Weeks in Review — Pre-Lent 2013

by | Feb 10, 2013 | Week in Review

Weeks in Review

We know we’ve been behind on Weeks in Review, but we wanted to make sure to get one out before Ash Wednesday and kicking off Lent in 2013.

When we checked our stats for the beginning of 2013, we found a few clear favorites — two interviews with people using social media to talk about religion in new ways, and one piece about the French bishops talking about religion and same-sex marriage in a new way (see our Top Three, below). Our take-away: it’s not that religion is boring or people are refusing to listen to religious figures — but nobody wants to be preached at, and we’d better be at least as interesting as cats doing something funny. (That or Fr. James Martin with his Top 5 Recommendations for 2013, which, as is usual for Fr. Martin, swamped our stats.)

Now that 2013 is in full swing, here’s a chance to catch up with what TJP’s been up to for the last few weeks. We’ll offer some of our highlights here — if you want to catch up more thoroughly, you can check out the archives of our essays, blogs, and All Things Linked categories.

TJP Top Three

Two interviews and one translation — here’s what’s been most read at TJP so far in 2013.

  • “Holy Mary, Mother of animated GIFs, pray for us…” Tim O’Brien interviewed the creator of the “Mary is My Homegirl” Tumblr — awarding her the title of “probably the coolest grad student in Catholic theology. Ever.” Read all about it, and when you get done, there’s also part 2.
  • If you follow @TheJesuitPost on Twitter (and if not, you should fix that), you’ve probably seen us tweet various mildly irreverent prayers @UnvirtuousAbbey. Who are the digital monks who are making religion on social media a bit less boring? Find out in Eric Sundrup’s interview with them.
  • The tension over same-sex marriage isn’t restricted to the U.S. — last September, the French bishops’ Council on Family and Society called for “opening the debate” on some new ground for discussion. Recently, some bloggers made translations of the document available in English. What’s the new ground? Simply this: both a clear overview of Catholic teaching and also a close look at the real desires of homosexual persons for meaningful relationships — which makes it very much worth reading.

Still Thinking About Newtown

A number of our contributors have been paying attention to the developments of the post-Newtown conversation about violence, gun control, and mental health. Here’s an overview:

When we’re not in church on Sunday…

… we might be watching the game. At least, we are as long as the lights stay on. A few TJP takes on the sports world:

One eye on the culture, both eyes on the Cross

If there’s one unifying theme for TJP and the “faith that does relevance,” it’s that God’s at work even in the most apparently secular aspects of the culture we live in and make together, if we’re willing to pay attention. Here’s some of what our contributors have been keeping an eye on:

A Few Links Before We Leave You

Even if they don’t fit a theme, we want to make sure you don’t miss these:

***

Perry Petrich has been keeping up with You Can’t Take It With You, bidding goodbye, among other things, to Saturday mail delivery — but we’re going to keep delivering more stories like the ones above, and even these occasional Weeks in Review. Till next time … happy reading.

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