I’m presenting a lunchtime concert today for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Enjoy!
Read MoreAll articles filed in Catholic Church
Cover Reveal and Award Nomination!
It’s been a crazy few months for me, both in real life and in my writing life. I’ve been working on a major revision of my newest novel in response to agent feedback. This is the first time I’ve tried to do such a thing on a tight turnaround and now I understand the stress…
Read MoreTo my Church, in a time of crisis
In recent months, I’ve been retreating periodically from Facebook as it grows steadily more toxic. But I have never before seen the level of toxicity that I have seen this week. I got on this morning, after a two-day (mostly) social media rest, and I shared the video linked below without comment. But then I…
Read MoreThe Couple That Plays Together…
I’ve heard people say that wallpapering is a test of a marriage. I think they should try critiquing each other’s creative work. Christian has always been my earliest set of eyes on a piece of music, and unlike most people, he’s never felt inhibited about telling me exactly what’s wrong with it. In the early…
Read MoreMercy In The Age of Facebook
Because the spiritual works of mercy have always been a little tough to pin down, I offer this today: The Spiritual Works of Mercy – in the Age of Facebook Mark Piper 🔶 To Give Counsel to the Doubtful, in person, without a shield of anonymity, with charity and goodwill as your motivation 🔶 To Instruct…
Read MoreOff Making Music
Item 1: Time plus focus = momentum, the anti-writer’s block. Item 2: I have neither time nor excessive amounts of focus. Net Result: I frequently feel a frustrating lack of inspiration when writing music, even though I feel more alive when I write music than with anything else I do. It is, perhaps, divine irony that…
Read MoreMerchants In The Temple
When I was offered a copy of Merchants in the Temple: Inside Pope Francis’ Secret Battle Against Corruption In The Vatican, I was hesitant to accept it. But I decided that if there was something about my Church I ought to know, then I shouldn’t bury my head in the sand. It is no stretch…
Read MoreWhy I Love Both Catholic AND Public Education
When I contemplated parenthood, certain things were never a question. For instance: I knew my kids would go to Catholic school. To be honest, having grown up in Catholic grade school and worked in a Catholic grade school, as well as subbing in the public schools, I was a little snotty about it. The Catholic…
Read MoreWhy was I excited for the papal encyclical? The challenge of Laudato Si (Reblog)
I’ve been following blogger Margaret Felice for quite some time, and when I read the following post late last week, I felt as if it was written just for me. I admit I have not had time to dig into Laudato Si yet, but I officially downloaded it onto my computer for an upcoming road trip. In…
Read MoreIn Which Julianna Finally Succeeds In Hijacking The Eucharist
It was a bad day in choir. The big boys were out until 10 p.m. the night before for baseball, so of course, Nicholas was falling to pieces long before we finished choir warmup. I’ve been waking at 4:30 for several days, so my patience was stretched pretty thin. And Michael? I don’t know what…
Read More
Kathleen M. Basi 