Category Archives: Lighter fare

To bishops who want to ban (entirely legit) “ad orientem” worship… “Do you like apples?”

To bishops who want to ban (entirely legit) “ad orientem” worship… “Do you like apples?” Pope Leo celebrated Mass ad Orientem- facing East- this morning at the Papal Summer residence. At a moment when bishops are trying to outlaw the … Read More

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For those who want a less Catholic parish…

I was sent this… For those who want a less Catholic parish.

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Sage advice. It might choke you up.

Ever the optimist, from my desire to improve my chess game I look at chess videos and books. I lately came upon a bit of advice from a somewhat eccentric writer of yesteryear named Franklin K. Young who tried to … Read More

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Tracer Bullet and the Smoke of Libville. Epilogue: The Message Under The Door

Continued from Episode 9 – HERE Two weeks later, the evening slouched in wearing the same cheap suit as the night before. Tracer Bullet stood in his office, blinds half-closed, watching fog slither in from the river. The neon lights … Read More

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Tracer Bullet and the Smoke of Libville. Episode 9: The Vespers of Betrayal

Continued from Episode 8 – HERE “That’d be Chester.” I stood with my back to the warped blinds, one hand in my coat, the other resting on the scuffed back up folder that contained every sorry truth we’d dug up … Read More

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Sunday 1 July in Detroit. The “Great Diminishment” has begun: A tongue in check suggestion.

This is pretty sad. One of the last parish TLMs in the Archdiocese of Detroit…for now….at Holy Family Church. pic.twitter.com/VY8D6WNl22 — Alex Begin (@AlexanderBegin) June 30, 2025 Even with the election of a new Pope, whose views are not yet … Read More

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Tracer Bullet and the Smoke of Libville. Episode 7: The Threshold of No Return

Continued from Episode 6 – HERE I pulled the Charger up into chancery lot just as the rain tapered from its sulky drizzle. The building loomed in the evening fug, concrete and glass stacked like a columbarium of forgotten ideals. … Read More

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Tracer Bullet and the Smoke of Libville. Episode 6: The Howl At The Moon

Continued from Episode 5 – HERE Episode 6: The Howl At The Moon In the rearview, the neon sign for the Alibi Bar shrank into a smear of blue and red. The rain finally sputtered out about the time I … Read More

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Tracer Bullet and the Smoke of Libville. Episode 5: The Booth at Alibi Bar

Continued from Episode 4 – HERE Episode 5: The Booth at Alibi Bar Rain polished the streets of Libville into a mirror that only reflected bad decisions, the kind that start with a smile and end with crime scene tape. … Read More

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Tracer Bullet and the Smoke of Libville. Episode 4: “Patchouli and Power Plays”

Continued from Episode 3 – HERE Episode 4: “Patchouli and Power Plays” Swamp Castle wasn’t a castle. It was a beige concrete retreat center squatting like a theological toad on the edge of a man-made pond, surrounded by reeds, mosquitoes, … Read More

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