Association Of Catholic Bloggers

Only 3,000 or so of Nova's 3,500 on-site drones were in the air at any one time during the Vatican's "Grace for the World" Saturday evening concert (September 13, 2025). LEDs on those 12-ounce mini-helicopters can display 16,000,000 different colors. I don't know how many the Nova team used during the concert. Colors, I mean. The 3,000 drones airborne with 500 recharging at any given time is pretty clear. However many colors they used, the show made quite an impression on folks in St. Peter's Square.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (My response to the first Vatican drone show, a short video by someone attending the concert: and how I see drones, art, and being human.)

It's been about a half-century since I worked for the Red River Valley Historical Society. Articles I wrote for their Red River Valley Heritage Press are in the MSMM Archives, and that's another topic. 1 Something I liked about that historical society is that it focused on what I think of as my 'home turf': the Red River Valley of the North. It's some of the flattest land, and best farmland, on the planet. When it's mentioned at all, it's in the context of 19th century treaty violations. Or the latest spring floods. 2 And I'm drifting off-topic again . The point is that while I was working for that outfit, we had a meeting with folks in Winnipeg, Canada — and got a tour of one of Winnipeg's old houses. After a half-century, all I remember about it — in any detail — is our tour guide's account of how a stained glass window narrowly escaped destruction.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Saving the stained glass window was probably...

About a week ago, in a discussion of what's been happening in Vatican City, someone referred to the late Pope Francis as a "commie in a cassock". I hadn't run into that particular phrase, but I'm all too familiar with the attitude. The "commie in a cassock" remark reminded me of the "communist crucifix" incident and material I'd put together, back in 2015, focusing mostly on a "corn altar" in Paraguay. Then another non-crisis popped up, which I'll talk about first. Social Media Highbrow Hijinks?? Nonsense and Perspective The Curious Case of the Communist Crucifix Bolivia, a Superficially Cursory Overview The "Communist Crucifix", "Commie in a Cassock": Really?? Recognizing Realities How I See Diplomatic Gifts Altar de Maiz: Corny? Yes! — Appealing? To Me, Yes!! Photos: Views of the "Altar of Corn" It's Art, It's Sculpture, and Now It's Recycled Pope Leo XIV: ...

More than 130 Cardinals will start voting on who gets Simon Peter's job — the job he had before becoming St. Peter — after Pope Francis, starting next Monday.... Viewpoints and Background Expectations Cardinals: Not Just European The Catholic Church: Unchanging Basics, Changing Details A Millennium of Cardinals: Very Briefly The Last Supper: da Vinci, Dali, and Me Newfangled Architecture, Old-Fashioned Attitudes — — and a Reasonable Request More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (The College of Cardinals, 1050 to now. Paintings by da Vinci and Dali, newfangled architecture. Something I like about being Catholic. A prayer request.)

Pope Francis visited the Vatican's exhibits at an international art show last Sunday. So this week I'll talk about the Venice Biennale, why "With My Eyes" doesn't horrify me, share a couple quotes, and show pictures from "Con i miei occhi". Venice Biennale Arte 2024: Propriety, Changes, and Context Plentiful Protest Possibilities That's Odd: Labels, People, and Art Groucho Marx, Samuel Clemens, and "The Whole Law and the Prophets" "Strangers" and "Foreigners", an Etymological Aside Pop Art, Patriotism, and Perceptions Loving America Anyway Living in Isaiah's World A Glimpse Behind Cattelan's Feet at the Venice Art Biennale "Con i miei occhi" / "With my Eyes" "A City of Refuge", "The World Needs Artists", and Pope Francis Moses, George Washington, and Me Personal Perspective, Catholic Concerns More at A Catholic Citizen in America (Pope Francis...

