Cindy Paslawski
Of Glittery Flowers, Cute Little Birds, and Easter
This time I’m batting .500. On Ash Wednesday, I bemoaned this year’s lack of broadcasting the Lenten penitential regulations which Catholics have observed through the centuries. (I noticed, however, no dearth of announcements that St. Patrick’s Day would be abstinence-free.) Now let’s turn to Easter. I am on almost every known religious mailing list….
Guilted: a lenten moment
“Is this guy for real?” my husband asked. We were watching Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge about the selfless medic who risked his life saving his fellow soldiers. Two things stood out in that film about medic Desmond Doss: his determination to save lives and his utmost fidelity to the tenets of his faith. So I…
We’ve Been Saying This for Years! WSJ on Ugly Churches
Déjà vu. The February 24, 2017 issue of the Wall Street Journal ran the story, “Free Our Churches From the Ugly and Stupid” by Professor Anthony Esolen of Providence College. In this wonderful piece, Esolen laments “Stations of the Cross that can hardly be recognized as depictions of the Passion” and “crosses that look as…
Ignoring the “Fast” Track: Has Traditional Lent observance become optional?
Ash Wednesday is upon us. The day is not so important as its symbolism as the entryway into the great time of penance. We go forth gird with fasting and abstinence into the Lenten season, foreheads marked with a cross of the dust to which we shall return at journey’s end. Solemn stuff. It is a…
No Pain, No Gain
“What are you doing to me!” my son yelled at the crucifix in his room. “I don’t think complaining about not eating between meals on a fast day to One who is nailed to a cross is a good tactic,” I replied. Yes, this conversation was about Ash Wednesday and the fast. I’d just reminded…
He Who Humbles Himself Will Be Exalted
He wanted to keep it simple, humble, down to the plain pine casket. After all, the Funeral Mass and graveside Commendation carry the last day’s importance, not the shine on the soon-to-be-buried casket. But it wasn’t to be. Hundreds of people showed up on March 2 at St. Joseph’s Church in Mishawaka, Indiana, to…
Faith, Family, and Football
I didn’t go to Notre Dame and I didn’t have Charlie Rice in a law class. I was just lucky enough to work with Professor Rice, first when he began giving annual talks at the National Wanderer Forums in the 1970s, and for the last 20 years as secretary of the Wanderer Forum Foundation/Bellarmine Forum,…
Pray for our Chairman, Charlie Rice
Please offer some prayer for our Chairman, Professor Charlie Rice. He was recently admitted to the hospital and although his condition is improving, he and his family could use our support! Update: see this announcement.
A mystery for our readers: Do you know anything about this Cross?
My aunt had her 90th birthday party and gave me some things. Among them, she gave me this cross. Anybody know what this is called and when these were made? We’ll give a hint: this one carries an indulgence from a Pope Pius. Tell us in the comments what this is!
Shameless Promotion of our Magazine on Life
In the Passion we will be reading soon during Holy Week, we come across Pontius Pilate asking, “What is truth?” He’s either sincere and rather dense in the head or blowing off Jesus Christ. That is kind of the way the definition of human life has evolved in the last few decades. A hundred years…
