Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Pasadena native Mary Lea Carroll has written two engaging books on saints. The first, Saint Everywhere: Travels in Search of the Lady Saints, came out in 2019. In it, she travels among other places to Siena (St. Catherine), Prague (Infant Jesus) and Medjugorje (Our Lady of […]
TRAVEL
COAST TO COAST
I always laugh when people say “I hope you enjoyed your retreat!” or “your vacation!” I do enjoy it, all of it, but my life and my travel are almost militarily disciplined and at all times retain a pilgrimage aspect. I often fast in my way, I always walk miles. This last trip to NYC […]
PROJECTS AND PLOWSHARES
I haven’t much checked in as of late. This is in large part because I have many PROJECTS. One: I am making a will! That’s right: getting “my affairs” in order, a task upon which I’ve been procrastinating for probably five years. So the ball is rolling. That feels good. It’s a lot of work. […]
CAMBRIA, CA
Hi. I’m in Cambria on the California Central Coast, on terrible circadian rhythm where I get max five or six hours a night of sleep. No matter. Those are the things of this world. Had fugue state pleasant drive up yesterday on about four hours of sleep, wheeled into town, sprang into action, explored both […]
TRANSITIONING FROM THE HERMITAGE
Now that I’ve completed it, here’s what my month-long artist’s residency looked like: Up at 5:30 for the stupendous sunrise, then prayer, then work, then usually 11:30 Mass, then lunch, then my chore of helping put away the dishes, then more work or a nap or a phone call, then the hour-long walk up the […]
THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE
How quickly my time has gone at the Monastery of St. Gertrude. I leave early next Saturday morning for four days in Boise, then down through Nevada to the Bristlecone Forest in the Eastern Sierras, a night in Independence, CA (home of Mary Austin, author of Land of Little Rain), then home. The schedule here, which […]
CONFLICTS AND CONTRADICTIONS
“[C]ontrary to what I might have hoped or expected when I was younger, life does not in fact grow simpler as one gets older, its complexities and contradictions do not actually decrease as time goes on.”–Esther de Waal, Living with Contradictions: Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict How I do not know, but I […]
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Per usual, life has been moving at a faster clip than I’m able to keep up with. I do know this: I’m in Carson City, Nevada. That’s right. Holed up in the Forest Room of the Bliss Bungalow: “a charming inn for the discerning traveler.” Well, the first part is right. Carson City, the Historic […]
DC
I am back from my trip to Washington DC and, contrary to all expectation, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! I’m going to write a column for Angelus so will not elaborate here. But I can’t resist posting these photos of flowers that, nourished by East Coast humidity, dew, and rain, looked good enough to eat.
THE JOURNEY BACK HOME
Hey folks, here’s the link to my conversion story on EWTN’s “The Journey Home” with Marcus Grodi. Question: why does Marcus looks giant and why do I look like a midget? Speaking of journeying home, I’ve been in DC all week and HAVE LOVED IT! I’m staying at the Dominican Priory (not to be confused […]
THE JUBILEE MUSEUM
Columbus Ohio’s Jubilee Museum, a one-of-a-kind, must-be-seen-to-be-believed repository of all things Catholic, somehow could only have arisen within the one, holy, and apostolic Church.
BLOODY BUT UNBOWED
The above was taken at a glacial kettle (basically, a bog) outside Columbus, Ohio. I met my Columbus chum, Mary Beth Paul, at Corpus Christi this morning for 8:30 Mass and then she took me for breakfast to the Fox in the Snow and then we went and visited some of the “habitats” outside the […]
DATELINE COLUMBUS, OHIO
Further evidence of God’s sense of humor: I am flying to Columbus, Ohio this coming Sunday to tape an episode of “The Journey Home” with EWTN’s Marcus Grodi. That’s right. I’m going to hit the Eternal World Television Network Airwaves. (That’s assuming the taping goes okay, which you never know). I feel my own story […]
A FIELD TRIP TO BEVERLY HILLS: THE PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA
Here’s a fun thing to do on the Westside: The Paley Center for Media, smack in the middle of Beverly Hills.
The minute you step up to the desk, one of the welcoming ladies there will usher you over to a camera, shove a mic in your hand and snap a promote-the-Paley pic.