My friend Julie read my post about marriage this morning and forwarded me an article that Father Barnes had shared with her. She said she had found it helpful, and I did too.The article is “Designed for Sex” by J.  Bucziszewski, a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin. It takes my simplistic “13-year-old” argument about our bodies’ design a significant step or two further. (Sidebar: I appreciate the comments today, pro and con, from people... Read more

When I was 13 and Dad sat me down for Birds and Bees: The Advanced Course, I remember thinking, “Hunh?! Three years ago, he taught me about sex between a man and woman. I get that. The bodies fit together. God engineered it that way. But man and man? Woman and woman? What fits what?” I report this 45 years later not to sit in angry judgment on anyone. I have friends who are homosexual. In professional theater, which I... Read more

As soon as I had published my post summarizing my first seven weeks of Catholic blogging, I realized that it was like several Stephen King novels: Hundreds of pages of build-up, then pffft, fizzle—whimper, no bang. Well, here’s the bang that post was missing: As a Catholic these eighteen months, I am happier than I have ever been. I have written that Catholic women seem happy. I have even dared to write that Catholic women are happy. I have described... Read more

One of the joys of this blog is hearing from fellow Catholics across the U.S. and even around the world. An example today was a Dominican brother, “D.D.,” whereabouts unknown, who sent me a pertinent quote from Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton. Br. D.D., O.P, was evidently responding in part to the descriptive statement beneath my blog title, explaining why I started writing: Asked by a friend why I had converted to Catholicism, “I was at a loss. I couldn’t... Read more

I saw Stephen Colbert’s latest interview with Richard Dawkins last night and concluded that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups is another reason YIM Catholic. Apologies for the mandatory ad that precedes the five-minute video clip. The ad changes. Mine was Jack Daniels. To be clear: Jack Daniels is not one of the reasons YIM Catholic. Pour yourself a Coke and give the link a click. Read more

Seven weeks ago today, I published my first post. Recalling the reasons that one is Catholic—every day—is a blessed exercise. The result of seven weeks’ writing is a sort of mini-memoir. There are gaps in the story, which I will fill in, with your forebearance. But so far, this is the story, with apologies to the Psalmist: I was blessed with a father who taught me that religion could be a manly pursuit, for his love endures for ever. I... Read more

A quick post to pass along something Father Barnes sent out this morning. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a click, and how will you know if you’ve seen it if you don’t click? Read more

I once could hear and then was deaf and now can hear again. I’m not talking about conversion. I’m talking about recovering from last night’s U2 concert. The pope is not a fan of rock concerts, as in hypnotic screaming mayhem. But isn’t BXVI giving Bono an audience? Well, I was in Bono’s audience last night. Am I taking liberties with the usual format of Q: Why Am I Catholic? / A: Because of . . . ? Well, maybe.... Read more

You know how God used to speak to a teenage girl on the TV show “Joan of Arcadia,” like a modern-day Joan of Arc? True story: Sometimes “Joan of Arcadia” speaks to me. Which amounts to a kind of Apostolic transmission, from God’s mouth to my ear through Joan Girardi (Amber Tamblyn). As Adam Rove (Chris Marquette) would say, Cha. Latest example: I had just finished a post about St. Thérèse of Lisieux and her calling (love) and my singing... Read more

For the first few hours after my post hit the Web, there were no answers to my question, “What poem has inspired you in your religious life?” and I started asking myself, “Don’t these people read?!” It was just about when I had started to lose faith (isn’t it always the way?) that a trickle turned to a stream, and I can now report to you a fine list of verse and other odds and ends that you might turn... Read more