Just another writer

  • Today’s saint picture: Saint Diomedes of Tarsus

    Today’s saint picture: Saint Diomedes of Tarsus

    Diomedes was one of the Holy Unmercenaries, an epithet¹ applied to a number of early Christians who did things like care for the sick without charging for their services. He was ordered arrested by the Eastern Roman Emperor Diocletian and along the way, Diomedes stopped to pray and fell dead. The soldiers, being mindful of…

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  • Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Assumption

    Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Assumption

    I have a sentimental attachment to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary as my baptismal parish and the church which established my expectations of the norms of Catholicism was Our Lady of the Assumption in Claremont, California. I would guess that these days, three decades after I left Claremont, there’s nobody that I know there…

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  • Catholic nerd pilgrimage: National Shrine of St Maximillan Kolbe

    Catholic nerd pilgrimage: National Shrine of St Maximillan Kolbe

    Most of the time when I go to a weekday Mass, it’s no more than a dozen people present, St Rita being the main exception thusfar, but today’s trip to Marytown, home of the National Shrine of St Maximilian Kolbe was the most packed Mass I’ve seen, including Sundays. I arrived just as the Mass…

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  • Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Jane de Chantal

    Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Jane de Chantal

    At one point in the Renew My Church process, Saint Jane de Chantal and Saint Camillus were united as a single parish taking the combined name of Saint Faustina Kowalska. Then Saint Camillus was closed. The archdiocesan directory still lists Saint Jane de Chantal as the name of the church, but none of the signage…

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  • Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Clare of Assisi (St Colette)

    Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Clare of Assisi (St Colette)

    Thanks to the Renew My Church initiative, we have parishes which have one or more churches by a different name than the parish itself as parishes are merged and the combined parishes choose to take on a new name even as the individual churches keep their original names. The parish of Saint Clare of Assisi…

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  • A visit with my younger self: 6 September 1988

    A visit with my younger self: 6 September 1988

    The fact that I face it alone makes the pain that much more unbearable. The dream is almost always the same: the general premise is that I meet Beth in some unexpected place and find that something has happened that will permit us to be together. Sometimes we make love. Sometimes I find myself dragged…

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  • Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint John Vianney

    Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint John Vianney

    The parish of Saint John Vianney is located in the nearish suburb of Northlake, which is not so named because it’s near a lake but because it is located at the intersection of Lake Street and North Avenue. For some reason, I had it in my head that the Mass began at 8a even though…

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  • A visit with my younger self: 22 August 1988

    A visit with my younger self: 22 August 1988

    A very short entry this time: The story of Marconi enters my mind. At this point in my trip to Montréal, I had relocated to the hotel where I would be staying for the conference. It was in a nicer neighborhood, but ironically, access to the McGill campus by public transit was less convenient. What…

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  • Writerly resolutions: July status

    Writerly resolutions: July status

    This was a moderately productive month writing-wise. I got fair work done on the novel, finishing the rewrite and revision work on the newly inserted chapter two, along with rewriting chapter six and now I’m doing post-workshop revisions on chapter five. Chapter two, a flashback chapter, felt like something that could stand on its own…

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