Doctor Who and Fidelity

Doctor Who and Fidelity

So this guy came up to me – okay he was another Jesuit in a Jesuit rec room, not just some guy on the street – but, he asked me: “John, dude, we’re starting a website that looks at popular culture and faith and stuff, and we’d wondered if you’d be interested in...
Observations on Parish Masses and Wonder

Observations on Parish Masses and Wonder

While spending some time with my parents over the holidays, I had the opportunity to attend Mass with at the parish in which I grew up.  My family has been members since I was fairly young, and my siblings and I all went to the parish school there.  In fact, we all...
Yoga vs. Church

Yoga vs. Church

Mass in the side chapels of urban parishes tends to draw pretty much the same crowd. A thin somber college student wearing outdated clothing, and not ironically, walks into the nave and kneels perfectly before sliding into the pew. Later in the communion line he will...
Mementoes

Mementoes

I heard this song by Hem a couple of weeks back, and it’s stuck with me. (Note: no, I did not first hear it on the Liberty Mutual ad.  And as nice as it is to think that big insurance companies are into random acts of kindness and the ‘pay it forward’ attitude, I...
Dispatches from ‘Told You So’: Act I

Dispatches from ‘Told You So’: Act I

If you read the words “I’ve always preached moderation” recently, they were probably not from Thomas Aquinas, who extolled the virtue of moderation by saying “virtus in medio stat” – virtue stands in the middle. No, if you read them at all, these words probably came...
Why Pray? Socrates, Mind-Games & Taking Your Time (Part 1)

Why Pray? Socrates, Mind-Games & Taking Your Time (Part 1)

“I’d really like to pray, but… I’m just so busy that I don’t have the time.” I said these words, with utter sincerity, to the Jesuit priest with whom I was discussing joining the Society of Jesus. Well, it was partially sincere, since at the time I didn’t see how...
David Foster Wallace and the Two Standards

David Foster Wallace and the Two Standards

Here’s a link to a speech by hipster icon (at least this aging hipster’s icon), and gosh-darn-pretty-good-gosh-darn writer David Foster Wallace. Those of us with an Ignatian bent may well see something in the speech that laterally addresses Ignatius’ Two Standards...
Seven Times Seventy Watch

Seven Times Seventy Watch

Own a cell phone? Ever had the experience of your phone going off at a somewhat opportune moment? Maybe you were in church, or in the middle of a quiet dinner – and all of a sudden you are frantically fumbling to make the ringing stop. Few of us, though, have...