"Migration is always a double right: a right to find the conditions for a respectable existence in your own country, and a right to move away when those minimum conditions do not exist." #PopeFrancis #Hope

"But segregation still haunted the church. / For three hundred years you were / a saint-in-waiting, invisible as the poor / of Peru. (Philip C. Kolin, 2018)" sojo.net/magazine/nov...

Pope Leo: “I am very pleased to welcome the official delegation of the Church of England…your presence today expresses our shared joy at the proclamation of Saint John Henry Newman as a Doctor of the Church. From Heaven, may he accompany Christians on their journey towards full union.”

Exactly.

A ghost draws near! Command? #dragonquest

Tolkien definitely a degrowther and definitely not reform voter so seems likely

If you need to explain to an idiot why Tolkien would have despised these goons, I have already grabbed a picture of the relevant passage (and I doubt I was the first):

Since it’s close to Halloween, I’ll repost some past spooky contributions to @hipstersofthecoast.com — Here’s one that a recent TikTok by @vorthosjay.bsky.social reminded me about: www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2020/10/reli...

Aca-Christmas-Horror-Colleagues I’ve an emergency for an essay on eco-horror and Christmas involving supernatural or magical creatures, pointing to a pagan/folk horror past. Can’t involve ghosts but can be in any media. If interested drop me a message to: [email protected]

I’m just going to share all of these I think.

"Día de Muertos honors our loved ones and mourns the multiplicity of deaths surrounding us, from job losses, to war 'casualties,' to dead democracies." sojo.net/articles/dia...

This might be a genuinely historic moment: the first time a Pope has been deliberately, non-maliciously and publicly trolled in a piece of ecumenism. It really embodies the shift towards a more informal, personal model of papal communication that began under Francis.

If we try hard enough, I believe we can get the next Archbishop of Canterbury to be from Chicago.

Religion and Violence IYKYK

"Tzefardea Tzedek" (Frog of Righteousness) As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)

Per @chicagotribune.com, the pajama-pants-guy is a former county prosecutor. And he had some things to say. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/25/c...

I tell grad students worried about “originality” that, if you get good at asking your own questions, the ones that emerge from the context of your experiences, the “originality” takes care of itself. No one else has had your experiences, no one else has your desires to understand.

there are still TWO SPOTS open for my Folk Horror class, happening virtually this Thursday! Get 'em before they're gone! www.newberry.org/calendar/fol...

the president has destroyed the east wing of the white house without so much as a word of input from anyone else to build a royal ballroom paid for with bribes

On this day in 3018 of the 3rd Age, Gandalf and Elrond flooded the Anduin, drowning the horses of the Nazgûl. The hobbits swore they saw horses of water. Scholars today think elvish protestors in inflatable horse costumes drove off the Nazgûl. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

we are in a self-awareness crisis

I have to say, Petro is not fooling around.

"They don't want anyone going in there, seeing the horrible conditions inside and offering any support to these people that they are detaining." #LiveTheGospel #ShareGodsLove #RememberThePoor #PrayForAmerica www.ncronline.org/news/activis...

I continue to appreciate Tobias Winright's speaking on these issues, remind folks over and over: www.ncronline.org/opinion/gues...

🎃

This video from @hankgreen.bsky.social hits hard. Everything he talks about has been swirling around in my head for a good year or so and it’s a lot. But his advice at the end is spot on. Go buy Kathleen’s adventure at pizzamas.com. I just grabbed a shirt and the DM screen. youtu.be/x7vNEgUvMkI

I love this image.

Gorgeous serendipity:

I know that MtGsky is very happy about ninja turtles today, but I’m very happy about this #dragonquest closed beta!

Eternal rest to a very, very kind woman who loved the university and the students in her care.

Just turning on Ghost and grading midterms to think about anything other than *gestures broadly* (I mean, also, it is technically doing my job, but)

then perish 😀

"meme" is short for memento mori

you're already seeing & will see more stories about how various attempts at reducing energy use "aren't working," etc -- those are propaganda. this is fantastic

Really, truly amazing that OpenAI wants us to believe that they are worth a trillion dollars but also they are so desperate for revenue that they created an infinite SlopTok app that opens them up to a billion lawsuits just so that they can maybe someday make it even worse by filling it with ads.

I love this essay by @maxwellkuzma.bsky.social in @ncronline.bsky.social on two of my favorite prophets: Sr. Thea Bowman and Kendrick Lamar. I have been ruminating on Lamar's theological aesthetics with my graduate students this semester; this essay contributes productively to our grappling.

If you evade suffering you also evade the chance of joy. Pleasure you may get, or pleasures, but you will not be fulfilled. You will not know what it is to come home.

"Let us begin again, for until now we have done nothing." #SaintFrancisOfAssisi

A blessed feast day to Franciscans everywhere, and all who celebrate on this feast of Saint Francis!

🫡

timeline cleanse: nerdy mail day! #DragonQuest Illustrations by Mitsumi Inomata (1994), Dragon Quest is known for art by Akira Toriyama, but the Japanese novelizations had covers and art by Inomata, who offered a softer, more romantic visual take on the series. @dragonquest.bsky.social

REPORT: “…around October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Leo is expected to publish his first apostolic exhortation. According to reports, the document will focus on the care of the poor—a theme deeply rooted in the Franciscan spirit and already central to his predecessor’s magisterium.”

fwiw, the Catholic Church considers medical care a human right, which means it’s not accorded to persons due to citizenship but because they exist, which in turns means societies that desire to seek the good must offer such care.

Pope releases World Communications Day theme: “Preserving Human Voices & Faces” writing: “Humanity today has possibilities that were unimaginable a few years ago…while these tools offer efficiency & reach, they cannot replace the uniquely human capacities for empathy, ethics & moral responsibility.”

Wholesome quote from my magic the gathering group: Ben (about to do something aggressive): “well, I’m not here to make friends…” Charles: “ha! Too late!”

Pope Leo: “At the doorstep of today’s opulence stands the misery of entire peoples…Through the centuries, nothing seems to have changed: how many Lazaruses die before the greed that forgets justice, before profits that trample on charity, and before riches that are blind to the pain of the poor!”

I was not quite four months old, then, but I’d come to appreciate it later! 🦇