Category: catholic news

In addition to Ellie Harty’s post in The Table about our Philadelphia demonstrations, most of the articles I am reading this week raise the question: how do things change in our church? Much of this discussion focuses on Juan Carlos Cruz’s report of his meetings with Pope Francis. The crucial quote is: “Look, Juan Carlos,…
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The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.                                                  ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Initially I had a problem with the women’s ordination movement. Perhaps you did, too. As a child and even as a teen and young adult participating in a Catholic Mass, I never felt “less than” nor marginalized nor…
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Do you know that Google knows when your birthday is and sends you a cute little graphic of candles? At least they didn’t use a volcano. This is the date Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, and Kilauea is still going strong. Still, it’s disconcerting that they know that about you. But not as disconcerting…
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The “Optics” are over the top this week at Monday’s Met Gala. The bright reds in last week’s blog pale in comparison with the fashion statements in New York. But what are they saying? Four young Catholic writers have weighed in the Gala, which is an invitation-only event hosted by Anna Wintour of Vogue to…
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“Optics” seems to be used more and more to describe “how things look,” which is what I guess from the context. Like any jargon, it’s annoying. So I’ll focus on it and find things I like the look of. What about those teachers? I am amazed by statewide teacher actions. Here in Pennsylvania, teachers in wealthy…
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Doesn’t this say it all? In a recent Letter to the Editor in the New York Times, a reader, commenting on a Ross Douthat take on Pope Francis as a way too progressive and, therefore, dangerous leader, included this anecdote: He and some of his fellow students at an all-male Catholic high school had noted…
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Exiled from my condo by asbestos remediation, I am sitting in my local Starbucks. My famous – or infamous – Starbucks. There are six marked and unmarked police cars outside. I recognize them from endless SEPA WOC demonstrations. No protesters yet. Today in here there are more white than black people, but nobody is denied…
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Our Joan of Arc is inspiring me again this week (see March 31 post). Emma Gonzalez is quoted by Joan Walsh in The Nation: About the flurry of inadequate but promising gun-safety measures passed [into law] since Parkland, she says: “It feels like: they tried to take a giant step—and then they tripped. I’m not…
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In the admittedly progressive Catholic Church I attend, parishioners have, for years, stood as they and other people received communion and remained standing until all have received and the bread and wine has been put away. The narrative behind this action focused on our being Easter people rejoicing in the once whole, then broken bread…
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Holiness is not something to which I think I am called. Holier than thou is something I might be accused of. But in hearing on the news about Pope Francis’ new document, Gaudete et exsultate, I felt pretty good. I try to follow the Great Commandment and I resist over-intellectualizing things, as you can figure…
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