As you probably know by now, this morning the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage. The definition of marriage has been changed in the law of the land. However, regardless of today’s SCOTUS ruling, for us Catholics, the definition of marriage as a sacramental institution of marriage remains unchanged: The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator’s generosity and fecundity: ‘Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.’ All human generations proceed Read More

Given the breathtaking turn of events we've seen in our culture in the last month or so regarding gender, race, marriage, what I'm about to write will be the most controversial blog I've ever written. I am a white, heterosexual, Catholic woman. No, really, I actually am. There. I've done it. Let the backlash Read More

This will be brief. I am a Roman Catholic. I am the pop culture blogger for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. I have a Master's Degree in English Language and Literature. I am sick and tired of hearing about 50 Shades of Grey. Does it portray sexual intimacy in a way that is counter to Catholic teaching? Absolutely. Is it responsible for the ruination of marriage in our culture? It certainly falls in the category of "things that probably are." Is it a flash in the pan? Yes. Is it good literature? From the excerpt I read in order to be able to make Read More

Today I watched a video that was released of a young man (purportedly Jordanian pilot Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh) wearing a wet, orange jumpsuit. He was caged like an animal. A masked man with a torch touched the flame to a line of earth that led to the cage, encircling it. As the flame reached the cage, the man inside was engulfed in fire. He frantically bat at the flames with his burning arms. I was amazed at how long he remained standing as he became a pillar of fire. Finally he fell to his knees, head bowed. As the videographer zoomed in on his head for a close Read More

Today is the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade. Nearly one million people will be marching in Washington, D.C. today to show their disagreement with the decision. There will be thousands of signs protesting the murder of the victims of this law, posters of cherubic babies asking that their brothers and sisters in the womb be spared, tiny gold and silver feet pinned to lapels, and banners stating "I survived Roe v. Wade." I don't like that last one. I was born in 1974, so I am part of the group that supposedly "survived Roe v. Read More

Yesterday morning I awoke to a deluge of Twitter alerts regarding the terror attack in Paris on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.  Twelve people were killed in the attack, including 10 members of the paper’s staff. Not being much of a Francophile, I wasn't terribly familiar with the publication, always assuming it was an adult Mad Magazine, of sorts. After the horror of the morning’s updates, I searched Charlie Hebdo on Twitter.  The first thing I saw was the paper’s avatar. Now, as a Catholic, still celebrating Christmas—one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar—this image of my Lord Read More