls indirectly communicate to voters that he or she is a politician who spends money unwisely, and therefore ought not... Read more
I was going to add this as an update to this post, but it’s really so neat it deserves it’s own mention. Our Lady of Solitude Monastery is a foundation created from within the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration of Our Lady of the Angels monastery. While other foundations from that community are still working on their hopes to start building (and finding creative ways to fund their hopes), this community, located in Arizona (Max’s stomping ground) have finally installed... Read more
“There is no saint without a past. There is no sinner without a future.” St Augustine I love All Saints Day. I love exiting from Mass and watching the traffic pass by. I always think, “it’s so cool that while the rest of the world is scurrying about its worldly business, we take time to remember our spiritual ancestors” — to connect to that Cloud of Witnesses within the Communion of Saints; to ask them to pray for us; to... Read more
When, in 2011, Father Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Ministries released the first part of its “Catholicism Project”, the book-and-video series Catholicism, a Journey to the Heart of Faith, I called it “a course in revolution”. Major blocs of the beautifully-wrought video were picked up and aired by PBS and the book is a stand-alone modern classic that I still frequently give as a gift because it is such a readable and thoughtful overview of the faith. The second part... Read more
Pope Francis said he wanted us to make a mess. Golden Voiced Dan Sealana has built a whole radio show out of that idea and taken The Mess to the airwaves in San Antonio, Texas. He’s smart, he’s fun, he’s a little puckish, which I liked when we settled into a chat a few days ago, and not just to talk about Strange Gods. Give a listen. Toward the finish, you’ll discover what the header of this post is about,... Read more
Image courtesy of shutterstock.com Will Duquette has been hanging around Patheos for a while, as one of several splendid folks helping Julie Davis review books, books and more books over at the Happy Catholic Bookshelf, and he did some blogging on his own, as well, but it was kind of discreet, in manner and form. Well, we’ve brought the rest of Will Duquette, not just his book reviews, over here to Patheos, and it’s a lot less discreet, all around.... Read more
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