Ash Wednesday: Fast, Pray, Give

BustedHalo® expands their Daily Jolt feature every Lent to what they cleverly call Fast, Pray, Give...to reflect the three tenets of Lent: Fasting, Prayer and Almsgiving. Each day you get an inspirational quote followed by 3 things to try to integrate into your Lenten practice.

Some examples of our FastPrayGive Daily Jolts are listed below:

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fast from thoughtlessness.
Pray for one minute on the gifts or the people in your life you have been given that you sometimes take for granted.
Give by going out of your way to offer a genuine compliment to someone you encounter and perform one small act of kindness.

“There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.”
–John Wooden, UCLA Coach

Fast from breakfast and dinner today.
Pray for those who miss breakfast and dinner every day.
Give the cost of those two meals (at least $10) to your FastPrayGive Bowl. (Your FastPrayGive Bowl is a container you’ve set aside to hold the money saved from various fasting challenges, to be used for whatever charity you choose at the end of Lent.)

You can contribute some of your own as well. dailyjolt@bustedhalo.com

Do it now.

Haiti: Moving Towards Hope and Away From Pat Robertson's God

Joe Paprocki, Fr. Rick Malloy and myself collaborated on an article for BustedHalo® responding to Pat Robertson's comments on the Haiti earthquake resulting from God's wrath. A snip:

When we look for God in this tragedy we have no further place to look than the faith of the Haitian people — a religious people, to be sure — to give us a glimpse of where God truly can be found. After 11 days, a man named Wismond Exantus was pulled from the rubble, surviving on small snacks and drinks from the hotel’s gift shop that collapsed all around him. When a large group of Haitian people heard about the possibility that someone might still be alive beneath the rocks they gathered somehow, still hopeful, despite all that they had been through.

Would any of us have that same kind of faith?

This is also the faith of the people we see in Scripture. The religious battle, in matters of tragedy, is not between a vengeful God and his faithless creatures; rather, it is between faith and hopelessness. While it is true that Scripture cites examples of God’s response to sin being characterized as wrath, it is also true that often God is also persuaded to relent from unleashing His wrath, as when Moses interceded for the Jewish people after they idolized a golden calf (Exodus 32: 1-14). Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God’s wrath and mercy always go hand in hand, with expressions of love, mercy and forgiveness far surpassing those of anger. Despite the popular notion that the God of the Old Testament is an angry God, His own people – Israel – continually characterize God as “slow to anger.” More importantly, Scripture reveals to us that whenever God’s people turn away from their sins, God is quick to show mercy. God is always trying to set the world right, out of love for us, though we never really seem to get it all right anyway.

Hopelessness is the place where the evil one hopes to lead us when disaster strikes and our sins take hold of us. And yet, God stays faithful to Israel, even when they disobey him. Israel in turn, returns to faithful practice, despite their faith being tested by exile and slavery. In the book of Job, Job stays faithful to God, refusing to believe that God would smite him for nothing. This sinless man believed and his glimmer of hope in God’s faithfulness is enough to triumph.

Read more here and continue to pray for those who lost their lives and who try to recover from the earthquake in Haiti.

The Gospel According to Blog

America Magazine's Fr James Martin, S.J. blogged on the Pope's Message for the World Day of Communications today in which he essentially encourages us to blog the gospel.

This is an essential message for all those in the Catholic church who disparage new media. About ten years ago I remember speaking with a long-time observer of the Catholic church, and asking why so few Catholic leaders--especially some in the hierarchy at the time--seemed to have so little to say about television. "They don't watch it," he said bluntly. It was infra dig. That was pretty shocking, and it reminded me of someone who told me that those who proudly say that they don't watch television are actually saying that they know nothing about the culture in which we live.

Today the same could be said about the new media--the Internet, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. Some of these developments, to be sure, are a mixed bag, a blessing and a curse, to borrow from Scripture. (What man-made creation isn't?) The Internet, which boasts Wikipedia and thousands of sites for reputable news sources, can sometimes seem like Newton Minow's famous "vast wasteland," filled with hate-filled blogs and, well, pornography. (One of the most popular songs from the musical "Avenue Q" is "The Internet is for Porn.") Youtube, a marvelous place to find clips of movies and songs that you thought you'd never see or hear again, is also the home of, well, more porn. Facebook, a terrific way to keep up with friends and trade photos, is also the originator of the minute-by-minute account from "friends" telling you that they're cleaning their bathroom.

