Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic

Church Craziness

Select a Category Books Catechesis Catholic Q&A Chastity Church Craziness Come See Me Talk Disability & Chronic Illness Economics Evangelization Facepalm Forgiveness Good Things History Homeschooling Human Rights It's All Catholic Listen to Me Survey Series Liturgical Living Marriage Modesty Not Satire. But almost. Rant-o-Rama Sacred Art & Music Satire South Carolina Spark Clutter Stick that Corner Suffering Thinking Topics Writing Stuff

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 January 2026 December 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 November 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014

January 2016

January 22, 2016

Chapel Veils and the End of Choice

It's the day of prayer and penance for the unborn, and not only am I...

January 18, 2016

Hashtags, Prayers, and Progressive Fundamentalists: A Lesson from Sister Simone

Please welcome guest blogger Timothy Scott Reeves. Scott is a philosophy student, father of...

January 12, 2016

Real Things from Fiction

Happy New Year everyone! I'm doing fine, a bit tired and a lot busy with...

December 2015

December 12, 2015

When Your Priest is a Jerk

So I have a couple priest-friends who can pretty much match me for jerk-power, but...

December 11, 2015

Good Riddance Evangelism

So this week at Mass I saw a priest pick a fight with a group...

November 2015

November 17, 2015

Refugees vs. Enemies – We’ve Done this Before

There is no getting around the fact that the terrorists in Paris took advantage of...

November 13, 2015

Why God Made the University

I didn't fully understand Catholic education until this semester. Those who follow the blog know...

October 2015

October 16, 2015

How to Teach Kids about the “Straw Man” Fallacy

Point them to the internet. In class this morning, the kids got their formal introduction...

October 11, 2015

Why I Don’t Care About Women’s Ordination

Way back when I was a confused but zealous Catholic teenager, I considered whether I...

September 2015

September 27, 2015

Getting Past a 2nd-Grade Faith with Pope Francis

One of my pleasures lately has been the privilege of getting to watch bunches of...

September 18, 2015

Should Catholic Hospitals Sterilize Their Patients?

The answer is no, and neither should any other kind of hospital. In the news...

September 01, 2015

Why I Love Facebook and the #1 Secret to Radio Success

This Saturday (Sept 5th) I'll be on Outside the Walls with Timothy Putnam talking about parish...

August 2015

August 29, 2015

CORRECTED: US Bishops Have No Case in Court If They Won’t Stand for the Faith at Home

CORRECTED: Kathy Schiffer graciously reminds me that Bishop Finn has asked NCR to stop calling...

August 26, 2015

What I’m Reading: For the Union and the Catholic Church by Max Longley

Worth noting from the review pile: For the Union and the Catholic Church: Four Converts in...

August 23, 2015

Is Your Parish Your Community? Or Not So Much?

The topic of loneliness and exclusion from parish life came up recently, and I threw...

August 21, 2015

Dear Every Priest I’ve Ever Known,

Thank you for keeping your clothes on. One can only take the St. Francis thing...

August 02, 2015

Your Church Might Be Populated By Humans If . . .

In my reading this past week I was struck by a passage that seemed to sum...

July 2015

July 16, 2015

Where Are You Going, Catholic Church?

Patheos is hosting a symposium on "The Future of Faith in America" and you can read...

July 09, 2015

Why God-Centered Liturgy Matters So Much

It is, of course, a sin against the virtue of justice to spend your Mass...

July 09, 2015

Mercy That Isn’t: More Teachers Being Thrown Under the Bus to Cover for Dissenting Administrators

H/T to Deacon Greg Kandra for pointing out the most recent case of a Catholic...

July 03, 2015

Why Do We Evangelize?

When I wrote on evangelization and discipleship yesterday, an old question came to my attention:...

July 02, 2015

Want Religious Freedom? Ditch the Assembly Line and Start Raising Mature Catholics

So my How to Prevent Same Sex Couples from Suing Us post garnered reactions pretty similar...

July 02, 2015

How to Make Sense of Pope Francis News, This Saturday on Outside the Walls

Yesterday I had more fun than a person should be allowed to have before 10AM,...

July 01, 2015

10 Things Christian Kids Need to Prepare for an Uncertain Future

In a private conversation Elizabeth Scalia posed a question, and I'm going to paraphrase it wildly:...

June 2015

June 24, 2015

Gay Marriage, Slack Parents, and Religious Ceremonies: An Even Simpler Solution

The usually sensible Fr. Longenecker proposes that the Catholic Church get out of the civil...

June 23, 2015

Communal Life in the Parish and Making Time for Our Evangelical Mission

Josh Canning lays down the challenge here: How do we make time for evangelization in...

June 22, 2015

Pope Francis’s Puzzling Comments on Guns and War: The Clue to Understanding Laudato Si’

H/T to Kate O'Hare, who linked to these initially puzzling comments from Pope Francis on...

June 17, 2015

How You Get People to Behave at Mass: A Story About What Works and What Doesn’t – updated

Elizabeth Scalia writes here about the story behind the story of the slouches in the...

June 17, 2015

Three Signs It’s a Sexual Abuse Cover-Up and Not Just an Innocent Misunderstanding

In yesterday's installment in this series on preventing and stopping sexual abuse, I created three...

June 16, 2015

Phone Before You’re Sure: Why Stopping Sexual Abuse Requires Early Police Involvement

Yesterday I wrote this, and you might be wondering why: You can talk to an...