Agreed. Marrying your third cousin is not incestuous. Plus, if people were able to trace their own families back to whatever little village they came from 200 or so years ago (or less) they would find that almost all of us are the products of second or third cousin marriages. (And maybe even first cousins at some…

Totally agree. I don't feel one bit guilty for looking forward to it on a Sunday night, but I won't pretend it's anything other than a soap opera, either.

Downton's appeal has always rested, in large part, on its costuming. The plot has never really been anything more than soap-operatic. The way it presents domestic servants as happily toiling away for their betters is quite sickening and always has been. These were brutally difficult jobs and they paid badly. …

Reporters do it more than anyone, I think. When a sad news story involving a child comes on the news you can bet some reporter will be putting on the concerned/frowny face to opine, "As a parent, I really feel for these people." Which leaves me screaming at the television, "Of course anyone without children couldn't…

"As a parent myself..." AAAAGGGHHH!!!!! I hate sentences that begin that way!

It's interesting seeing this from your side of the equation. Catholic Baptism is not supposed to be denied because of the parents' marital situation whatever it is or and whoever the parents are. Some priests insist more stringently than others that adults bringing babies for Catholic baptisms really intend to raise…

There are hundreds and hundreds are free books available this way and I never knew it! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is the best thing I've learned in a long time!

Oh, I've got that! I'll go figure it out now. Thanks!

You make a good point, but I think that the gap is still going to exist in quite a real way even if one were to remove the super-rich from the equation. Here's an example. I'm a teacher and, even though this is a profession largely populated by women, the administrative jobs are dominated by men and they are much…

Yeah, I just looked at the sneak preview of the report and there are tons of fascinating articles written by a host of intriguing people. However, I couldn't read the whole thing because the free download is for Kindle. The irony of a report on poverty being only fully available via Kindle — and not just being…

I just read your whole confirmation story aloud to a friend of mine who is a priest and he roared with laughter. He said, "I only wish it had been Dolan!" (He hates Dolan.)

Being divorced is not a sin. Someone who is divorced can receive communion just like any other Catholic. If anyone has committed some kind of serious sin then, according to the Church, that person should go to confession before receiving communion, but just being divorced is not a sin. You are absolutely right that…

Sometimes those who teach in Catholic schools don't have the best formation themselves and sometimes bad information gets passed around. You are absolutely right that dioceses do charge for annulments, but if you can't afford one the parish will pay for it or the fee will be waived.

Annulments are not hard to get in…

Someone who is divorced is still a member of the Church and can still receive communion. If a divorced person wants to get married again then the first marriage must be annulled if that person wants to continue to participate in the sacraments. Annulments don't make any of the children of the marriage illegitimate.…

It's great that he baptized the baby of a divorced couple, but I'm not following the logic about divorce vs. annulment. The divorced couple were still married as far as the Church was concerned. If they had had their marriage annulled then they were simply unmarried. Maybe I've misunderstood something.

That is so true. Plus, once it's taught/heard/learned/misunderstood bad theology never seems to go away. Think about all the people, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, who think Catholics have committed a sin when they get divorced. Sigh.

Ah, that is a far, far bigger deal! Too bad that wasn't highlighted in the article here. While the Church has no specific proscription against baptism for a child whose parents are not married or who are not married "in the Church," to have the Pope involved at this level is a very powerful message indeed. Thank…

Current sacramental theology teaches that baptism in the Catholic Church is far more about welcoming a child into the Body of Christ and far less about that child going to hell. I'm no longer a practicing Catholic and I haven't jumped on the Pope Frank the Great bandwagon, but I think when you write about something…

I agree with you. The point that women writers are often treated with less respect when they write about family or personal issues is valid. But I don't see Jennifer Weiner as being a good example of a woman who is writing literary fiction and yet is being treated as if she is not. Geraldine Brooks, Anne Tyler,…

Not the picture I wanted. Never mind.