But guess what? That's where people are congregating today and if we want to emulate Jesus we should remember that he went out to see people, rather than simply letting them come to him. (He did some of the latter, but much more of the former.) The history of Christianity is in large part the history of the church using to great effect the latest media, sometimes even inventing media, to evangelize.

Read the whole thing as Fr Jim essentially gives a history of Saints who use modern methods of communication for their time.

Fr. Frank Desiderio, CSP who ran Paulist Productions for many years once told me that we're really extending the message of Jesus when we use media. Jesus used the media of his day: itinerant preaching--parables or story telling, if you will. St. Paul was a letter writer and Paulist Founder and now Servant of God, Isaac Hecker was a publisher. So blogs like this one and sites like BustedHalo® are simply doing what Jesus and his followers have always done.

So blog the gospel, facebook the psalms and tweet Catholic social teaching because there is where the message of Jesus needs to be most alive.

A h/t to the Jewish Journal for the pic and to America Magazine.

The Faithful Departed

BustedHalo® has begun it's annual series on those who have passed away this year and Marc D. Adams reflected on Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart beautifully.

It was just the beginning of the season… the April dew still lingered on the short blades of grass, the electricity and excitement for a year full of potential filled the air, and just a few hours earlier, a young Angel pitcher by the name of Nick Adenhart had thrown six shut out innings in his season debut. The future was bright. The baseball world was his oyster. And then came the crash.

Nick Adenhart, 22, and two others tragically died in a car accident last April when a drunk driver blew through a red light and struck their vehicle with maximum force. It happened hours after Adenhart took to the field in just his fourth Major League start ever. He had achieved his dream of playing baseball at the highest level. But his family has been living a nightmare every day since.

How could someone so young be taken from this earth so soon? If I am to believe that everything happens for a reason (which I do) what possible reason could there be for this? They’re the kind of questions that only God can truly answer and any answers that do come seem wholly inadequate.

Check out the rest of the article and more from the faithful departed series as the week goes on.

Leaving: Harder Than I Thought...

Cleaning an office of nine years of work, memories and "general-crap-I've-accumulated" is not that easy--phyiscally or emotionally. I've found myself overwhelmed by the sheer piles of boxes in my home and office and the things that I've found that have brought back jarring memories. These include:

-The first drafts for what we thought Busted Halo® should be.

- My original proposals for the Paulist Young Adult Ministry. (Which included website, radio and retreat ministry--check!)

- Original book manuscripts for Googling God with notes scribbled on them by the now, deceased Fr Michael Hunt, CSP (sniff) who many of you knew as the blogger, Westside Paulist.

- One ring pop. (Which my wife gave me after I proposed to her as her engagement ring to me--she even got down on one knee!).

- Signs and assorted notes from the BustedHalo.com® launch party (which after that I was banned from ever doing any artwork by Fr Brett Hoover, CSP, our original director and a genius who just finished his doctoral degree at Berkeley.

- Two old cell phones (recycle!)

- Lots of old pictures. Including the first picture anyone ever took of Marion and I.

- Old reel to reel tape from my college days (I haven't figured out why I'm saving those exactly).

- Retreat memories (I will miss the Oak Ridge Retreat Center very much).

It looks like I will retain some role with BustedHalo.com® from afar. I'll let you know what that is when it becomes official.

It's been so hard to say good bye and I know tomorrow will be a celebration of 9 years of accomplishment and joy---but I am really gonna cry from start to finish. No surprise there for those who know me well, but still, I may set a new record. Buy your kleenex stock now!

We are off to do two final Busted Halo podcasts today. Yikes. 217 podcasts! Out of the Haze will become it's own podcast soon (Maybe even a video cast!).

Keep me in your prayers for transition.

Should you turn off the news?

Phil Fox Rose thinks so and says so in this article on BustedHalo.

