Busted Halo

Kill Adolf

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:42:12 +0000

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if you hadn’t taken that job, or gone to that school, or moved to that neighborhood? In other words: what if you were living in an alternative reality? Alternative history is a genre with a long pedigree, especially in the realm of science fiction. After all, who can [...]

Reduce Your Energy Consumption

Rebecca Barnes-Davies — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:48:50 +0000

Many of us grew up being told to turn off the lights when we leave a room or to not hold the refrigerator door open while looking for a snack. While small, these and other suggestions to conserve energy are still important. Those who have taken any of the various online "ecological footprint" quizzes have learned that it would take four to ten Earths if everyone were to consume energy the way a middle-class American does. Knowing that we only have one Earth, and that most of our energy right now comes from nonrenewable, unsustainable sources, it is essential that we learn the most important ways to reduce our personal energy consumption. Small commitments add up...

M.E. and Me

Carolyn J. Martone — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:12:57 +0000

Growing up, I was mortified by my parents’ public displays of religion. I’m still convinced that from the years of 1982 to 1986 my parents were part of a cult; others called it “Marriage Encounter.” One fateful Friday afternoon in 1980, they packed one suitcase and prepared to leave for the first of many retreat weekends; [...]

Dharma in Action

Shawna Kenney — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:23:32 +0000

Heidi Minx’s tattoo-inspired clothing and styles have been featured by Spencer’s Gifts and peta2, on snowboards, guitars and the bodies of rock musicians worldwide, but lately the New York-based merchandising maven has her designs on matters of the heart. After working with Tibetan refugees in India last year, Minx launched the nonprofit organization, Built on [...]

The Reluctant Patriot

Ginny Kubitz Moyer — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:41:39 +0000

At 2 years old, my son is already a patriot. This began around his first birthday, when he developed a massive love for flags. Every time we passed one on our walks, he’d point straight at it, his face lit up. This past Fourth of July, when a local realtor stuck business-card-bearing flags into every lawn [...]

Lorna Byrne and the Angels in Her Hair

Mirlande Jeanlouis — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:20:40 +0000

What if your closest friends were angels from Heaven? For one Irish mystic, that has been the truth since birth. Lorna Byrne describes a life filled with heavenly beings in the book Angels in My Hair, which has spent many weeks atop the bestseller lists of the United Kingdom and Ireland. In her memoir — recently [...]

Jon and Kate + Commiserate

Dr. Christine B. Whelan — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:31:15 +0000

Recently, I’ve been tuning in to Jon & Kate Plus Eight at the gym. I watch on the sly like I’d rubberneck on the highway: The crash is too gory to view directly, but I can’t take my eyes off the drama. Some research suggests viewers watch reality TV because deep down they believe, someday, [...]

Busted: Anthony Michael Hall

Dave Dwyer, CSP — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:29:48 +0000

Anthony Michael Hall got his big break as an actor when he was cast as Rusty in the family road trip movie Vacation, followed closely by three seminal films from the 80s: 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science. He was then the youngest cast member ever on Saturday Night Live. He also bullied [...]

A Comedy of Biblical Proportions

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:25:36 +0000

Sunday school just got a lot more interesting. The new movie Year One is an Old Testament version of the classic Monty Python comedy The Life of Brian. Now, for some people, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. Not everybody approved of the Pythons’ outrageous spoof of Biblical epics, which featured something to offend everyone. Yet, [...]

Mind, Body and the Bubble on my Bellybutton

Richard G. Malloy, SJ — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:00:52 +0000

When Dr. Hill removed his future son-in-law’s ruptured appendix two weeks before the wedding, it gave me a great line for the homily: “Salim is the only guy in history who is happy to see his father-in-law coming toward him with a knife.” It also gave me confidence in surgery. As I watched Salim and [...]

What Works: Sun Worship

Phil Fox Rose — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:38:13 +0000

Summer is upon us, and the other day when I read Therese Borchard's post on Beliefnet about how lack of sun exposure has led to a Vitamin D deficiency crisis across this country, it struck me: Our bodies are designed to need sun. Is that a hint or what? We are built to be outside.

As I write this just before Father's Day, I am reminded that my atheist dad gave me my first spiritual experiences by sharing his love of natural wonders. Despite growing up in New York City, I saw Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, Banff and the Redwoods, the Smoky Mountains and the Rockies; flash floods in the Western deserts, a hurricane on Cape Hatteras.

I didn't know it at the time, and my father wouldn't have thought about it in these terms, but I was being introduced to the wonder of God. While it's more important to see that of God in the everyday, it helps to be hit over the head every once in a while with the awesomeness of Creation. [...]

Father’s Day

Trish Muyco-Tobin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:03:20 +0000

Fathers: They’re revered, adored and at times feared — even despised. No matter how you see your dad, you can’t argue with the fact that the way he fathered impacts your idea of family. Anthropologist Don Conway-Long is fascinated with the shifting role of fathers in an ever-changing world. He teaches courses on gender and critical [...]

Busted: The Stoning of Soraya M.

Bill McGarvey — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:33:48 +0000

In the few days since we published our interview with Jim Caviezel, events surrounding the election in Iran have added special resonance to his new film, The Stoning of Soraya M. (opens June 26). In the movie, based on an actual event that occurred in Iran in 1986, an Iranian woman is the lone voice [...]

Salt of the Earth

Christine Venzon — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:41:57 +0000

A friend once told me, with a girlish smile, that when she receives Communion, she is so moved by the thought that our Lord gave his life for her, “Sometimes, I kiss him.” I’ll admit: the idea of kissing the Eucharist struck me as a little… weird. Still, I envied my friend her intimacy with the [...]

