The mantilla is a lace veil women have worn over their heads while worshipping God since the time of the New Testament Church. One reason I came to the Catholic Church is so that I can wear it. Period. Full stop. I am not afraid or ashamed to say this was on a running list of why I came to the Catholic Church. Continue Reading »
E. L. James’s novel Fifty Shades of Grey is now the best selling book in British history, has sold more than 100 million copies globally, and has spawned two sequels, along with an upcoming film adaptation. This success has been surprising, in that the books are unabashedly pornographic, arising out of erotic Twilight fan fiction . Moreover, they are targeted at women, an audience often ignored in discussions on the effects of pornography. Continue Reading »
Patriarchy refers to rule by men. It is an accusation often levelled at the Catholic Church, an institution led by a class of male-only priests distinct in status. Priests decide on disagreements over dogma, administer God’s forgiveness of sins through the sacrament of confession, and institute the Eucharist at Mass—some of the most important Church activities. For most people, this is patriarchal and unwelcome in our age of gender equality. Continue Reading »
Inspired by this photo spread from Seventeen magazine: 1. Blistered Red: This look is really what we as an industry are all about: ensuring that, like sex, beauty involves as much suffering and humiliation as possible. Once you have a stranger rip hot wax off your legs, eyebrows, and . . . . Continue Reading »
The new president of Cedarville University, a Christian college in Ohio, has decided that no woman shall teach a man in any Biblical studies. This reflects a long-running debate within Evangelicalism (see here and here) over gender complementarianism and the role of women. To be . . . . Continue Reading »
On a typical afternoon, I drop off my eight-year-old daughter and her best friend at ballet lessons and return home to meet my five-year-old son’s friend for a “play date.” Their mothers and I appear to have everything in common. We all order our children’s clothes from the same upscale . . . . Continue Reading »
The last five or so years there’s been something of a renaissance, something of a new charge, rippling through indie rock. Quite a few college radio stations seem to be playing an awful lot of good stuff as far as rock goes . . . at least, to my ears much of it sounds as good as what was on . . . . Continue Reading »
The Songbook has been a heavily 60s affair so far, with occasional forays into the 70s and 80s. Why the neglect of the 90s and the aughties? Well, I hold that 60s rock set the basic patterns of the ongoing rock sound and attitude; and that while these patterns get some major adjustments in the late . . . . Continue Reading »
The Anchoress has posted this beautiful video of the Nashville Dominicans, whose postulant classes, like those of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, have been overflowing in recent years. Meanwhile, we — our parish, that is — were visited recently by . . . . Continue Reading »
You might want to save yourself from this and this.And then there’s this, categorized as “funny anti-religious,” because, you know, “anti-religious” is just so darn self-evidently funny that you don’t even have to try all that hard. GONG. Next, please. [Rating: . . . . Continue Reading »
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