I made the following comment:

What if the news makes you more sensitive to the plight and hardship that others face? I agree that CERTAIN people should turn off the news if it makes you more hardened of heart but what if it has the opposite effect as well?

Secondly, would you consider something like “The Daily Show” news?

Phil doesn't seem to think that this is the case. Is it irresponsible to not keep up with the news? Phil thinks so but also states that you don't have to watch the hogwash that is your local TV news.

Of course, there are times when one should pay attention to the news. When there is literally a crisis occurring, it might be helpful. When there is a national issue in which your input is possible, such as elections, or something like the current health care debate, you want to play your part. But these are specific issues for which you can tune in or visit websites at specific times. Or at least you can watch the news only while these situations are occurring.

Any thoughts? What does the evening news do to you? Or do you get all your news from Facebook and Twitter?

Busted Halo® Digital Pilgrimage

Have you seen these? This is my favorite episode of these videos. Check them all out here

Shuffling Off to Buffalo After 9 Awesome Years

It is with mixed emotions that I announce that after 9 years I have decided to leave Busted Halo® full-time to focus on more direct ministry with young adults as a Campus Minister at St Joseph's University Parish (pictured above) which also serves as the Newman Center for SUNY Buffalo.

The move comes after much reflection over the past few years on my part, on what my own gifts and talents are and how I can best use them to serve the church. I found that doing retreats, spiritual direction with young adults and preaching were where I found the most life in ministry and while spending a good deal of time working on Busted Halo's® Catechetical section, the podcast and speaking around the country, I've felt like I need to test many of the ideas in my book with a particular community. When St Joseph's approached me, I was intrigued by the idea of working at a Univeristy Parish and with the biggest school in the state and moving to a new place that is not that far away from family and friends and yet, still a new adventure where I can grow as a minister.

Busted Halo® and I are talking about how I can continue to contribute to their ministry from Buffalo despite moving on from full time status, something I am open to pursuing and that I think has mutual benefits for all involved. I will remain in New York for the next month or so, finishing up some projects with Busted Halo® and chairing the Sapientia et Doctrina dinner for Fordham's Graduate School of Religion. I will also direct NCYAMA's National Listening Session Project for the next 3 years and remain on the board for the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham where we are planning a major conference on the transition between college and young adult life in June 2010.

Naturally, I'll also remain on the conference circuit as a speaker...so keep those invites coming.

St Joseph's is a great community! I attended mass their last Sunday and was really impressed by their community's atmosphere. I join their staff with some familiar faces nearby. The great Patty Bubar Spear is the youth minister on staff and we know each other from the conference circuit. Ann Marie Eckert is on the staff of the Center for Ministry Development and she rents office space at the parish and has been a great friend for some time as well. So this is hardly foreign territory for me.


I'm excited for a new challenge! Fr. Dave Dwyer, Busted Halo's® director is happy that I am moving into something that reflects my own pastoral gifts and I have received many touching letters from a lot of my Paulist friends who have and always will mean the world to me. I know that the spirit of Paulist Founder Isaac Hecker will always live in my heart and that I will remain "a Paulist" forever. I owe those men everything. They have made me all that I am as a minister and they trusted me with a project that was a new venture and I am proud of the success that Busted Halo® has become and confident that it will remain the industry standard for young adult evangelization.

Special thanks go to the many Paulists and lay associates who I have worked alongside for so many years especially, Fr Brett Hoover, CSP who founded the ministry with me 9 years ago and remains one of my closest friends and colleagues. Bill McGarvey, who knows how to run a magazine better than anyone I know took the reigns of Busted Halo® and deserves much credit for its continued success. Fr Dave Dwyer, CSP, whose gifts of enthusiasm, broadcasting, and good humor (along with an infectious laugh) have made him one of the more prolific figures in the American priesthood today has become someone who I have been so gifted to work alongside. Fr Frank DeSiano, CSP, who hired me for the position of Associate Director, when he was Paulist President provided early leadership and had the insight for the Paulists to enter the world of young adult ministry. He then gave Fr. Brett and I a lot of freedom to experiment and try something new and creative. The current Paulist President Fr John Duffy, CSP helped me gain more education at Fordham and was always more than supportive of us.