Busted: Jim Caviezel

Bill McGarvey — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:19:02 +0000

Being at the center of one of the highest grossing movies of all time can be both a blessing and a curse for an actor. The world now recognizes their name and face, but a role can be so iconic that they’ll have trouble breaking free of it in audiences’ minds (Mark Hamill as Luke [...]

The Velveteen Rabbit

The Editors — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:52:03 +0000

Episode #9 — The Velveteen Rabbit Want to see more? Watch other episodes of “The Princess, The Priest and the War for the Perfect Wedding”. Send us your questions! We encourage you to email us questions, or record a short video with your question and send it to us. If we use your video in a future episode, [...]

Part 1: Jesus’ Loneliness & Love & The Da Vinci Code

Bill McGarvey — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:11:23 +0000

In late 2005, novelist Anne Rice stopped by BustedHalo’s® offices in New York to promote her book Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt, the first installment in her planned four-part “autobiography” of Jesus. What was supposed to be a brief interview with the legendary author—who has sold more than 100 million books worldwide—turned into a [...]

Confession 101 - part two

A Googling God Feature — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:45:33 +0000

Busted Halo® looks at the Sacrament of Reconciliation from the perspective of the seeker who has been thinking about confession. In part one of Confession 101, we looked at the initial steps you take before the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In part two, Father Dave Dwyer, CSP, walks us through the four essential elements of [...]

Brooklyn Currents

The Editors — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:19:07 +0000

The Diocese of Brooklyn’s newly revamped cable channel, NET (New Evangelization Television) recently started the first daily Catholic news television program entitled Currents. Deacon Greg Kandra — a 26-year veteran writer and producer for CBS News and a contributor to Busted Halo — now serves as the channel’s news director. He invited senior editor Mike [...]

Mobile Devotional

Myisha Cherry — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:58:29 +0000

My life is quite busy. By day, I am an educator for young people and adults caught up in the criminal justice system. By night, I am a freelance writer. By vocation, I am an ordained minister seeking to reach the world in nontraditional ways. And by age, I am a thirtysomething New Yorker trying [...]

What Works: Spiritual Recovery

Phil Fox Rose — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:30:06 +0000

If you are an alcoholic or addict, being spiritually unfit can be fatal. If not literally fatal then, as in my case, a living death — one definition of Hell is being alive and active in this world, feeling separated from God. And I spent years there. But today I live — and have for [...]

Interfaith Marriage… What about the kids?

The Editors — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:20:39 +0000

Episode #8 — Interfaith Marriage… What about the kids? NEXT WEEK: The Princess, The Priest and… The Velveteen Rabbit?! Want to see more? Watch other episodes of “The Princess, The Priest and the War for the Perfect Wedding” here. Special thanks to Rabbi Jill Hausman of The Actors Temple, NYC. Contact her at cantorweddings.com Send us your questions! We encourage [...]

A Queer Conversation

Bill McGarvey — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:27:21 +0000

Growing up just south of Los Angeles, Sr. Bernadette (Mary) Reis would see her cousin Paul Mages when her family took vacation trips to visit his family in the Milwaukee area. For the first 25 years after she entered the convent with the Daughters of St. Paul at the age of 14, Sr. Bernadette and [...]

Balancing Act

Dr. Christine B. Whelan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:55:39 +0000

For the last six months, I’ve been busier than usual with work. In January and February, I was promoting my new book Marry Smart and some new findings in mate-preferences research just in time for Valentine’s Day. All the while, I was teaching more than 200 students in two classes at the University of Iowa, [...]

Can We Have An Interfaith Wedding?

The Editors — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:18:07 +0000

Episode #7 — Can we have an interfaith wedding? NEXT WEEK: Interfaith marriage — What about the kids? Want to see more? Watch other episodes of “The Princess, The Priest and the War for the Perfect Wedding” here. Special thanks to Rabbi Jill Hausman of The Actors Temple, NYC. Contact her at www.cantorweddings.com/ Send us your questions! We encourage you [...]

Unkosher Sex

Monica Rozenfeld — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:40:41 +0000

What does it mean to religiously attend church, temple or synagogue, live in a community where G-d’s laws are first and foremost, and then deliberately go on the internet in order to break one of the most sacred of commandments: Thou shall not commit adultery? It is no surprise that the internet has become an [...]

What Works: Radical Honesty

Phil Fox Rose — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:42:51 +0000

I always considered myself honest, and I had a lot of pride attached to that. I had a boss once who would stare you in the eye and just flat-out lie — I mean on the level of “The sky is green.” — daring you to challenge him. No one would, and we’d move forward [...]

Farewell Meat Market Mass

Max Lindenman — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:27:34 +0000

I attend church in a left-leaning parish that specializes in outreach services to students at the local university. It succeeds so well that every Sunday night at 7 p.m., the place turns into Studio 54 — a magnet for coltish, confident, overachieving young Catholics who glow as though someone tossed them into a swimming pool filled [...]

Why Can’t We Get Married To The Beatles?

The Editors — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:56:05 +0000

Episode #6 — Why Can’t We Get Married To The Beatles? NEXT WEEK: Can we have an interfaith wedding? Want to see more? Watch other episodes of “The Princess, The Priest and the War for the Perfect Wedding” here. Send us your questions! We encourage you to email us questions, or record a short video with your question [...]

5 Ways To Vacation During The Summer Economic Meltdown

Mike Hayes — Fri, 22 May 2009 04:30:30 +0000

The unofficial start of summer usually begins with barbecues, a long weekend away, visiting relatives, or heading to a beach town to visit your summer share cottage. Whatever your choice has been in the past, this year’s dreadful economy is bound to make at least some, if not most, of us reevaluate our summer vacation [...]