Guest post by Allison Salerno Nestled between the Pacific Bronze Tanning Salon and the Muscle Maker Grill in the Wick Shopping Plaza, a strip mall in Edison, New Jersey, was a pool of light, contemplation, and prayer: the Pauline Books & Media Center, run by the Daughters of Saint Paul, a community of religious sisters. The store held hundreds of books, videos, and CDs in both Spanish and English. For years, I shopped there for Communion and Confirmation cards, crèches,... Read more

Guest post by Allison SalernoThis morning I went to Mass, inspired not so much by a spiritual quest as by a need to get moving earlier in the day than I have been. My allergies, brought on by mold in our old house, have been annoying me, and it has been nearly a week since I exercised. So I walked our 10-year old son to the bus stop at the corner and then power-walked a mile and a half in... Read more

Frank reminded me of some good advice from Elizabeth Scalia, The Anchoress. When as a blogger you run dry, throw up a video or something. The esteemed Madame A recently posted a scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” My taste runs more to the stodgy. Here’s one of my favorite scenes from “A Man for All Seasons.” Each day each one of us gets to choose: to be More or to be Rich. Read more

How you know you’ve been married twenty-five years: She drives you crazy when she’s there; you go crazy when she’s not. Katie is on the road with some girlfriends this week, and I’m only slightly at loose ends. Which means I may not be posting as much as usual for the next few days. (Did I hear Warren say phew? How many times does a Catholic blogger have to write about David Foster Wallace, anyway? Once? Twice? Enough already!)I’m not... Read more

Since posting about my favorite writer of fiction, the author of Infinite Jest, I myself have been wondering just what that was doing in a Catholic blog. I received warm validation from comments by the likes of Deacon Scott Dodge, but still. How religious was DFW? I think this will be a question that haunts me, even as I begin my fourth reading of IJ.This short story published in The New Yorker over a year after DFW’s death bears a... Read more

Nothing confirms my conversion more loudly than this: I have never had such friends. It’s conceivable that I was a jerk all my life and only emerged from jerkiness during my first two years as a Catholic, which emergence led people to say, “Gee, I thought he was a jerk, but he isn’t that bad. . . . ”  That would be a variation on CS Lewis’s “lunatic, liar, or lord.” Take your pick: (1) Webster was a jerk for... Read more

Sometimes a couple of guys just have to let their hair down, even if they are a pair of Catholic bloggers and they don’t have as much hair as they once did. It’s Monday, which makes it music time at YIM Catholic. There’s a lot here to pick and choose from. We’ve tried to suggest why these songs matter, but maybe they don’t.Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.Air Boss Johnson: That’s a negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern... Read more

My fellow parishioner Frank G.’s daughter died yesterday. I learned about it this morning, just before processing up the aisle as lector #2 for the 8:15 Mass. I looked toward the front of the nave and saw Frank sitting alone in front of the statue of the Blessed Mother. I walked up and gently put my arm around his bony old shoulders. He kindly acknowledged my condolences, then asked how I was: “And your family? Everything OK with you?” Typical... Read more

We’re becoming awfully bookish here at YIM Catholic: CS Lewis, JD Salinger, DF Wallace. Let’s come back to reality, people! What’s your calling, and mine? More particularly, what are we called to do as Catholic laypeople? This question was raised this week by EPG, an Anglican brother who has been hanging around with us Catholics at YIMC and bringing lots of good questions and answers with him.Here EPG’s question, in particular, and my preliminary response: “ . . . the... Read more