To the great staff at the Graduate School of Relgion at Fordham, especially Fr Tony Ciorra and Dr Kieran Scott, your support produced much fruit in the publication of the book, Googling God. Without Fr. John's generosity and Fordham's pushing I never would have been able to write the book, nor would these posts exist. Fr Michael Hunt, CSP and Fr Michael Kerrigan, CSP also helped shepherd the book into it's final form. Fr Hunt did not live to see the book published but I know that he was proud of the project and he was a great supporter who I owe a great debt of gratitude. Rest in peace, Michael.

Two new colleagues, Brittany Janis and Jarrad Venegas made Busted Halo® an even harder place to leave. I will miss working alongside them so much each day, but I know we will keep in touch from afar. Jeff Guhin always made me laugh whenever I was in his presence and will soon become Yale's most prolific sociologist. Our Googling God experts made me look good and make my job easy as the editor of the Question Box: Ginny Kubitz Moyer, Fr Thomas Ryan, CSP, Rachel Bundang, Fr Rick Malloy, SJ and Joe Paprocki --you are all so gifted and talented as teachers of the faith in a new technological age.

For those of you who led Busted Halo® retreats...thank you, thank you thank you. You have given me much strength over the years. Special thanks to Andrea Spooner who led more retreats than anyone just because I asked her. My Chicago colleagues at Charis Retreats, Michael Sparough, SJ, Jenene Francis (now a bigwig at the province), Lauren Gaffey, Lauren Burke and Briana Colton--thanks for your support. We'll keep the retreats going in Buffalo!

And to those who I served on the board with at NCYAMA, most especially to Paul Jarzembowski and Michelle Miller who served as Executive Directors and Sr. Eileen McCann and Barbara Anderson who were USCCB liaisons, there's nobody better in the biz than y'all.

As for this blog, it will continue. Perhaps more in the morning hours when students are in class (or sleeping off the partying!), or as time allows in general. But I will not leave you orphans!

For all who have supported me for the past 9 years, I have no other words but "thank you." My wife and biggest fan, Marion has shared me with all of you and we are both looking forward to a new life together in Buffalo where she and our dog, Haze, will share me with 27,000 students, half of whom share our Catholic faith! Without Marion, I am truly nothing.

It will be, and has been, an adventure in which much love to the world of young adults has been fulfilled in Christ.

Please keep us in your prayers and pray for the possible Sainthood of Fr Hecker as that process continues for my brother Paulists.

Good Sax is Hard to Find...

...but Deanna Witkowski knows her jazz and is simply an awesome singer. Bill McGarvey talks with her in depth on faith, music and the intersection between the two.

A snip from the interview on the mix..

Pianist-composer-vocalist Deanna Witkowski’s dual paths of disciplined jazz musician and person of faith converge in her fourth recording, the genre-defying From This Place. Marrying ancient and modern sacred texts with the richness of jazz, it is her most honest and soulful work....

BH: We talk a lot at Busted Halo about making the connection between the sacred and the secular. Can you talk about why you don’t see a great wall between the sacred and the secular in terms of your own faith?

DW: I think for me, my experience with God comes from music and it is not necessarily music with any text in it. It can be when I’m sitting down and trying to compose something but more so when I’m playing with my small group like the trio or quartet and there is such intense listening going on since we have played together for years and years and years and years. That sort of sets the stage for moments when you are outside yourself. People don’t necessarily articulate that this is God’s presence coming through but for me it kind of is — it’s being in community and all working for one common thing which is to present music as purely as we can. For me it is similar to prayer when I am just trying to sit and listen to God. I think it is also because the thing that I have found more and more lately is that I love the guys in my band — we are just a community. So it is very much like church in a way.

