I love Fredson Bowers

You've been appointed chair.

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

I know they get huge hate but I absolutely love classic 70s/80s Catholic hymns like "Here I am, Lord" and "One Bread, One Body" and go absolutely bonkers when my Episcopal parish puts them into rotation. If I ever end up in ordained ministry those are top choices for a post-ordination services.

Y'all my AIM away messages would have been absolutely insufferable if I'd had Conan Gray's WISHBONE at my disposal.

Speaking of interwar fascist sympathizers; I've been studying the book collections of T.E. Scott-Ellis, 8th Lord Howard de Walden, noted for his medievalism and interest in fencing and armour, and discovered that he was an officer in English Mistery, probably the weirdest of British far-right groups

I'm reminded that I don't like this guidance because it relies on a volunteer journalism guide that proscribes, incorrectly, "The Reverend Doctor." Debrett's is silent on the use, but Emily Post says it's acceptable. In any case, by longstanding custom clergy with doctorates are "the Rev. Dr." !

Reminds me slightly of the Tale of Genji's second chapter. Genji strikes out with the beautiful Utsusemi, the wife of the Iyo Deputy, so instead he sleeps with her brother. Waley's circumspect translation is that he "found the boy no bad substitute for his ungracious sister."

Against my better judgement I snagged two leaves from the Great Bible of 1539 at the Empire State book and print fair. Selections from the Psalms, in that old familiar Coverdale language.

quite seriously, a revival in social clubs and fraternal organizations could solve this. the increase in costs of land, building, and rents since the 1980s has also squeezed groups like this out of places they could otherwise gather and do stuff with like-minded people. People love a clubhouse.

Absolutely not

Happy to see an updated book is coming out - when he was at Princeton, Fr. Andrew came up to preach at Transfiguration a few times and I got him to inscribe my copy of "Blessing."

In trying to track down some books belonging to Boies Penrose II I've looked up his more famous uncle and honestly the US just doesn't make this type of guy anymore - who eats a dozen eggs for breakfast and a turkey at lunch and drinks enough bourbon to kill lesser men?

the irony is that Jesus sort of did the miracles and superhero stuff as a way to prove that his ethical teaching and model was sound... and he was still crucified because his ethics were too challenging!

Ironically this feels like a holdover from medieval scholastic concepts of the episcopacy; given that the priestly office emerged as a delegation of the bishop's sacramental role within the community, is there really a good reason why priests couldn't also do confirmations?

the thing about postliberal Catholic convert philosophy is that, in seeking the reconstruction of a premodern Catholic past in the present, they forget the past they are looking for had an extremely strong shame/scandal. postlibs cannot escape 20th c. humanistic individualism even as they reject it

Make sure to wish a librarian a happy Gerald Ford Trapped in The Penn Library Elevator Day.

Doing some research on bookseller's catalogues I have discovered the charmingly named English bookman Frederick Meatyard, whose specialty was drawings and watercolours and was nicknamed "Honest Fred."

only thing I disagree with here is that it actually IS easy to explain. Factions in the Trump regime are jockeying for power and influence and the internal security service leaders are xenophobes; they do no care what the foreign, finance, and economic ministries tell them

Sunday timeline cleanse ⚓️

how it feels to contribute to an edited volume

[ancient egyptian standup comic] see guys from the upper kingdom, they observe funerary rites like THIS. but us guys from the lower kingdom, we observe funerary rites like THIS. See this guy knows what I’m talking about [pointing at man with the head of a bird]

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen”

so close to Loss

Any earthquakes or celestial omens we ought to be looking at very heavily? Asking for the Duke of Zhou, no other reason

The liturgical language debate is really not about liturgy, it’s about catechism

Whenever I’m in the UK I always make the mistake exactly once of asking for still water and being surprised with a bottle, having forgotten the options are fizzy, still, or tap.

New additions to the library - going hard on Teilhard de Chardin

in 2015 I was studying at the NTNU MTC and was having weird heart palpitations late at night, ended up wandering around this open but entirely empty building at 10pm searching for some kind of doctor. extremely eerie - all the lights on, zero people

"She didn't try to bribe this reporter because she's corrupt, she did it because she's Chinese" is an absolutely insane excuse for them to offer here

l think there's something to be said about LARPing, con culture, Ren Faires, etc. as semi-Carnivalesque spaces of play in which the rules and order (in Huizinga's sense of play) may always just be about to give way

Me at the end of the day:

who on earth is submitting fellowship funding proposals in ASCII format

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we, the family of Andrew West, confirm his peaceful passing on 10th July 2025. The BabelStone legacy will be continued by colleagues and friends. corp.unicode.org/pipermail/un...

Found my next side hustle

finished reading Justinian Huang's "The Emperor and the Endless Palace" which I picked up because 1. Chinese history and 2. gaaaaay. But not quite sure how I feel about it? Compelling story, very unique framing and use of historical characters. But something felt missing, stylistically.

very cool that legal jurisprudence in this country under the Roberts Court is now "A Democrat cannot, but a Republican can, especially if that Republican is Donald Trump"

On this point, to avoid a lengthy threadjack: I too would like the world of full churches and unsold rectories & vicarages and burgeoning budgets, of thriving seminaries and influential leaders, a world where decline is not even something we can comprehend. but nostalgia is poisonous.

Interesting, and certainly challenging article but I have to say I think they get Dr. King completely wrong here. I do not think you can separate the Civil Rights movement for the liberation of Black Americans from the Black Christian tradition!

I shouldn't get into it but the discourse about Bishop Rowe's address is so tiresome; the usual suspects of the "retvrn to classical Anglicanism" brigade who don't realize era of TEC as an almost established church is dead, and the liberal blowhards talking a lot about politics (but never Jesus)

Some thoughts from me on scriptural interpretation and the need to take it seriously. I owe @benjamindcrosby.bsky.social praise for his recent writing on this topic which got me thinking more about this question - if you don't read his substack, you should! ⚓

This is probably a bit out of the remit of the Narthex but is anyone aware of settings of the Roman Rite canon pointed for chant in English? I’m specifically looking for the communicantes section. ⚓️

why does the pope look like he's reviewing the successful launch of a Hwasong-12 rocket over the Sea of Japan

spotted on the TEC subreddit - when were these leatherbound 1979 BCPs produced? I cannot find any information about them online. An earlier version of the Chancel Edition now out of print? ⚓

TEC should cash in on the LABUBU craze and release a blind box series of plushie versions of Lesser Feast and Fasts figures. Get one Kpop idol with a stuffed Jackson Kemper on their belt at a concert and The Youth will come flocking in

seems legit

not that anyone needs to subject themselves to this but the TEC subreddit thread on the intinction article is predictably a trash fire of bad faith discussion and willful ignorance

And now, the predecessor of Michel le Quien's work rejecting the validity of Church of England Holy Orders. Pierre le Courayer's defense of the validity of English orders was written anonymously in the 1720s, but he affixed his name to it later and was condemned by the French Catholic leaders. ⚓

I'll be in Ireland in September and hope to get my hands on some Church of Ireland prayer books. Are there any recommendations for bookshops to look through or churches that might have some stock? I would defer to @laudablepractice.bsky.social 's knowledge as Bluesky's C of I doyen! ⚓

What a joy to receive the blessing of Fr. Ignacio after his first Mass at @littlechurchnyc.bsky.social as a new priest - God keep him in the palm of his hand on his life of ministry!