A nerd geneticist went looking for a wife using the latest scientific advances. Yes, the story involved DNA analysis. The Rosie Project skulked through the dark recesses of the human mind where behavioral genetics loomed even more fantastic than sci-fi. The protagonist, Donald Tillman, PhD reminded me of Spock […]
A private or community meditation for use during Lent.
Stations of the Cross Leader: Let Us Pray Response: Lord, you accepted this journey for our benefit and in our place. Help us to recognize the depth of your love for us so that we may set that love as the framework for our entire lives. Many see your journey […]
A Field Guide to the Flavia de Luce Mystery Series
Alan Bradley, born in Ontario had two older sisters. His father left the family during Alan’s early years. Alan withdrew into the world of books, often reading in a cemetery. His award-winning Flavia de Luce Mysteries, set not in Canada, but in rural England described an eleven year old girl […]
Let’s make it a Quigley Family Christmas!
Save Saint Agatha’s Parish With so many empty churches and dispersed communities, what’s so special about the pending loss of Saint Agatha’s Church? Although the closing looms ahead, this particular church exists only in the Catholic sit-com Ordinary. Fans grieve that the December, 2013 Kickstarter funding project failed to meet […]
I’m Dreaming of a Blue Advent
Many lose sight of Advent amid the Thanksgiving-Black Friday-anticipated Christmas-commercial season. How can Advent hold its ground against this materialistic intrusion? Some regard Advent as “Little Lent.” After all, at least where I live it wears the hand-me-down purples of the penitential weeks between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. […]
Giving Thanks
Last month, I attended CWG’s Your Word is My Delight: A Catholic Writers’ Retreat in Dewitt, Michigan. As is so often the case, it took me a few days post-retreat to recognize the gifts poured out by the Holy Spirit through the event. Opportunities to pray abounded. Daily Rosary, daily […]
Grace in the Wilderness: Reflections on God’s Sustaining Word along Life’s Journey, by Brother Francis de Sales Wagner, O.S.B.
Brother Francis de Sales offers his readers a source of joy, leading them into the desert where they feast on the reality of God. The Liturgical New Year will soon dawn, a time for new beginnings, not only with reflections on the saints of the day, but the profound messages […]
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon: No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (14), by Alexander McCall Smith
For those who have never read any of the previous episodes of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, this is a wonderful place to start, I would think, because episode 14 reviews so much of the past. Otherwise, the faithful followers of Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi will enjoy […]
Bilbo’s Journey: discovering the hidden meaning of the hobbit, by Joseph Pearce
Pearce and Tolkien believed that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were fundamentally religious and Catholic works. Apparently critics had either missed or resented this interpretation. Pearce paraphrased Tolkien in suggesting that the real reason for critical prejudice against Tolkien’s and similar works had grown out of a […]
The Chronicles of Xan III: The Fire of Eden (OakTara Publishers, 2013) by Antony Barone Kolenc
For better or worse, others have imposed major decisions and their consequences on the lives of children. Nevertheless, even young people have made decisions that affected the rest of their lives. In Chronicles of Xan III: The Fire of Eden like Adam and Eve, most of the characters in this […]