“My experience with God comes from music and it is not necessarily music with any text in it. It can be when I’m sitting down and trying to compose something but, moreso, when I’m playing with my small group like the trio or quartet and there is such intense listening going on… it’s being in community and all working for one common thing which is to present music as purely as we can. For me it is similar to prayer when I am just trying to sit and listen to God.”
When I’m doing the sacred music it’s easy because it all has text, so I’m really trying to think of ways to bring out the text — let’s say, like a mass setting or some kind of 19th century hymn text — and completely resetting it. That’s been a different experience, but I still feel like its God just having things come out in a different way. For example, for Protestants, I have one song on the CD of a hymn text called “Take My Life and Let It Be,” and everyone knows one tune that goes with that text — especially because many hymns are strophic (meaning every time you hear it there are regular four bar phrases and you know what’s coming.) I try and make it more unpredictable and in some way it makes people have a more emotional connection and a deeper connection with the music.

BH: I’m sure it’s near impossible to articulate but can you try to talk a little bit about those moments?

DW: I think sometimes there are things that are happening that everybody knows, like, for instance, this might not be a transcendant thing but I remember back in February my trio did a concert at my alma mater and some nights I’ll count off tempos that are totally, seemingly wrong, because I’m either tired or feeling adrenaline or whatever. That night we played the first cut on my CD and it was so slow, it was so slow that I thought it was going to fall apart. But what ended up happening was it was a completely different feel and it ended up making us stretch in different ways musically, and, after, my drummer said, “I felt like I was playing like Elvin Jones,” because we just all had to go in different directions. It opened it so that certain things happened that would not normally happen. Sometimes I feel the bassist or the drummer are being so supportive and I can go wherever I want and yet sometimes they do something that makes me do something and then all of a sudden we wind up with this “thing” that I could have never imagined. It is hard to describe and it doesn’t really last, and that’s the thing about music as opposed to painting because you can’t stand there and stare at it as time goes by.

BH: Can you talk about the parallels between moments like that on your spiritual journey and what brought you into the Catholic Church?

DW: Well for me the thing is that it’s all related to prayer. I was about to go on a weeklong silent retreat and I noticed when I go on these retreats I usually feel like I am experiencing God’s love in an intense way and almost in a physical way. This is part of the reason I became Catholic, because I never felt this growing up. I think it was just a divide between my brain and my soul. I knew God loves me and I knew God wants the best for me and of course I still struggle with these things but now, when I am in moments of prayer, I can look back and remember certain things. The second time I went on a silent retreat, the group of people I was with had a person who had drawn a chalk labyrinth. So I walked it a few times and there was this one day that I walked it and, on the way in, I felt like I should raise my hand. But my first thought was I am going to look stupid, but then I thought everyone is here for the same thing, so I just put my hand out and open. I had this thought or heard this thought that said, “Thank you Deanna, I will fill your hands.” I just started crying, and moments like that for me are just moments and they don’t last that long, but I know they are real and I know they are happening. It is intense and meaningful, and hopefully the challenge is to not have that be an isolated incident but to influence how I live and think...

Check out the rest of the article here and then listen to this cool bluesy version of Psalm 141: Let My Prayer Rise

Today's Question: The Moneychangers and Jesus

Joe Paprocki weighs in on the Question Box in the Googling God section of BustedHalo®.

John’s Gospel describes Jesus forming a “whip of cords” (John 2:15) and using it to drive out them out of the temple. How can we reconcile Jesus’ apparent anger with the notion of anger being a deadly sin? First, we don’t know that Jesus was angry. We do not have a description of his inner state of mind. What we do have is a description of bold behavior – fierce action.

Read the rest here

Busted Borders: Our latest series on Immigration

Check it out. Moving stories of immigrants:

Tonight on Net TV...

is me. I believe! Rumor has it that I will appear on the show Currents along with my colleagues Fr Dave Dwyer, CSP and Brittany Janis doing our weekly podcast. Matt McClure (pictured here with co-anchor Tai Hernandez) comes by and plays a role on the podcast where we explore Angels and Demons.

No, not the movie--actual Angels and Demons.

It was a fun time taping and I'm sure that it'll be a great show to watch.

Tonight at 7:30 or 11:30 on netny.net

A Queer Conversation

I take full credit for coming up with this title in our editorial meeting and indeed it fits the bill.

What do you do when you're a nun in a very traditional religious order--one that still wears the habit--and you have an openly gay cousin? Do you chastise him? Do you shun him? Do you embrace him? Do you seek relationship with him?

