I have seen the face of the Risen Christ crying and begging for food on the CTA.

"For the masses who do the city's labor also keep the city's heart"

One of my hottest takes is that I am personally exhausted by Christian nature spirituality. It’s not wrong; I have no valid objections to any of; we’ve all read Annie Dillard and Mary Oliver; I like Mary Oliver. But the radical under-development of urban spirituality deeply frustrates me.

It doesn't have to be the nearest saint's day. Saints have themes and special interests for a reason. For example, if you like feminism & Ireland, you can go ahead and name your child Brigid or Bridget (but not Bridgette) whenever she is born; you don't have to wait until Feb 1.

What a good and decent person.

Ah, it’s time for my mother’s annual Christmas tradition: asking that I tell her what sort of a gift I would like and then telling me over & over how stressful my request is.

Watching a near-opaque wall of snow outside my windows, with the end “The Dead” ringing in my head. ”His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”

“Do not let familiarity dull your outrage” man you could do eye surgery with my outrage, we’re good on outrage

I do keep thinking about how I would be having a full meltdown if my father were still alive and there was no guarantee I could make it to Philly to spend Thanksgiving / Christmas with him.

Is livermush just North Carolinian for scrapple?

Not to brag (sorry, I am definitely bragging) but people burst into applause after my boss’s homily today (this is not a common occurrence, even for very good homilies).

(looks left) (looks right) (sprinkles salt & Holy Water) (crosses self) (whispers) …it wasn’t that bad.

Planning to risk my life by going to Trader Joe’s after the morning Masses the day before a major winter storm. If I don’t make it out, just remember: I love you, and I think I love (but will inevitably be disappointed in) Jingle-Jangle.

Watching an improvised musical about high school mock trial and—as a former mock trial nerd—I am DYING. Mock trial kids: theater kids, but nerdier & more self-righteous.

Yesterday it was 61°; Monday we may receive anywhere from two snowflakes to 87 feet of snow; Chicago baybeeeee greatest city in the world.

Every day I become more convinced that Philadelphia is the most similar city to Chicago & vice versa. There are many reasons for that, but one of the funniest is: I’m in a neighborhood quite far from where I live & work. I’ve run into two people I know on the street.

“I thought I knew what it meant to love Chicago. … I love this place, and I thought I knew how much, until you made me love it more.”

I once again regret to inform you* that wrenching oneself out of bed before dawn, immediately showering, and leaving one’s apartment is “good” for “mental health.” *myself

There’s no right or principle this administration respects. “…the anonymous representative, told a group of faith leaders and activists that “There is no more prayer in front of building or inside the building because this is the state and it’s not [of a] religious background.””

Stuck boat coupla days before the Fitz anniversary, spitting distance from Mariners Church.

After ICE agents raided a Chicago daycare Wednesday morning and arrested a teacher that has citizenship documents, Alderperson Andre Vasquez, 40th Ward Chicago says the city doesn't have time to wait for elections to fix the Trump administration's chaos and calls for Chicagoans to act now.

…and Monday we’re supposed to get 5-6” of snow.

This morning, I was part of a conversation involving Catholic ministers from across Chicago, and the consensus from others was that people outside of Chicagoland have no idea what is happening here with "Midway Blitz." Is that true? My instinct is that's more about whom they're talking with, but...?

It’s November 7th & it’s 61°, which means that people are wearing the full spectrum of clothing: from puffy coat with gloves & winter hat to sandals & strappy sundress with bare arms & shoulders.

Access to the sacraments is the tip of the iceberg. They won't allow clergy access bc they aren't running a proper detention facility. The scandal that religious protests are highlighting is not that the detainees' religious rights are being violated, but that ALL their rights are being violated.

“I don’t know about this social media claim that people in the Middle Ages slept in two different sleeping-chunks,” says woman who routinely wakes up somewhere between 1am & 3am, reads, and then goes back to sleep until 6:30.

