Camino Primitivo
For updates, photos, and more information (the good Lord and the wifi willing), check out our Camino blog at: Pilgrims on the Way.
» Read moreCategory: Moments in Time
Blessing of the Pilgrims, 2022
This morning, Francine and I received the pilgrims’ blessing from Rev. David Mulholland at Saint Patrick Church, where I was baptized and we were married. It is a beautiful and ancient rite. In its current form it appears the Missal of Vich Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain, dated to AD 1078. In addition to blessing the pilgrims themselves, the packs (“rucksacks”), sticks (“staves”), and […]
» Read moreCongratulations, Bishop Schuster!
Seattle has a new auxiliary bishop! I offer my heart-felt congratulations to the Most Reverend Frank Schuster who was today consecrated a bishop at Saint James Cathedral in Seattle. The Most Reverend Frank Schuster I only met his Excellency once. He was (and still is) in charge of the formation of permanent deacons for the archdiocese, and we briefly met […]
» Read more02 May
May the second looms large in my life. On this day in 2013, Francine and I walked into Santiago de Compostela for the first time, at the end of our first Camino. At this point, Francine had been walking for almost two weeks, and me for more than a month. I can’t describe the joy of that day. Arrival in […]
» Read moreAnd Then There Were Three
Earlier today as I was taking out the trash, I heard a symphony of panicked squawks from our hens in Paradise Towers. I’d heard that sound before. It could only mean one thing. One of the hens had died. And indeed, the three surviving hens were huddled near the body of Amelia, who we usually called “Big Red”. She was […]
» Read moreA Weary and Distraught Humanity
Earlier today, Pope Francis consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary “ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine”, thus fulfilling the wishes of Mary at Fátima in 1917. Theologians can debate whether this consecration was somehow more “valid” than the ones performed by Venerable Pope Pope Pius XII in 1942, Pope Saint Paul VI in 1964, or […]
» Read moreConsecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary – Today!
Saint Patrick was an Englishman!
Well that got your attention, didn’t it? It’s not quite true of course; Patrick may have been born on the isle of Britain, but in a time before the Angles had arrived and started making it Angland. No, his family were Roman Catholic churchmen from the Roman Imperial province of Britannia. Today, nobody is going to go around speaking in […]
» Read moreAsh Wednesday and Lent
Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And with those words, our Lent has begun. Holy Mother Church calls us to make these next forty days until Easter a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is a pilgrimage, in a sense, through time if not space, through death to resurrection. A pilgrimage of penitence. For […]
» Read moreThe Camino Calls, and We Answer
Back in December of 2019, I posted some noodlings about the call of the Camino and where we might walk next. While both of the options I discussed there are still very much in our future plans, a more immediate Camino adventure calls: the Camino Primitivo. Francine and I have been talking about this particular Camino for close to a […]
» Read moreAnother Year, Another Spoon!
Today is both the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the fourteenth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before, a “moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed”. It’s important to mark those changes in our lives. Francine and I have a funny tradition. When I […]
» Read moreThe 10 Most Popular Posts of 2021
Once again, it’s time for our annual look back at the year that was. And what a year! The plague and lockdowns continued, but instead of looking at the crazy out there, we’re concentrating on the crazy in here – in the form of a top ten. This is now the fifth annual, so I guess it now falls under […]
» Read moreSaint Thomas Becket, Obedience, and the Sacred Liturgy
Happy fifth day of Christmas! Today the Church celebrates the anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. Over the years, I’ve written many articles on St. Thomas Becket, one of my favourite saints. I’ve provided links to them below. While thinking about what new thing I could say about this great saint, it occurred to me that this year […]
» Read moreNew Chapters Being Written
Today has been a busy, exciting, and exhausting day. This morning, after a series of interviews this week, I accepted an offer from GitHub, where I have been contracting much of the year. I also contracted with them for a year or so before the Plague. There are still some formalities – a contract to sign on Monday, a background […]
» Read moreThe Battle of Lepanto, Our Lady, and the Holy Rosary
Today is the 450th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto. In later years, the anniversary of this day was celebrated as the Feast of Our Lady of Victory and later, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Back in high school, a group of us did an extensive report on the events of this day for my freshman history class. We […]
» Read moreAnniversary of the Last Day of Holy Rosary
Depart from me, I will weep bitterly; labour not to comfort me. (Antiphon 1 of Monastic Lauds for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows) One year ago today, Archbishop Paul Etienne celebrated the final Mass of Holy Rosary parish in Tacoma. Tomorrow is the Feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and the following day is the Feast […]
» Read moreThe Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising,fair as the moon, bright as the sun,terrible as an army set in array?(Benedictus antiphon, Monastic Office of Lauds for the Assumption) Today’s great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which in the East is known as the Dormition of the Theotokos, is one that holds a special […]
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