Musings of a Priest Falsely Accused
“Father Jim” is a senior priest suspended under terms of the Dallas Charter, barred from ministry and from defending his good name due to a claim from 1972. Editor’s Note: The following guest post by “Father Jim” was received as a comment on a recent post at These Stone Walls. Due to its length and […]
Midway in our Consoling the Heart of Jesus retreat in prison, Fr Seraphim Michalenko, Director of the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, fulfilled Hebrews 13:3. Some strange and interesting things are happening behind These Stone Walls this summer, and it’s a task and a half to stay ahead of them and reflect a little […]
At a Phoenix Catholic church on June 11, 2014 Fr Kenneth Walker was murdered and Fr Joseph Terra brutally beaten by a man paroled from prison six weeks earlier. “Jesus wept.” Those two words in the Gospel of Saint John (11:35) comprise the shortest sentence in all of Sacred Scripture. Upon the sudden death of […]
What do Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, Homer’s legendary Odysseus, and Fr Walter Ciszek have in common? They endured different versions of the same peril. In a letter this week, a TSW reader asked whether I follow any sort of advance plan for TSW titles. She wrote, “Your readers got to see a moving and haunting […]
Father Gordon MacRae revisits “Michelangelo and the Hand of God: Scandal at the Vatican” a prequel to some upcoming thoughts in solitude behind These Stone Walls. Four-hundred and fifty years ago, the famed Italian sculptor, painter, and architect, Michelangelo Buonarroti, left this world having almost attained his 90th year. His final work of architectural genius […]
The discovery of cosmic ripples from the birth of the Universe is evidence beyond reasonable doubt of the Big Bang theory first proposed by Fr George Lemaitre. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit […]
A Father’s Day gift perfectly timed, Fr Michael Gaitley’s Consoling the Heart of Jesus is the text for a 10-week retreat underway now behind these stone walls. “You should not worry about adversities. The world is not as powerful as it seems to be.” (The Diary of St Faustina, no. 1643) Father’s Day is coming up, […]
On his 32nd ordination anniversary Fr Gordon MacRae writes of Priesthood, Pentecost, and the Jewish Festival of Shavu’ot as death draws near on a prison afternoon. “I said, in the noontide of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years. I said I shall […]
Three Days before Pentecost, Fr Gordon MacRae marks 32 years of priesthood. “Inherit the Wind! Pentecost and the Breath of God” is Part I of a planned June 4 post. It’s spring cleaning and inspection time behind these stone walls this week. It means a week of scrubbing all the concrete and steel surfaces of […]
A Ram in the Thicket The Media Report
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the WSJ.com Forum
When posting a comment at The Wall Street Journal’s new forum for digital subscribers, Fr Gordon MacRae found something rare in online comments: total civility. In my post, “When the Caged Bird Just Can’t Sing,” last year, I introduced TSW readers to my cranky old electronic Smith Corona typewriter. It just suffered one of its […]