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January 2015

January 03, 2015

Friends in High Places: Get Yourself a Saint for 2015

Matchmaking time. Jen Fulwiler's Patron Saint Generator is up and running. If you haven't done...

December 2014

December 31, 2014

Being Someone New for 2015

Two links to my work elsewhere that deserve your attention as we start the new...

December 16, 2014

Subtle Smackdown: Vatican Report on American Women Religious is a Warning for Every Parish and Diocese

Don't let the headlines fool you, the freshly-released Final Report on the Apostolic Visitation of Institutes...

December 15, 2014

Why Can’t We Do Evil that Good Might Come of It? Even to Save a Life? – UPDATED

Erin Arlinghaus challenged me (update below) to explain why it so important for any ethical system, religious...

December 12, 2014

More Bad Arguments: The Good Man Defense

Moving beyond any particular example of terrible writing, I want to address a non-argument I've...

November 2014

November 24, 2014

Hating the Holidays as the Precursor to Happiness

You're supposed to be happy now, because it's the holidays. The rest of the year,...

November 22, 2014

In Favor of Incompetent Housewives

Your must-read column for today is Calah Alexander's essay on what it's like being...

November 03, 2014

A Right Relationship with Sister Death

The media is gushing over another high-profile suicide, which is of course high-profile precisely because...

October 2014

October 20, 2014

#Synod14 – Prostitute Nation and a Jar of Perfume

If you want to understand the clerical food fight portion of this month's Synod on...

October 14, 2014

#Synod14 – The Universal Cure for What Ails You, Ecclesiastical Edition

Synod Survival Tip, and this works for parish and family life too: If you find...

October 08, 2014

#Synod14 – In Which Justice & Mercy Try Dating for a Bit

The overall theme of this month's Extraordinary Synod on the Family seems to be this:...

September 2014

September 29, 2014

Three Secret Spiritual Benefits (for You!) of Bringing Your Children to Mass

At ladies' Bible study this past week we were talking about our prayer lives, and...

September 27, 2014

Be Catholic: Fight the Tyranny of “Fitting In”

My latest at New Evangelizers is up: Catholicism is for People Who Don't Fit In....

September 24, 2014

Why is Gay Marriage the Catholic No-Go?

Andrew Sullivan writes here about the plight of a pair of gentleman who've been asked...

September 19, 2014

In the Face of Such Evil, the Only Thing Left is Hope

For those who know what such a thing is, the theme around my corner of...

September 16, 2014

Annulments, Divorce, Remarriage: We’ve Got it All Backwards

The Synod for the Family is coming up, and one of the vexing problems it...

September 15, 2014

When your marriage is in dire straits . . . there’s a book for that.

It is with great joy that I pass onto you the news of Dr. Greg Popcak's...

August 2014

August 16, 2014

Confession Primer: Forgetting to Confess a Mortal Sin

My friend John Hathaway recently hosted a conversation prompted by a classic comic from the New St....

August 06, 2014

God is on the Altar, but He isn’t the Guy in Vestments

Round about the moment of the consecration, there's a massive case of identity confusion going...

July 2014

July 15, 2014

I Confess: The Hero Movie Par Excellence

The boy and I stayed up late last night watching I Confess, long overdue and hands...

July 10, 2014

Sinning Bravely: Start Like You Mean to Finish

Some time ago, my husband went to confession with a particularly thorny sin on his...

July 08, 2014

Mercy Where You Least Expected It: A Jubilee Year

Turns out the Holy Father has announced a Jubilee Year. [Quick update: Fr. Capo writes,...

July 08, 2014

Tax Collectors and Other Sinners: Family Life & the Place of Wayward Catholics in the Parish

Rebecca Hamilton has written a beautiful and moving testimony on the nature of family life,...

July 08, 2014

Taming the Feral Faithful: How to Lure Serious Catholics Back to Your Parish

"The good news," I found myself telling a new arrival recently, in giving her the...

June 2014

June 25, 2014

Modesty as the Language of Mutual Respect

"I just hate it when people tell me what to wear." That's the open admission...

June 19, 2014

Dead Priests, Dead Babies, Guns, Cars, Accidents, Guilt & Absolution

The death of Fr. Kenneth Walker has opened back up the discussion about whether priests...

June 16, 2014

F-Minus Christianity: Loving My Enemies

Christianity, I remind myself, is an aspirational religion. I usually get to pray the daily...

June 12, 2014

Gender Reassignment Creates Problems, But Not Irredeemable Problems

Thanks to Sean Alderman for the link to this 2004 article at First Things about...

June 02, 2014

Evangelize While Teaching the Sacraments

Over at Sherry Weddell's Forming Intentional Disciples Forum, someone asked: Anyone have any thoughts on...

May 2014

May 31, 2014

How to Stay Sane in St. Blog’s

We've got a new round of Catholic internet drama going, and it hardly matters what...