I have to admit that I do not really “get” Mardi Gras. Is the idea to party so hard that you are asleep for all of Lent (or at least Ash Wednesday)? I used to think of Mardi Gras as Saint Patrick’s Day for French people. But businesses, libraries, and schools stay open in Boston [...]
Category Archives: Catholicism
Happy Mardi Gras!
Posted in Catholicism Tagged Celebration, Culture Adjustment, Mardi Gras, Pancakes, Penance, Saint Patrick's Day, Shrove Tuesday 10 Comments
But Where is Jesus?
Over the past few months I have been given a great gift. By American standards I have been poor. It is not real poverty: there has been plenty of (really cheap) food, and I was not homeless. But money is tight. Very tight.
I can write about this now because I am finally convinced that we really are quite [...]
Posted in Catholicism Tagged A Swift Kick, Copyright, Liberation Theology, Poverty, Pregnancy, Privilege, Salvation, Suffering 10 Comments
Going to Hell
At the end of last September I realized that I was headed toward hell.1 I sat in Adoration reading random chapters from Schönborn’s My Jesus and wondering what on earth I was doing with my life.
Schönborn quoted Matthew 25:31-46 and then he wrote:
It is God’s Final Judgement. But how will it come about? What standard [...]
Posted in Catholicism Tagged A Swift Kick, Hell, Love, Salvation, Schönborn, Sins of Omission, Teresa of Avila, Works of Mercy 5 Comments
I Submit the Obvious
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate [...]
Women in Catholic Leadership
Annie asked “why aren’t women more active in the church leadership?” which is a great question. It actually thrilled my little soul because of the way she phrased it. Instead of writing about why women aren’t priests, I get to address the much less discussed topic of why the leadership of the Catholic Church is [...]
Posted in Catholicism Tagged Culture, eccclesiastical law, Edith Stein, JPII, liturgical forms, Sin, Women 7 Comments
Catholic Scandal
There is a Catholic saying that “the Church lives on forgiveness.” The most important thing that I could possibly express about the topic of scandal in the Catholic Church is sorrow. I am sorry.
No, I am not a bishop, so my expression of sorrow cannot officially represent the Church, but as a member of [...]
Single-Hearted Advent
Lord our God, we praise you for your Son, Jesus Christ: he is Emmanuel, the hope of the peoples, he is the wisdom that teaches and guides us, he is the Savior of every nation.
Lord God, let your blessing come upon us as we light the candles of this wreath. May the wreath and its [...]
O Glorious Advent!
I am so very happy for Advent this year. It feels a bit fake in some ways since the weather seems far too warm for Advent, but it is my first year as an adult that I haven’t been drowning in busyness. I love being able to properly celebrate, even if most of the “celebrating” [...]
Do you judge others for missing blessings?
Me: You know those Rad Trads who say that NFP users are sinning for avoiding conception rather than having as many babies as possible? Well I just realized that they must really hate babies–or maybe children in general. Why else would they think that children are such burdens to be forced on others who they [...]
Love: Or Why I Do Not Try To Convert You
I am a Catholic of the sort who really loves being Catholic. You know, the sort who goes to Church six days a week and is sad on the seventh (which is today, but I guess it is good penance for a Friday?). I do not simply love practicing Catholicism, I really believe that the [...]