Whether they're called the Swiss Guard, Papal Swiss Guard, or Pontificia Cohors Helvetica, those 135 men wear what may be today's most colorful full dress uniforms. Although they look like something straight out of the Renaissance, the uniform's not much over a century old. Up until 1914, when Pope St. Pius X died, each pope had tweaked the design a bit. Maybe because our next Pope, Benedict XV, came on duty about the same time that World War I started, the Swiss Guard's then-commander, Jules Repond, did the uniform redesign. Or authorized it, at any rate. I gather that the blue, red, and yellow stripes are Medici family colors. The Basque hat reflects Swiss Guard uniforms painted by Raphael. 1 And none of that's what I was going to be talking about today. Background: Vatican by the Tiber — Popes, 16th Century Politics — And Unpaid Troops May 6, 1527: Death and Honor — Remembering the Rearguard: 147 Against 20,000 — Reputations — And Raphael ...

Here in central Minnesota, palm fronds are part of our Palm Sunday Mass. We generally take them home, fold them into the shape of a cross while they're still green and pliable, and put them somewhere in the home where they'll be visible. Before next year's Lent, we'll return them to the parish church, where they're burned to make ashes for Ash Wednesday. That's the idea, at any rate. Some years, including this one, I forget about bringing last year's back. Letting that upset me is an option. But not, I think, a reasonable one. And that's another topic. Last weekend, my now-grown son asked my wife about the palm fronds he'd brought home from Mass. That reminded me that it's been 11 years since I made a short video, and 10 since I've shared it online. It's a short (4:26) how-2, showing how we fold our fronds. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (How my family folds palm fronds into a Saint Andrews cross, using a lanyard weave....

The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system is news again, this time because we've taken the innermost planet's temperature. That, by itself, isn’t newsworthy. We've been using infrared observations to learn how hot exoplanets are at least since 2006. 1 What makes the latest observations special is that they’re the first time scientists have measured a comparatively small, cool exoplanet's temperature.That's what I'll be talking about this week, along with whatever else comes to mind. Top Three Multiplanetary Systems Solar System Kepler-90 Planetary System, Upsilon Andromedae d and back to TRAPPIST-1 Taking TRAPPIST-1 b's Temperature With Webb’s MIRI Blackbody Radiation, Red Stars and Astronomical Art Thermal Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe! Star Light, Star Not-So-Bright Coming Next Week: Possible Interiors of TRAPPIST-1's Planets More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (JWST takes temperature of TRAPPIST-1 b: the first detection of ...

Caligula is currently famous, or infamous, for being a stark-raving-mad monster with no redeeming qualities. Although scholars have been acknowledging that we don't actually know much about him. I'm not about to try rehabilitating Caligula's image. But I've got suspicions about what the third Roman emperor was really like. I'll get back to that. But first, I'll take a brisk slog through some of what Tacitus and Suetonius had to say about Caligula; followed by a bit about statues, art and post-Renaissance preferences. And finally, what folks like Caligula and Nero were doing in the Pax Romana. That's the idea, at any rate. Caligula: Little Boots and Rumors Ancient Sculptures: In Living Color Analysis of a Caligula Bust Scrubbing Statues, Chromophobia, Beeldenstorm Tiberius Gracchus and Caligula: Enemies of the Status Quo Julius Caesar, Caligula and Nero: a Possible Pattern Good Intentions: Julius Caesar and Caligula Pax Romana: A Durable ...

I'll be sharing some very odd 19th century Christmas cards today. And rambling a bit about holidays, history and whatever else comes to mind. Briefly, for me. Christmas and New Year's Eve: a Double-Header Solstice Celebration Many if not all folks who experience non-equatorial seasons where they live have some sort of winter solstice celebration. My native culture has two: Christmas and New Year's Eve. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (My winter solstice celebrations, holiday greetings from the ISS, strange Victorian greeting cards and the first Christmas card.)

My culture's Christmas season begins with Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Our traditionally-frenzied holiday shopping season does, at any rate. That's not a particularly good thing, considering what stress can do to folks. On the other hand, America's shopping frenzy inspired "I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas." I'll be talking about that, more-or-less-recent news, and events we're still celebrating, two millennia later.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Recent news, holiday stress and a hipster nativity. Yogi Yorgesson and C. S. Lewis: views regarding Christmas. Joseph, Mary and decisions.)

NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) December 25, 2021. By July of 2022, the JWST had settled into position at the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point: about 1,500,000 kilometers, 930,000 miles from Earth. Then, after deploying its heat shields and mirrors, the JWST started sending back remarkable images. 1 And, even more remarkable, it was still called the James Webb Space Telescope. I've no idea why NASA didn't admit their mistake and submit an acceptable name. Particularly when 'everybody knows' that James Webb was one of THOSE people: More at A Catholic Citizen in America . The James Webb Space Telescope is still named after a NASA chief, despite protests. This week I talk about how America has changed since my youth. Except for how it hasn't.

It's Thanksgiving Day, here in America. This year I'll be talking about the Two Turkeys: and reviewing their last few years. Well, I hope these aren't their last few years. Let's say their most recent years. Yes, that's much better. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . My Two (fictional) Turkeys: from their appearance in 2010 to this Thanksgiving, including their pictures from 2015 to today.

It's been a while since I talked about what I'm doing here and why I'm doing it. And even longer since I talked about Nancy H. C. Ward's "Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story: Tools, Tips, and Testimonies." The book's a big deal for me, since it's the first time I wrote for the Red River Valley Historical Society’s Heritage Press that I've had an in-print byline. More to the point, as Lisa Hendey said, it's "an enjoyable template for the challenge of evangelization." So today I'll talk about social media, evangelization, science, history, art, "Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story" and why I post something here weekly. Not necessarily in that order. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Being evangelical but not an Evangelical. Options and opportunities. Social media: good and bad news. Evangelism: a DIY book. Attitudes, ideas and me.

Our Lady of the Angels (OLA) in Sauk Centre, Minnesota: northwest entrance. (September 20, 2022) "First, the good news. As far as I know, nobody got hurt during last weekend's incident. "That much I could tell from what wasn't in a metro area station's news item...." One statue tipped, urine on the carpet, a damaged cross. The Saturday morning trashing spree showed lack of respect for the folks in this parish. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From Birczanin, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) If no news is good news, then there's good news from Manyava, Ukraine. Or maybe it's Maniava. I've seen both transliterations of Манява. In Polish, I gather that it's Maniawa.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A look at the Bohorodchany Iconostasis, a masterpiece of Baroque art; its travels from 1698 to the present, and Ukrainian history.)

(From Gustave Doré, via Library of Congress, used w/o permission.) I'll be talking about ADHD, PDD, PTSD, ASD and me; and what that alphabet-soup assortment of acronyms means. But first, a spot of poetry. "...Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had tried to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—...." (" The Raven ," Edgar Allen Poe (1884) via Wikipedia) Fast-forward 35 years — More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; used w/o permission.) That's the great hall in Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle, a 13-room dollhouse in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. The museum's online exhibit page for the great hall opens with something that's not in the room: " ...the good fairy welcoming you to Fairyland.... " But I'll start with that sweeping staircase: which has no railing. It's not a design flaw. Colleen Moore and the folks who created this dollhouse imagined that fairies lived there. The tiny little winged fairies that became my culture's default version of the fair folk in Victorian times, and that's another topic. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

(From Ken Eckert, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) A year and three weeks ago, I started writing about Marlowe's "Faustus" play: "The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus." Three months later, I'd finished three more. Then in May, 2021, "Faustus" moved to my mind's back burner; before falling off the metaphorical stove.... ...Last April, I said I'd probably look at Faust’s GOOD ANGEL and EVIL ANGEL," the prince of parma," and maybe grapes next time; so that's where I'll pick up. Taking those items in reverse order —... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has survived Louis XIV-style redecorating, the French Revolution, Napoleon and 19th-century remodeling. I'm pretty sure it will survive repair and reconstruction, following the April 16, 2021, fire. Notre-Dame de Paris is Burning (From Getty Images, via BBC News, used w/o permission.) Somewhere between 6:50 p.m., Paris time, and 7:18 p.m., April 15, 2019, something caught fire under the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .