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November 2018

November 20, 2018

“Hour of the Wolf”: Further Reflections on Staying Catholic in a Time of Crisis

Earlier this year I edited an anthology, Christ’s Body, Christ’s Wounds: Staying Catholic When You’ve...

October 2018

October 10, 2018

Video of “Salt & Light” Panel on Abuse Crisis: Elizabeth Bruenig, Jonathan Lewis, Joshua McElwee, & Me

Three actual young people who know things because they're (excellent) reporters or they actually work...

September 2018

September 04, 2018

A Cloud of Witnesses

A friend and I were talking about conversations she'd been having lately, and she wondered...

May 2018

May 09, 2018

“Medieval Rites and Contemporary Dying”: Church Life Journal

is playing my song: The immediate response to death in many medieval communities was song....

February 2018

February 01, 2018

Now Available: “Christ’s Body, Christ’s Wounds: Staying Catholic When You’ve Been Hurt in the Church”

I edited this anthology of memoir, practical guidance, poetry, family history, and spiritual reflection. Contributions...

September 2017

September 25, 2017

“Losing My Child at Easter”: Extraordinary piece by Leah Libresco Sargeant

at First Things: ...One year later, I was married. And I was still arguing about...

June 2017

June 30, 2017

Ignatius After Dark: And Other Bright Ideas from the Sick Pilgrim Conference

Last week I headed to sunny South Bend, IN for "Trying to Say 'God': Re-enchanting...

April 2017

April 12, 2017

A Coptic Priest’s Message to Those Who Kill Christians: “Thank You!”

incredibly powerful: The first thing we will say is “Thank you very, very much,” and...

March 2017

March 29, 2017

Mourning and Weeping in this Valley of Brunch

Last week I did a speaking engagement in New York, on the topic, "Christianity Is...

November 2016

November 08, 2016

Assisted Suffering

So, I voted. Remember how I said my ballot would be a fractal of civic...

September 2016

September 30, 2016

Book Announcement: Staying Catholic When You’ve Been Hurt in the Church

Hello all. I'm very happy to announce that an anthology I'm editing, with the working...

August 2016

August 25, 2016

By the Light of the Cross: Christian Wiman’s “My Bright Abyss”

What makes Jesus credible--at least for those of us who are Christians? The answers are...

August 16, 2016

From Christian Wiman, “My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer”

Abundance and destitution are two facets of the one face of God, and to be...

August 11, 2016

Ask Melinda Selmys Your NFP Questions!

Would you like a practical, philosophical, and psychological look at natural family planning from someone...

August 05, 2016

Unchosen Blessings: Gay Celibacy and Unplanned Pregnancy

Someone who knows I volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center sent me a recent article...

July 2016

July 31, 2016

The Only Song in the World: Short movie notes

In order of when I saw them, so this will get whiplashy. Me Without You:...

July 29, 2016

“We Know That We Are Going to Be Killed”: An Interview with an Iraqi Priest

at First Things: Coppage Did you have prayers that you were relying on? Fr. Bazi...

February 2016

February 15, 2016

Amy Welborn on Church Art, Devotions, And Sacramentals as Works of Mercy

with a powerful story of grief and the Stations of the Cross: ...So, yes, mercy....

February 15, 2016

“Stephen King’s Doubt”: I review “Revival”

for AmCon: There’s a cheap rhetorical move you see a lot in religious debate, where...

January 2016

January 21, 2016

“Last Year’s Horror Cornucopia: Suffering in Style”: I’m at First Things

every Halloween is self-parody Halloween: Last night I watched The Final Girls, Todd Strauss-Schulson's 2015...

November 2015

November 10, 2015

Pascale Monnin, An Artist of Haitian Resurrection

Over the weekend I discovered a new artist: the Swiss-Haitian painter and sculptor Pascale Monnin....

October 2015

October 10, 2015

(How) Do Scary Gay Statistics Matter?

Ever since that Courage conference I've been trying to figure out a way to write...

October 10, 2015

“The Night I Outran My Demons”: A British Doctor

check out the tags on this article...: Looking back over my 29 years as a...

September 2015

September 09, 2015

Take Me to Church–But Not the Ones that Hurt: Starting a Book Project

Hey y'all. This is all in the very, very first stages, but I'm talking with...

September 07, 2015

The Human Heart Is a Cactus, The Desert Makes It Bloom: Notes on Friendship and a Courage Conference

So I was invited to a conference run by Courage, a Catholic ministry to people...

September 06, 2015

“Selling Plasma to Survive: How Over a Million American Families Live on $2 a Day”: New Book from Kathryn Edin

coauthor of the excellent Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage...

August 2015

August 29, 2015

“The Wisdom of the Beguines”: Commonweal Book Review on Medieval Laywomen Mystics

with tons of fascinating stuff: In the twelfth century, single women began moving in large...

July 2015

July 08, 2015

Melinda Selmys’s Terrific Series on NFP

Just really important for people who care about this stuff. Also adds some complexity to...

June 2015

June 30, 2015

“The Incomprehensible Witness of Forgiveness”: John Inazu

rounds up some commentary and adds his own: ...Nor is forgiveness reconciliation. Reconciliation is only...

June 14, 2015

The Martyred Crowd: “Cathedral of the August Heat, A Novel of Haiti”

This is a short, feverish, seamy, painful book from 1987 about a revolutionary upsurge among...