Sr. Bernadette Reis and her cousin Paul Mages tell us their story on Busted Halo® to Bill McGarvey.

BH: I can’t tell if you’re trying to say, ‘I’d like to call Paul to greater integration’ — meaning greater integration with himself as a homosexual man? Or are you saying, ‘Okay, you’re homosexual, but the Church is calling you not to be sexually active.’ — which adds a whole slew of issues? Or, ‘integrate yourself in terms of reparation therapy’-type stuff? Can you talk a little bit about that?

SB: Actually, that’s a really good question because I’ve never actually gone there with Paul because it’s really none of my business to initiate that discussion. But I think that’s a good part of the equation because I think there is some pressure on Catholics to try to convince friends or family who are homosexual that they need to change. This is something I never told Paul, but one of the first times that I called my Dad to let him know that I was going to be seeing you, he asked me if I was going to have a talk with you. And I knew exactly what he meant by that. And I did question if I should do that or not, if I was somehow betraying the Church if I didn’t somehow let you know where I stood. But you know, I really felt that number one: Jesus never did that. He never went up to someone and said, “Hi, you have something wrong with your sexuality and I am here to fix you.” He never did that. It wasn’t even on my mind as something that I needed to do. It was something that all of a sudden came up because of my Dad.

But then I have found out since then that other people have that same dilemma: ‘Am I supposed to convince my homosexual friends that the way that they’re living is wrong?’ I think that I am here to be a friend to Paul. From the level of experience, to go over to Paul’s home and to see a home set up for him and his partner to live as a couple, it was the first time I had ever been in a situation like that, so of course it’s going to feel — what’s the word? — different, you know. But we do exactly the same things together as I do with other friends, we have the same conversations together, they invited me out with their friends — I mean, I really felt a level of acceptance. And I was glad, you know, that they could just freely bring me, when you know in the back of my mind, what I represent is something that Paul has been hurt by. But in terms of what I would hope for everyone, because I’m a part of this too, is that we can be in a dialogue with ourselves about why we behave the way we behave, and the choices that we make, and who we love, and what we like and what we don’t like, so that we each fulfill God’s Will for us. How I do that is going to be different than Paul because my background is different, my calling is different, the way I work things out between myself and God is different. And so I can understand the Church’s teaching. For me, I’ve worked that out. And I mean, I’ve grappled with things, I’m still grappling with some things, and I’m not perfect. And it’s the same for him. But I’m not God; I’m not his God. And if Paul invites me in to that process, that’s different.

I really had to reconcile the fact that I’m the one that has to make the decision about what I feel comfortable with in terms of talking about his lifestyle with Paul. I decided that my gut feeling would be the thing that would lead me. And I had to trust it.

PM: You probably prayed about it, too, I’d imagine.

SB: Yeah, I did. And I just felt, I’m gonna trust my gut on this one. I’d like a relationship with you, and what a way to slam the door on a relationship! I mean, “Hello. Before we sit down to dinner I’d like to talk to you about how wrong this all is. Bon appétit.” [laughs]

Read the rest here. I love how Sr. Bernadette relates all of this to her own calling to be a celibate.

The Busted Halo Charis Sandwich Army

Come on out and take part in our next Busted Halo Charis Retreat which will have a service component. We're calling it The Busted Halo Charis Sandwich Army. We do these retreats in conjunction with Charis Ministries --essentially we are their New York "affiliate." They are an opportunity for people in their 20s and 30s to share their faith, hear about how others are expressing their faith and in this case perform a bit of service.

Here's the details in a pinch:

When and Where: Saturday May 16
11a-7P
At Busted Halo HQ

Cost: $30

What:
We'll spend the morning making bag lunches (Hearty Sandwiches, fruit, juice box, candy bar) and decorating the bags for the homeless. We'll then hit the streets of NYC and give away the meals to homeless men and women at various locations. We'll return to BustedHalo Headquarters where we'll have Mass and an opportunity to share your experience of the day with others and learn a bit about Catholic Social Teaching in a fun and interactive way.

