National Catholic Register Bloggers feed from Simcha Fisher

Just Pray.

2012-02-24

By Simcha Fisher | I hate to tell you this, but you’re going to have to pray today. Any Lenten penance you’re doing—any fasting, any sacrifice, any alsmgiving, any good works —these are all very well. But if you’re not praying regularly, all your efforts are like buying someone a present, wrapping it carefully with a big, beautiful bow, and then …

A Non-Catholic's Guide to Lenten Weirdness

2012-02-23

By Simcha Fisher | Maybe we are all Catholics now, and maybe we aren’t. For those of us who really still aren’t, things suddenly got weird yesterday, starting with an epidemic of poor forehead hygiene among Catholic co-workers. If you did the polite thing by licking your thumb and trying to clean off that smudge, you may not have been properly …

Eight Lessons of Pregnancy that Everyone—Yes, Everyone!—Can Use

2012-02-21

By Simcha Fisher | My baby is now 2 ½ months old. She is a delightful baby, completely charming, very friendly, healthy, lovely, and undemanding. The pregnancy, however, was horrible. Granted, I only have eight other pregnancies to compare it with, but this one was really outstandingly wretched. Nothing went wrong—but nothing went right, either. People were actually in awe of …

Keep Coming Back to It

2012-02-17

By Simcha Fisher | A reader writes: I read your post about the mother with only one child, and there was a line it it that hit WAY too close to home, and I was wondering if you could give me some practical advice for overcoming this in my own marriage: “My husband didn’t know how to help me. I didn’t …

What Do Single People Need From the Church?

2012-02-16

By Simcha Fisher | It’s been an unpleasant week for single laymen, I’ve heard. Valentine’s Day and World Marriage Day, and even the current battle over the contraception mandate—all have love and marriage, or at least fertility, at the center of the conversation. But even at other times of the year, the Church in America is extremely family-centered. There are countless …

How To Date Your Wife

2012-02-14

By Simcha Fisher | Oh, aren’t I lucky? Last year, I got to write a post on Good Friday. This year, it’s Valentine’s Day. Different decor, same general atmosphere: suffering and tears, remorse and reparations. At least on Good Friday, you don’t have a bunch of single people watching you suffer and saying, “Oh my gosh, you’re so lucky!” Cream of …

Fight Globally, Be At Peace Locally

2012-02-10

By Simcha Fisher | Ha, we thought it was a big deal when the new translation of the liturgy came out. Remember how worked up Catholics got? Then, like a one-two punch, came the Komen debacle and the HHS contraception mandate. Catholics who are plugged into Catholic news all day long might feel like we’ve spent the last few years carefully …

Mama's Day: the Soundtrack

2012-02-9

By Simcha Fisher | It’s not that I have anything against Burl Ives. “The Wayfaring Stranger” is a very fine album, and I’m happy to have exposed my children to the rich smorgasbord of folk music Mr. Ives shares with us. On the other hand, I now have a DIN tool. With it, I intend to pry the entire stereo out …

In Training

2012-02-7

By Simcha Fisher | A couple of guys were chatting as they waited for their sons’ turns at Supercut. I was waiting, too, and tuned them out until I heard one say enthusiastically, “Hey, there’s a new place over on Water Street that does prostate!” “Awesome!” crowed the other. “I’m really into prostate, but I wasn’t crazy about the facility I …

Why I'm Donating to Susan G. Komen - UPDATED

2012-02-3

By Simcha Fisher | UPDATE: Well, Komen has caved into the thugs. Sorry to hear it. James Taranto in the WSJ called it yesterday when he said, Planned Parenthood’s bitter campaign against Komen—aided by left-liberal activists and media—is analogous to a protection racket: Nice charity you’ve got there. It’d be a shame if anything happened to it. The message to other …

Just a Reminder

2012-02-2

By Simcha Fisher | Have you been watching the news? It’s hard to tell, in the last month, whether to weep or rejoice. On one hand, every drive down the road, with its bedraggled array of mud-spattered campaign signs, is a dreary reminder of our damp and dismal choices for the next four years. We can’t remember the last time there …

What's Your Apology Policy?

2012-01-31

By Simcha Fisher | To those of you who never offend anyone: read no more. This is not the post for you. For those, however, who go through life like some kind of possessed windmill that’s come unmoored from its foundations and goes blundering across the landscape, whacking and smacking and swinging indiscriminately, leaving wreckage and pain in its path: Hello. …

Ten Reasons There Are No Women in Hell

2012-01-27

By Simcha Fisher | Every month or so, I check my blog stats, and discover that someone who ... well, someone who is not like me finds my blog by searching for some variation on the phrase, “women who have gone to hell for wearing trousers.” Now, I’ve seen Pulp Fiction, too. I know what the Lord says about those who …

Talk to Your Mother!

2012-01-26

By Simcha Fisher | Popular science has a lot to say about mothers and children lately. (Or maybe it’s just like when you buy a new car, and suddenly you see that model everywhere—maybe it’s just me!) There was this lovely little piece about what happens when a mother and her infant smile at each other. According to Science Now, A …

Bene, bene, bene

2012-01-24

By Simcha Fisher | Occasionally, you’ll hear about a child named “Princess” or “Precious” or even “Perfect.” Makes you cringe, but anyone with a beloved new baby will understand the impulse, if not the offense against taste and common sense: You want to make an official record of the fact that you love your child. You want to imprint the little …