While California officials applaud public protests involving tens of thousands of not exactly COVID-mindful individuals, the same officials have informed “houses of worship” that due to the risk of spreading the virus their members are banned from singing or chanting. With masks? Without masks? With no-contact thermometer checkpoints in place or without? Are we still…
Back in 1994, my inquiry into the claims of the Catholic Church took a decisive turn. I transitioned from reading books in the safety of my own home to visiting actual parishes and signing up for RCIA. At this point, I found myself bombarded with kitsch. I didn’t know enough about the Mass itself to…
It’s one thing to take a saintly cultural icon like Mister Rogers and bring him down to earth. It’s quite another — and, apparently, the sign of a really daring and accomplished actor — to take a despised public figure and render her not only sympathetic, but fascinating. Among the cult favorite TV series that…
A few Sundays ago, quite against my will, I woke up around 4:30 AM. I found that I could not go back to sleep, and I realized that if I got myself together, I could make the two-hour drive up to Atlanta and actually attend Mass. During the pandemic, a parish up in Roswell was…
