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November 2021

November 01, 2021

Things Keeping Us Going: All Saints Edition

Today, All Saints Day, is a feast that I have never been particularly good at,...

June 2021

June 20, 2021

St. Average Joe

This is a continuation of our series recognizing the Year of St. Joseph. St....

May 2021

May 31, 2021

St. Joseph, Foster Father

This is the next installment of the Sick Pilgrim series of reflections during this Year...

May 12, 2021

Fictional Saints

Saints are dead, to begin with. They’re dead, and Catholic, and they were very, very...

March 2021

March 04, 2021

Taking the Long Way Home

This is the third week of our Lenten Series: Sick Pilgrim's Progress. You can read...

February 2021

February 03, 2021

Joseph Jacobson (a.k.a. Joseph Helison) Did Not Beget Jesus Josephson

Naming names: St. Joseph did it and so do monks. I am a...

May 2018

May 03, 2018

Mystery and Absurdity: Colin Dickey’s Afterlives of the Saints

Think of the Catholic Church and you might think of pedophile clerics, financial malfeasance....

November 2017

November 09, 2017

Five Lessons I Learned from Dorothy Day

In my 33 years as a Catholic, I’ve found the saints--canonized or not--have often found me...

September 2017

September 30, 2017

Welcome to Spooky Pilgrim Month: Looking for Places of the Uncanny and Strange

The Nicene Creed tells us that God is the Creator of all things "Seen and...

July 2017

July 21, 2017

Mary Magdalene, Wonder Woman, and Me

In honor of the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, July 22 I wore a long,...

May 2017

May 08, 2017

The Theology of Suffering Questions the Benedict Option

Allow me to tell you a story. A few years ago, I went through the...

March 2017

March 15, 2017

That Old Catholic Magic: Jacob Popcak Explains St. Patrick’s Day to Sick Pilgrim

We invited some Sick Pilgrims over to talk about one of our favorite saints, St...

March 08, 2017

Road Trip Homilies: Wounded Knee and the Snake Givers

As I walked along a sandy path in Badlands National Park, I noticed a sign...

February 2017

February 06, 2017

Are You a Child of Thunder? Or a Vigilante of Love?

On the first Sunday of the year, my priest printed out slips of...

December 2016

December 04, 2016

Feast of St. Nicholas: Slap a Heretic Day. Or Why Are We Hitting Ourselves?

Tuesday is the feast day of St. Nicholas and as usual, the story of him...

November 2016

November 16, 2016

10 Relics That Prove Catholics Have No Chill About the Communion of Saints

We're celebrating community here at Sick Pilgrim this month, based on the fact that we...

November 04, 2016

The Dead Don’t Marry

“The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to...

November 02, 2016

Making Contact: From the Ouija Board to the Catholic Church

In October we called for spooky stories from all our friends who follow the blog,...

October 2016

October 29, 2016

The Crucifixion Made Halloween Possible

The recent death of Jack Chick made me think about my own personal history with...

October 28, 2016

Dark Devotional: The Terror of the Saintly Call

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now...

July 2016

July 22, 2016

Dark Devotional: An Argument with St. Paul about some Biblical Platitudes

"Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance,...

July 18, 2016

I went to Communion and You’ll Never Believe What Happened Next!

I saw that it is the will of Christ’s love to be put into the hands...

June 2016

June 08, 2016

Saint Jude, Sick Pilgrims, and Other Lost Causes

St. Jude, patron of lost causes, pray for us sick pilgrims. A common practice in...

May 2016

May 01, 2016

I have a Problem with Mary…and Possibly Women in General.

I wear a rosary around my neck and not for a fashion statement. My best...

March 2016

March 28, 2016

A Mid-Life Report Card from St. Peter…..

(We are taking a week off here at Sick Pilgrim. So, Jess and I...

March 10, 2016

Catholic Books Even a Protestant Could Love

I'm not Catholic, but some of my favorite books are. I came of age during...

February 2016

February 01, 2016

How Writing a Foreword for an Inkling Smashed My Idols

A few years go, I was having dinner with the editor of my first two...

January 2016

January 21, 2016

Keeping Christianity Weird: Nadia Bolz-Weber and Heather King

The Washington Post described Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber as a "superhero from Planet Alternative Christian:"...

January 12, 2016

It Takes All Kinds

With this post, Sick Pilgrim is joining the conversation on My Badass Book of Saints for...