Follow -up:
After the retreat we will ask the group to continue to give sandwiches away throughout the week and to share on our Facebook Page who they gave their sandwich to and what that experience was like and perhaps even where they have found God in the experience. Should be good reading and I'll even share some of those experiences on this here blog with permission.

If you are interested in joining us: email me: mike@bustedhalo.com

Death Becomes Them

This is today's article on BustedHalo which I have to say was one of the more intriguing reflections on the Incorruptible Saints that I've seen in ages.

One evening last month, while surfing YouTube, I stumbled across a five-part slideshow on the incorrupt bodies of saints. Having once been a soul mate to television’s ghoulish Wednesday Addams, I launched “Part One,” expecting to get halfway through before my maturing tastes demanded I resume searching for the clip where Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, humiliates the geeks at the Star Wars premier.

To my surprise, the spectacle held me in thrall. In every dead face, sanctity intersected with human nature in some unique and memorable way. St. Jean-Marie Vianney’s fine features hinted at a painful sensitivity. With her mouth half open, St. Veronica Giuliani looked as though she were savoring one of her ecstatic visions. The puppy fat on the face of the child Beata Imelda Lambertini spoke of youthful good health and a life unexpectedly cut short.

But some of the other holy cadavers looked distinctively, well, cadaverous. With skin the color and texture of fine leather and both nose and lips gone, St. Virginia Centurione Bracelli looked like any of the mummies I’d seen in the British Museum. Seated upright, her face and hands blackened, St. Catherine of Bologna looked as though she’d paid a terrible price for nodding off with a lighted cigarette.

The rest is a must read--so check it out here

The Princess and the Priest

The debut episode of the newest Busted Halo feature.

Living Ignatian: God in the Crossroads (Part 3)

Hear about the founding of Busted Halo. And how it helped me find my place in the world. This is a third of a 10 part series.

King David on NBC

The NBC series Kings is simply brilliant and Busted Halo's Bill McGarvey sat down with the creator of the series Michael Green and discussed the show at length.

BH: The story of King David is an iconic Old Testament story — were you raised in a very religious household?

MG: Not very religious. I was educated in a Jewish parochial school system. Known as yeshiva, but called by us — we called it Jew School. It’s very similar to (Catholic school) — the same as a lot of people on your site might know — but rabbis instead of nuns. My mom is Israeli, so she wanted me and my sibling to be conversant in the religion and culture.

BH: How long have you wanted to do this story?

MG: It’s a story that I’ve been interested in for a long time. The decision to pursue it came about two and a half years ago. I’d always thought it was something I’d have to do much later in life, when HBO would be willing to let me make it. I originally imagined it as a period piece, but then I thought, “Why wait?” — the TV audiences have grown so sophisticated in the last few years that with all the fantastic shows being done by HBO, by Showtime — you know, Lost, Alias, Heroes — all these shows have really brought up the level and audiences have grown so accustomed to, or so willing to, or so eager to dive into a story and to pick at its nuance. People treat The Wire like a novel, and it’s written like a novel and it rewards that deep viewing. And because of the great work done by all those shows, I felt like it was a fair time to try to tell this sort of novelistic story.

BH: I felt a kinship on some level between your show and HBO’s Rome . You get to do a modern re-telling of the story of King David. What made you decide not to do it as a period piece?

MG: Mostly, cost. It’s cost-prohibitive. It’s nearly impossible to do something accurately in a period piece. The reason Rome didn’t continue was because — it was absolutely brilliant, I thought it was a wonderful show — it was so costly that it couldn’t sustain itself, as I understand it. I could be guessing, but that’s what I’ve been told, that it never was able to gain the ratings required to justify its cost. And in order to do period in a way that isn’t silly, in a way that is authentic, it’s just incredibly costly. And plus, doing it period would have made it a much more accurate telling, and I was interested in taking the story and going further with it. You know, there’s a lot to draw from in the original text but not enough to sustain a hundred episodes of dialogue, let’s say. So by creating a ‘remove,’ and setting it in modern times, or with a modern aesthetic, anyway, we were free to continue interpreting. It was convenient. And the other thing was to make it really relatable to a modern America.