"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk

I am constantly fed this ad by instagram, and it just baffles me. Who wants this?! Why. If “Celebrate Thanksgiving but make it British” is appealing to you, who are you, I just want to talk.* *no I don’t; don’t @ me.

There's a flash of personality, and anger, in paragraph 14 of "Dilexi Te," where Pope Leo rejects the idea that poor people are lazy, and adds: "Of course, among the poor there are also those who do not want to work, perhaps because their ancestors, who worked all their lives, died poor." 🔥🔥🔥

This machine kills fascists

Sean Dunn, not Sean Duffy.

November 6 is St. Leonard's Day, for the most popular patron of prisoners in the Middle Ages. But not to be outdone, it's also the feast of Jeanne-Marie de Maille, whom Butler's tells me persuaded the King to release all the prisoners in Tours. A great day to pray for the release of the imprisoned.

A fun thing is that people—some of them bishops—in the Catholic Church will ALSO loudly complain about “the feminization of the Church” and say the big problem is “the Church appeals to women and not men” and, sirs. You literally control the entire formal power structure of the institution.

I know many would say this makes me culpably naive, “this is the problem with libs,” etc., but: I love cities, and I love words, and this is filling my heart today. “And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:”

After reading Carl Sandburg's "Chicago' poem in full in open court this morning, Federal Judge Sarah Ellis says this about our city: It should go without saying that is she correct & Donald Trump is lying. #chicago

Director of Undergraduate Philosophy Studies, 2005: “Are you SURE you want to take formal logic? Most young women are more interested in something that will prepare them to be good catechists. You might find logic more frustrating than you expect.” How sad that women have ruined work since then.

My experience of studying theology & philosophy 20 years ago was constantly being told I was bad bc I was The Wrong Kind of Woman who refused to embrace my Unique Feminine Genius, and it’s bizarre to see that diminish in influence in the RCC while simultaneously increasing in US cultural influence.

Government attorneys complaining that the facility the government has abducted people to and keeps them in for days can't possibly be expected to have "a clean bedding mat and bedding with sufficient space to sleep." How can anyone defend this.

“Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (D-Illinois) … said the footage she reviewed shows that agents went in and questioned another teacher. It also shows armed, masked men going into four classrooms as adults and children run through the hallways. “They lie,” Ramirez said of DHS’s account. “They’re lying here.””

One of the teachers, who feared for her life, hid with a baby, because she feared the baby would be hurt if they were abandoned when all of their teachers were abducted.

the effects of this evil keep moving closer and closer. it’s not less evil when it’s distant. but living in chicago right now is living in a circle with an ever-decreasing radius, wondering how you will respond when you find yourself touching the center.

DHS is lying about the circumstances under which they abduct people. They are terrorizing childcare workers and children. Parents at work are terrified of what will happen to their children and their children’s teachers. This is evil.

Comms Director: Bridget, is it still liturgically appropriate to have a photograph from the All Souls’ Day Mass of Remembrance on the bulletin cover this week? It’s not wrong to still be thinking about the dead? Me: (breaks out into a sweat) «what is the normal amount of thinking about death»

Thread: Catholic priest Fr Brendan Curran OP testifying about federal violence toward migrants and protestors.

Maybe pundits should spend more time in densely packed, left leaning urban areas where the "real Americans" live

Pope Leo addresses DHS’s refusal to allow pastoral visits at Broadview: “Jesus says very clearly: At the end of the world, we're going to be asked, how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him, and welcome him, or not?”

I had many seminars with Brilliant Men, but what I value most from grad school may be the things that taught me to distill very complex topics into very limited time & space: the remnants of old Jesuit one-page pedagogy & the feminist religious sister who could teach any level from K to doctoral.

When I worked in higher ed Student Affairs, a student who was angry I was saying they had to go home instead of congregating outside drinking from open containers threw a 1.5L glass wine bottle at my head and it resulted in less of a reaction than someone having to smell onions & mustard.

The Catholic priest is Fr Brendan Curran, OP, regional Promoter of Justice and Peace for the Dominicans of Canada and the United States.