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March 2018

March 29, 2018

You Are Not Alone: Catholic Women’s Real Life Experiences of NFP, Part VI

In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae this summer, Sick Pilgrim will...

March 26, 2018

An Offering in Betrayal – A Holy Week Meditation

"Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack,...

January 2018

January 29, 2018

Things Keeping ME Alive

One of my favorite features at Sick Pilgrim is the monthly “Things Keeping Us Alive”...

November 2017

November 17, 2017

Dark Devotional: When Letting Go is Holding On

“My dishonesty with myself and others hinders the honesty of all humanity, hinders the progress...

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...

June 2017

June 23, 2017

Trying to Say God: An Address to the Artists

A Catholic writer lives and works at this edge of meaning, between light and 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...

February 2017

February 09, 2017

To Bill Nye, Fellow Ataxian

...while Nye dreams of outer space, it's his own DNA that worries him. "My family...

January 2017

January 19, 2017

Dark Devotional: We must be crazy

Mark 3:21: For they said: He is become mad. He was crowded by so many...

January 05, 2017

The Wonder Podcast Episode I: Death in the Grand Canyon

We've been talking about it for months. But, finally, here it is, the first...

November 2016

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,...

September 2016

September 22, 2016

Raising my son in an age of gun worship and racial violence

There are summer days in Northwest Michigan when the temperature hovers at 80 degrees, a...

September 20, 2016

Mud Wrestling with Angels Unawares: When Catholic Art is Dark (Or Ugly)

As a Catholic poet, I was excited to read this article about why the Catholic...

September 12, 2016

Sick Pilgrim at the Ministry Fair

One of our priests gave a rousing homily on the Prodigal Son on Sunday. Priests love to...

August 2016

August 31, 2016

A Back to School Prayer for the Weirdos (and their weirdo parents)

I wrote this essay six years ago, before my daughter was diagnosed with autism and my google...

August 22, 2016

Being Catholic, Being Cajun: Catholic Identity and its Discontents

The calamity in my neck of the woods, Southern Louisiana, is pervasive. My entire community has...

August 09, 2016

Seeking Tanis: The Search for Enchantment Leads (Back) to the Church

"When I say the first line of the Lord's Prayer: 'Our Father, who art in...

June 2016

June 21, 2016

Adventures in Popular Piety: Confession

There has always been something unappealingly puritanical to me about getting up early. It’s so...

June 05, 2016

Standing on My Head

“Do you recognize that as self-harm?” the therapist asks me at the tail end of...

May 2016

May 13, 2016

Dark Devotional: A Holy Distraction

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For many years, my father was the only saint I’d pray to. St. Paul...

May 12, 2016

Three Reasons I Don’t Pray to Mary

Mary, it's not you. It's me. I promised that this month, your month, I would...

May 10, 2016

The North Remembers–Kind Of–On Good Days–If You’re Lucky: A Note From Sick Pilgrim’s Viking Correspondent

I laugh when my Facebook feed advertises some inspirational book or other called The Way of...

April 2016

April 12, 2016

(With this post, we're kicking off a series called Popular Piety, exploring the physicality and magic...

February 2016

February 22, 2016

The Misadventures of a Pilgrim Dad: Teaching my Kids to Embrace the “White Martyrdom.”

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the pilgrimage that I'm taking with my kids. When...

February 17, 2016

The Danger of a Clean Faith: Colleen Mitchell

I’ve heard it for as long as I can remember, how it's our job to...

February 02, 2016

A Canticle for the Alien Church (The Real Clash between Mulder and Scully)

Sixteen years ago, I was driving across the Texas desert in the middle of the...

December 2015

December 10, 2015

Welcome, Sick Pilgrims

"...people often seemed perplexed by Frank and Maisie's enthusiasms, and published them with little hope...