“In the face of horror … there is no other answer than the cross of Christ: Love that descends to the abyss of evil.” — Pope Benedict XVI Words fail at this terrible news, somehow made all the more tragic for the season. Christmas is coming. These beautiful children, who likely had written their letters to Santa, or perhaps had opened a new window in an Advent calendar before going to school, are lost to us — now — in... Read more
Alright, I have to say it: I am not a fan of reality tv shows — all that splicing, all that talking to the camera while driving. Last night I stumbled into the den where the kids were watching some reality show about the Amish and my eyes glazed over almost instantly. But when Jennifer Fulwiler told me that she and her family were doing a 3-part reality show for NETNY.Net (Brooklyn Diocese), I was intrigued. She wondered, “why would... Read more
REPOSTED. Because I miss my dog, who taught me so much. This is the kind of day where you stumble out of bed, put the coffee together, and make a soft-boiled egg for the sick dog, who should now be trying food. You make one for yourself, too. The dog watches you create her egg-and-bread, then turns up her nose at it, once you place it before her. As you prepare your own egg, letting the lovely hot yolk drip... Read more
(Image shamelessly cribbed from Lisa Hendey’s post) Pope Benedict XVI launched his first tweet today, on this feastday of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to much fanfare. And then — like the rest of us — he found the act so ridiculously fun and ingratiating that he did it some more! And yes, he is answering questions: Q: How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives? A: By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what... Read more
Over at the Patheos Book Club, there’s an interesting selection being discussed, a slim volume simply entitled Catholic Spiritual Practices, Edited by Colleen M. Griffith and Thomas H. Groome. I’m going to confess right now, I did not get to read this book, but that wasn’t due to lack of interest. In tidying up for Thanksgiving the thing was accidentally donated to my parish along with a slew of other books — but I figure that was the Holy Spirit... Read more
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com An important piece by Judith Shulevitz, focusing on the unforeseen effects of having children at a later age: …The Nature study ended by saying that the greater number of older dads could help to explain the 78 percent rise in autism cases over the past decade. Researchers have suspected links between autism and parental age for years. One much-cited study from 2006 argued that the risk of bearing an autistic child jumps from six in 10,000... Read more
Continuing what has become and an unintended pattern, I continue with my every-other-week-Apocalypse, exclusively at First Things! Two weeks ago, I was saying, “We will have to become, ourselves, the reality we want to see. . .Let us begin, finally, to understand the true meaning of apocalypse by becoming it—not destruction and mayhem but revelation, as in the revelation of Christ to each other—in these strange and transitional days.” This week, I am surprising even myself with the starkness of... Read more
The next time your kid complains because he or she doesn’t have the latest and best version of this or that, tell them you love them, and then sit them down to watch this: My son’s g/f, watching, found in this an answer to the utilitarian types who think beauty and art are unnecessary and extraneous. These people are so poor, but they still want art, seek art, live for art. The transcendent connection to God. The beauty that saves... Read more
and stony hearts melt, one at a time… I love how responsibly he goes back to his job. Read more
As the Year of Faith got launched, Melanie Bettinelli of The Wine Dark Sea undertook the ambitious project of enlisting various writers to take on single, separate lines of the Creed, and create a series that focuses on these lines throughout the year. When I learned that “born of the Father, before all ages” was unclaimed, I happily nabbed it — it is my favorite line. So far, Melanie’s writers have hit home-runs with their lines — these writers have... Read more
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