I’m always up for a good spoken word. This is a direct response to the “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” spoken word by a well-intentioned and obviously talented Jefferson Bethke. Whatever your position, it is important to respect others and engage in dialogue. The video above is one of the best Catholic responses I’ve seen in the past few days. I do encourage all of you to check out Mr. Bethke’s original video as well. While I may [...]
Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life by James Martin, S.J. (HarperOne, 272 pages, 2011) How many times have you walked into a church and seen a smiling saint? How many times have you heard that Jesus used a little humor to get his point across? I bet the answer to those questions is “rarely” or maybe even “never.” I’ve long said that I think God has a sense of [...]
A great video from the folks at Busted Halo about the start of Advent. Advent starts tomorrow…are you ready? Advent in Two Minutes – Busted Halo.
The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day, Edited by Robert Ellsberg (Image, paperback, 752 pages, 2011) June 19, 1973 We feel so powerless. We do so little, giving out soup. But at least we are facing problems daily. Hunger, homelessness, greed, loneliness. Greatest concern of the Bible is injustice, bloodshed. So we share what we have, we work for peace. (571) Dorothy Day’s words can easily be echoed today by the many working on the front [...]
It’s St. Cecilia’s feast day, which means it is the feast day of my dear confirmation saint. I still remember the day I picked St. Cecilia as my confirmation saint. I was a choir girl and seriously considering continuing with my singing for as long as I could. Fifteen years and several months later, I sing in a different way, much like how St. Cecilia sang in her heart on her wedding day. While I can longer use my voice [...]
This Winter’s Eve by Sarah Hart (2011) The Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. It’s the season where San Francisco’s skyline is lit up in millions of tiny bulbs, our church’s altar is decorated with poinsettias, and a time where I can bring out my Christmas music collection and sing along to familiar carols and the occasional new tune. I love the sounds of Christmas, but rarely find new songs that add anything more to such a [...]
“Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out [...]
The Church and New Media by Brandon Vogt (Our Sunday Visitor, 208 pages, August 3, 2011) In my line of work it is not uncommon for clients and organizations to want an immediate presence on Facebook and Twitter. Throw in a YouTube or Vimeo channel and anyone can be on the new media bandwagon. The problem is not about getting onto new media sites; the problem is about knowing how to leverage those sites to meet your overall goals. The [...]
The 50th anniversary of the Family Rosary Crusade in San Francisco will be commemorated on October 15, 2011 at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza. In October 1961, Fr. Patrick Peyton’s Rosary Rally drew over 550,000 people (Catholics and non-Catholics) to the Polo Fields at Golden Gate Park (see video from event here). It marked one of the largest gatherings in this history of San Francisco. On October 15th the event will be commemorated with a rosary rally that will take [...]
The Grace of Everyday Saints: How a Band of Believers Lost Their Church and Found Their Faith by Julian Guthrie (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 288 pages, August 1, 2011) I still remember the day I watched the evening news with my parents and heard that several churches in San Francisco would close. That was in 1993. I was in 6th grade and asked my parents how anyone could close down God’s house. They struggled to find the words to explain it [...]
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Through A Glass Onion by Angelica Quinonez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.Based on a work at throughaglassonion.com.