Pontifications.
In Praise of Superfans
It’s been a few months since TGC’s redesign and I want to give a shout-out to my Superfans. Some of you are newcomers, others have been with me since 2015, when I first started drawing some horrible scribbles in ink. TGC has grown consistently but slowly, even for a...
Sad Christian? You’re Not a Failed Evangelist.
"We are told to hide our blemishes because bad news doesn’t evangelize. However, hiding blemishes isn’t evangelization, it’s marketing."Eric Sammons, Is the Catholic Church a House of Cards? Eric Sammons and I don't agree on everything, but this we definitely agree...
The Motu Proprio
Traddeus is having a bad one. As many of you have probably heard, Pope Francis today released a motu proprio severely limiting the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, who may celebrate it and where it may be celebrated. This was done for the stated goal...
May Flowers: Baby Murphy #7
The hardest day in our family’s life was May 26, 2020, when we lost our Margaret Clare. At the height of the pandemic, the world already in the midst of terrible upheaval, we went to the hospital expecting a normal delivery as we’d had 5 times before. From the hopeful...
Review: Oculus Quest 2
Virtual reality: the dream of a every 90s kid now finally accessible to the masses. A couple years ago, a colleague of mine — a major gamer with the RAM to prove it — introduced me to the world of VR on his Oculus Rift (the big brother of the Oculus Quest 2). So...
The Paradox of the Cross: A Star Wars Story
Some weeks ago, my attention was snagged by a title over at ScreenRant, Star Wars Hints at the True Purpose of Force Ghosts, which discussed why the phenomenon seemed only available to the Jedi and not the Sith. As I read with interest, these words stuck with me: “The...
FAQ: Whose Geekdom is It, Anyway?
FAQ: Whose Geekdom is It, Anyway? Among those TGC fans for whom a simple pun must answer to the scrutinies of rational thought, many have asked: “What is the geekdom? Whose geekdom is it?" The answer is simply “all of it.” Yet it strikes me that this response will...
The Very Catholic Identity
A century ago, if you had asked the random person on the street whether a man who occasionally referenced his rosary or was said by his representative to attend Mass “most Sundays” was “very Catholic,” you’d have been laughed at. After all, didn’t Irish-Americans come...
Life Lessons in Child Loss
Trigger warning: child loss. Eleven months ago today, my family suffered the unspeakable tragedy of losing our 6th child, Margaret, to Down Syndrome. What we expected to be the joyous birth of — by all accounts — our healthy baby girl was in an instant turned into the...
In Praise of Timely Signs
Nearly a year ago, we lost our precious Margaret to unforeseen Down Syndrome in the early hours of what was, by our planning, to be her birthday. A week later, we returned her to the earth, her soul already having passed to the mercy of our God who calls the children...