December 2012
2 posts
Who I Was at 19 (Memoir Fragment)
It is easy to steer to one side when looking in the rear-view mirror. We were worried about the future and intoxicated with certainty. We were serious searchers and needy adolescents. I was puffed up with a quixotic sense of quest, and I couldn’t figure out where my self-confidence had gone. I was a Christian in search of a non-Christian solution. Jesus was so Age of Pisces.
January 2012
22 posts
Donald Hall at the Window →
I do not know Donald Hall’s poetry but I will read it with interest after his piece in this week’s New Yorker.
Finally Jesus →
I just looked over “At the Origin of the Christian Claim,” the next book of readings in Communion and Liberation. Aha!
Mark Wahlberg, Catholic Man →
H/T Creative Minority Report
New York Notes →
A personal debriefing after a three-day CL conference and expo in New York City.
One More Bow to Tebow →
Final thoughts on the Tim Tebow phenomenon, now that my Patriots have wiped the field with his Broncos.
“Hannah Coulter”: The Meaning of Place →
Here’s a book that grew on me, until by the end I was shouting at my wife, “You have to read this! It’s about us.”
My Neighbor Joan of Arc →
Who is your favorite saint? It’s a tough call, but Joan of Arc, whose 600th birthday is celebrated this year, makes my final cut.
“Tinkers”: Pulitzer Shmulitzer →
When’s the last time you read a truly dissatisfying book? My answer is, today.
Passports →
I applied for passport renewals yesterday. Thank God they last ten years.
Deliver Us From Tebow →
Next weekend I face a moral dilemma when my New England Patriots play the Denver Broncos in the next round of the NFL playoffs.
“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”: I Might Have... →
Not every movie is great and some are just better stayed away from.
Graven Images →
What’s your first memory? Here’s mine and what I think it means.
Narnia? Not for Me →
I really did not like The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the book that is. And I won’t rush to see the movie.
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor… →
Did you know my blog had a sponsor? Read on.
Kathryn and Joan →
Imagine Barack Obama writing a biography of Pope Benedict. That’s what I thought when I read about a new bio of Joan of Arc.
Grace Slick or Dorothy Day: You Make the Call →
It’s not how you start that counts, but how you finish. Just look at Grace and Dorothy.
Escape from a Monastery? →
I love this one: a convicted felon who chose prison over a monastery, because a monk’s life is too hard.
“The Descendants”: Messy, Masterful, and Pro-Life →
I saw a really good movie last night and didn’t realize how good until it ended.
Those Middle Ages? Not So Terrible →
Have you ever wondered what happened to humanity in the 1000-year period we dismiss as The Dark Ages? They lived too.
“Only the relationship with the beyond makes the adventure of life possible.”
– Fr. Luigi Giussani
Day 1: Dubai, The Adventure Begins →
A first post from my daughter Marian, from nearly halfway around the world.
Surprise Me, Lord →
I have already broken three New Year’s resolutions, but I have only just begun to pray.
What If Everything We Think is Wrong? →
One more post for the old year, about how wrong we can be when we most thing we are right.
December 2011
80 posts
Remembering Joan →
As the year ends, I remember one person who died in 2011, without whom my life and many others’ lives would have been poorer.
To George, Raised Catholic, Now Maybe Buddhist →
Some of the best surprises about blogging have been the old friends it has brought back into my life. George is one of these.
“The gospel of Christmas too has been deprived of its link to its historical...”
– Lorenzo Albacete, Christmas and Hanukkah: rooted in historical events, not sentimental dreams (via quaerere-deum)
Name That Convert! #2 →
Proving that Sigrid Undset is not the only famous convert I am interested in, here’s the second in a series.
Lions and Tigers and Bears: Oh My! →
I have a feeling I have not written my last “Open Letter to My Daughter,” not with her heading to the Far East next week or writing so well about it.
Are You Spiritual or Religious? →
I heard a truly bizarre definition of spirituality today. It made me wonder what anyone means by the term.
One Reader at a Time
Gave Kristin Lavransdatter to Mom for Xmas. She’s hooked. Now Fr B tells me he’s taking it on vaca. Can Vincent Hammer be next?
“An Inexorable Positivity Dominates Life” →
Anujeet Sareen, regional responsible for CL, sent along this recent article from Osservatore Romano by Fr. Julián Carrón.
Name That Convert! →
Here’s a quiz, perhaps the first in a series. Read this quote from a Catholic convert about why he or she converted, and see if you can guess the speaker.
The Way: “It Says Something About Our Humanity” →
Ran across a short interview with Martin Sheen this morning and it led to this update on “The Way,” my candidate for Best Picture of 2011.
How Dark Were the Middle Ages? →
Catching up on my reading, I came across a Harvard University project that, surprise, trots out old negative preconceptions of Catholicism and medieval culture.
Walker Percy Interviews Himself →
My thanks to a young friend—yeah, the usual “young friend”—who sent me this: Walker Percy proving himself a contradictory, cantankerous, and completely credible Catholic.
Catholics Anonymous →
This morning at 4 I dreamed about someone giving a lecture on why faith should be anonymous. Then I wrote this.
A Beautiful Post from Our Pastor →
Father David Barnes offers some beautiful reflections on the life of a parish priest in his blog, “A Shepherd’s Post.” Today’s post, like others, explains an aspect of the priesthood that I wouldn’t ordinarily think of.
Letterboxing: Finding Hidden Spaces →
Have you letterboxed? I now have letterboxed—and I have thought some about the appeal of this “underground” pastime.
Letterboxing!
Katie and I are off on our first letterboxing adventure with our daughters and a boyfriend who is serving as our guide. Look here. There are over two dozen secret letterboxes buried within a ten mile radius of Beverly, Mass. Aren’t you curious? Post to follow!
The Christmas Revels: Sharq Attack! →
In greater Boston, the Christmas Revels are one of the fun things about Christmas. But what do they mean?
Albacete on Hitchens →
Leave it to Lorenzo Albacete to describe Christopher Hitchens as “a man with such a wounded heart that he was just a minute away from encountering Christ.”
Why It's Gonna Be Obama-Romney and Let's Get the... →
“By degrees my knowledge of history convinced me that the only thoroughly sane...”
– Sigrid Undset
Thank God for the Carmelite Gift Shop →
Go to your local Hallmark card shop and look for Christmas cards that are about Christmas. And good luck to you.
“Extremely Loud” Update #2 →
You will have to be in New York or Los Angeles to see ELIC before the first of the year. And based on the reaction of the Golden Globes voters, it may not be a shoo-in for Best Picture after all.
Catholic Culture Needs Champions →
The only English-language biography of Sigrid Undset is an amateur effort, unsympathetic to Catholicism, and it is must reading anyway.
Old Men and Angels →
When a daily Gospel reading seems to answer the question in your heart, it seems a small miracle. Today I was reminded of Zechariah.
