Just another writer
-
Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Celestine
Today is the feast of Saint Celestine, a fifth century pope. The church of that name is in Elmwood Park, thankfully only a short drive away. The parish is unapologetically suburban in its feel, a post–Vatican II building (although the parish itself is much older). The Sunday Mass was, well, suburban. I do note…
-
Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Ann(e)
The Archdiocese of Chicago has two churches of Saint Anne (while one Saint Anne and one Saint Ann) along with a Shrine of Saint Anne. That last does not have Saturday Masses anymore, something I only learned today when I noticed that the church which hosts the shrine has a newer website and the older…
-
A visit with my younger self: 21 August 1988
My stay in Montréal continues. I was still at the auberge at this point in the trip. Montréal is the city where Groucho losdt his virginity. Montréal is also the city where Don Hosek was asked for instructions on the subway. I don’t know, maybe I look helpful. Last night I met three French-speaking girls at…
-
Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint James
Today is the feast of St James the Great and while there are five currently open churches of St James, apparently, no one is exactly sure which Saint James any of them is named for, although not only is there confusion about which Saint James the churches are named for, there’s also confusion about which Saint…
-
Today’s Saint Picture: Saint Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is one of those figures in the Bible who tradition has ended up confusing a bit, thanks to the fact that there are so many Marys in the New Testament. For a while, she was associated with both Mary the sister of Martha and with the woman caught in adultery, but has since…
-
Today’s saint picture: Saint Bonaventure
St Bonaventure Oratory was one of those shadow parishes in the archdiocese which was still in the list of churches that I got from the directory, but had been relegated at some point in the past (trying to determine whether a church has been relegated is its own little challenge, I’ve found with some parish…
-
Today’s saint picture: Saint Procopius
Family duties meant that I wouldn’t be able to visit Saint Procopius church today so I decided to draw Saint Procopius instead. He was an 11th century Czech Benedictine monk who was the namesake, not only of the parish on the west side of Chicago but also of the abbey attached to Benedictine University in…
-
Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint Veronica
One of the strange things with the Renew My Church process is that occasionally churches end up becoming part of parishes which have a completely different name than any of the churches that are used as worship sites. And sometimes what ends up happening is that a parish formed from two or more legacy parishes…
-
A visit with my younger self: 20 August 1988
At the end of the summer of 1988, UIC where I was working, paid for me to go to the TeX Users Group conference in Montréal. This was my first time traveling alone and, as an added bonus, leaving the country as well, back in an era when it was possible to visit Canada without…