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June 2021

June 03, 2021

When Mercy Shows Up at Your Parish

I want to speak briefly to the problem of the horrible people you go to...

May 2021

May 23, 2021

A Mission for Old Married People

If you have been faithfully married for a long time, you are likely out of...

May 19, 2021

Hitting the Personal Reset Button

Late January I wrapped up the public side of one heckuva fantastic conference, took a...

January 2021

January 16, 2021

One Weird Trick for Loving Your Extended Enemy-Family

Two different conversations on-topic with this coming weekend's conference* converged on this morning's readings. The...

January 08, 2021

Allowing Jesus to Heal Your Rhetorical Disease

This morning after half a cup of coffee, what I wanted to write was a...

December 2020

December 15, 2020

When you’re ready to change, Jesus is ready to heal you — Catholic pundit edition

This morning's Gospel is the perfect text for conference-retreat I'm co-hosting in a month-and-change from...

December 02, 2020

Fr. Rutler and Other Sinners

I don't always agree, even remotely, with what Rod Dreher has to say, but today...

October 2020

October 02, 2020

Ways “Systemic Racism” Might Happen, Hospital Edition

There are different definitions of what "systemic" can mean, and what it can mean specifically...

September 2020

September 27, 2020

A Snapshot of Systemic Racism in Action

A series of three tweets caught my attention this morning, from Mandie Landry (@votelandry), a...

August 2020

August 22, 2020

IVG and Poly-Parenting vs. Adoption and Step-Parenting

"IVG" is in vitro gametogenesis, an emerging technology that allows the creation of babies (baby mice,...

August 13, 2020

Cultivating the Virtue of Perseverance in Prayer

Fr. Matthew Schneider did a great job covering the recent case of a priest who...

August 12, 2020

How to Treat Gentiles and Tax Collectors

Today's Gospel is the instruction on what to do with erring members of the Church:...

July 2020

July 01, 2020

Speaking of Clerical Corruption . . .

Church Militant is not my usual haunt, but they deserve credit for publicizing the case...

May 2020

May 28, 2020

On Police Brutality, Civil Unrest, and Resisting Simplified Narratives

Last night during the protesting and looting in Minneapolis, I viewed a few of the...

March 2020

March 23, 2020

Flattening the Curve vs. Flattening the Economy

In response to a popular piece on the economic devastation of "flattening the curve" my...

March 19, 2020

At Least Half of American Adults are High-Risk for COVID-19 Death

Friends are circulating this article from Bloomberg, which for some reason is supposed to be...

February 2020

February 28, 2020

7QT: Catholic Social Teaching Kicks in During Quarantine, and After

Let's talk about the economics of epidemics. By the time we've hit all seven takes...

October 2019

October 14, 2019

What if a Saint Was Gay?

As I write, the usual suspects are circulating conjecture about a newly-canonized saint: Maybe this person...

May 2019

May 15, 2019

Need Your Help: Stories of Equal Access

I need your help with getting a door unlocked. I'm a parishioner (and at last...

May 11, 2019

To My Child’s Pro-Choice Friend

Dear Young Person I've Watched Grow Up, I want to tell you today about a...

February 2019

February 17, 2019

Dear Gay Catholic Priests,

I've been reading about your plight in the New York Times. So let's go ahead and clear...

August 2018

August 02, 2018

Solved: The Case of the Disappearing Young Adults

I have often wondered why something so simple as getting young adults engaged in parish...

May 2018

May 21, 2018

Who’s Protected by the Current Irish Abortion Laws?

One of the myths about abortion laws -- lately the Irish amendment, but it could...

March 2018

March 01, 2018

What’s the Difference Between Abortion and Capital Murder?

A seventeen year old girl in Texas gave birth at home alone, stabbed the baby,...

December 2017

December 15, 2017

What’s Your Life Worth to You?

My husband once had a business trip to a notoriously crime-ridden city. The client he...

November 2017

November 29, 2017

Doubt, Demoralization, and the Company You Keep

More and more of my Catholic friends are struggling to stay Catholic. They are demoralized...

September 2017

September 25, 2017

Four Ways to Avoid Becoming a Bitter Catholic

Up at the Register this morning, I'm talking about ways to not become a person you hate...

September 14, 2017

Misogyny and Motherhood

Why is it that we think it's heroic when men choose to give their lives...

June 2017

June 02, 2017

Does the Catholic Faith Permit the Use of Artificial Wombs?

If Brave New World is coming soon to a hospital near you, what does that mean...

March 2016

March 25, 2016

The God Who Does Not Meddle

This Lent I've been reading from On the Passion of Christ According to the Four...