On the other hand...for the bishops to list all these outrages in a matter-of-fact "this is happening" way may be a good first step in educating Catholics who still, somehow, believe we once had "open borders" and now have sober and necessary enforcement of immigration law. They need to see reality.

E.G., if your position is something other than "people have a right to migrate" "asylum is a human right" "our society has an obligation to welcome the stranger" "every human deserves the full protection of the law" then you are not in accord with Catholic teaching and you better fix your soul!

The way things are going on the surface world, I'd stay a mermaid.

Pope John Paul II, in his 1999 letter to artists, distinguishes creating and crafting; only God can create from nothing, to craft is to manipulate what is already present

He states that artists, made in the image & likeness of God, are able to participate in true creativity.

AI cannot.

Yeah, those Civil War generals would have no place in today's army. Especially the guy the sideburn is named after.

Louis XVI at Versailles.

Conan and the Barbarians

An anthropology professor once told me he thinks the US is the first society where everyone who isn't super rich is supposed to feel ashamed for their failure to be super rich. Don't know if he's right, but it sure seems a lot of folks have internalized this attitude and it sucks.

My brother bought the 45 single of this song. He was in 4th grade so I can't hold it against him today.

One of the most common consequences of spiritual sadness is to choose nothing. The person who experiences it is seized by an interior laziness that is worse than death. To hope, on the other hand, is to choose.” - Pope Leo

A retcon from Trump's Bible?

Heresy!

One of my favorite hymns is the Orthodox "Rejoice O Bethany" about the raising of Lazarus. Didn't know about the meaning of his name.