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Catholic Oppositional Disorder

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December 2021

December 22, 2021

Traditionalists, the Barque of Peter, and Spiritual Abuse

I should probably have a hot take on the recent controversy over the restrictions...

November 2020

November 03, 2020

Looking Back and Ahead on Election Day

Today's the day. I promised myself I wasn't going to be online today, but we...

October 2020

October 21, 2020

Suppose You Thought You Were A Christian

Suppose you thought you were a devout Christian, but your whole interpretation of the...

August 2020

August 18, 2020

In Spite of Christians

A reading from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians: If I speak...

July 2020

July 06, 2020

What if we Re-Thought the Pro-Life Movement?

I thought it would make bigger news this weekend, when pro-life icon Abby Johnson...

May 2020

May 12, 2020

Courage, Cowardice and COVID: Contra R. R. Reno

First Things editor R. R. Reno, who as far as I can tell from his...

March 2020

March 11, 2020

Risk, Virtue and the COVID-19 Pandemic

I keep saying I hope that COVID-19 just goes away, and it keeps on not...

January 2020

January 14, 2020

Benedict, Sarah, Francis, and the Case of the Exploding Pope

Catholic social media erupted that Cardinal Sarah & Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI were publishing a...

December 2019

December 23, 2019

The Legionaries of Christ Report: All I Can Ask Is, “Why?”

The lay arm of the Legionaries of Christ is called Regnum Christi, and the...

December 04, 2019

Further Notes on the Delay of the Sheen Beatification

As I write this, there has still been absolutely no confirmed, official story of why...

December 03, 2019

Fulton Sheen and the Problem of Celebrity Clergy

I have no opinion about Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Well, that's not true. I...

October 2019

October 29, 2019

Arroyo, John Legend and the Grinch who Stole Halloween

It's two days til Halloween, which I have frequently opined is one of...

October 23, 2019

No, You Are Not Cristeros

I've seen a lot of talk about the Cristeros War lately, for all the...

August 2019

August 23, 2019

Saint Paul’s Letter to the Misogynists of Catholic Twitter

At the end of last week, there was a kerfuffle on Twitter, when some Catholic...

August 19, 2019

What You Need to Know About Steubenville When You Watch “Roll Red Roll”

This happened a couple of months ago, in Spring. I was downtown, here in Steubenville,...

July 2019

July 13, 2019

To Cast Down an Idol

I've had to walk by the former House of Prayer and Peace several times this...

July 07, 2019

A Drunk, an Exorcism, and a Flippant Seminarian

It's been a rough twenty-four hours on the internet. It started Friday evening, with a...

June 2019

June 30, 2019

Compassion, Victim-Blaming and Apologetics: A Reply to Dave Armstrong

I'm a little too young to understand how Dave Armstrong got famous in the...

May 2019

May 03, 2019

Women are not Poison to Seminarians’ Formation

I had an odd conversation with a priest, after I posted my article about the...

April 2019

April 11, 2019

A Survivor Responds to Pope Emeritus Benedict

I was talking last night to my friend who is a member of SNAP. She...

April 08, 2019

What the Pro-Life Movement Has Taught Me This Week

I grew up being told that the Population Bomb was a Liberal lie. I...

April 07, 2019

Silencing Victims is Not Evangelization

The other day I was furious about the abuse survivor who was told not to...

March 2019

March 31, 2019

A Spendthrift and her Coat

I really needed a new coat. I'd had the same black one for about four...

March 14, 2019

Catholic Authenticity, Church Militant, And the Smearing of Abused Women

Today, I'm feeling less hopeful than ever that the Catholic Church has learned her lesson...

March 10, 2019

More on Christ the Victim, And the Necessity of Speaking Out

I was going to let the trolls take over the combox and retire on...

February 2019

February 27, 2019

When the Church is Toxic

I woke up to find out that I had been screenshotted, again. Specifically, this time,...

February 22, 2019

Patrick Madrid Accidentally Explains the Sex Abuse Crisis

Today I saw three tweets that enraged me, and then they made me sad....

February 18, 2019

How Ought We Respond to the Times Article on Gay Priests?

I'm going to have the comments off today, because I'm going to talk about a...

February 08, 2019

Drag, Blackface and the Catholic League’s Perpetual Victimhood

I didn't really want to talk about blackface again this month, or at all....

February 02, 2019

Responding to Questions on the Governor Northam Controversy

Questions, I get questions. I get so many interesting questions on my blog posts that...