54 Comments

Personally, I think it is pretty sick what Samson did with the foxes.

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Sick as in slang for cool or sick as in inhumane treatment of animals.

Bc really it can go both/and here. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Which just reminds me that Samson (and much of Judges) is the most wild ride in the Bible 😂. That guy!

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Inhumane.

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How could I think of anything but Chesterton's great poem The Donkey? https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47918/the-donkey

About the proposed policy against confessions: totally terrible. Children often have a profound sense of right and wrong and an earnest desire to be forgiven. That is a wonderful and sacred thing. I hope the Polish bishops quash the proposal quickly.

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JD, the title of your newsletter made me chuckle! Thanks, bro, I needed a laugh today! Things have been crazy the past few weeks on my end! I appreciate you, my friend!

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The Catholic cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa is under the patronage of

"St Mary on the Flight to Egypt." My first time encountering that title used in a church's name.

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I've raised donkeys and can tell you that they are the most intelligent and strongest-willed of animals. Treated properly, they can also be very loving pets and can be endlessly entertaining.

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Treated improperly, they are devious, and vindictive pains in the ass. Few creatures hold grudges like donkeys. I knew one that fought off a feral dog attack and let’s just say the owner couldn’t keep a dog while that donkey lived, she tried once with a puppy and… it was not a pretty end.

I like them though. The make excellent flock guardian animals too.

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I’m being incorrectly billed $60/mo by Pillar for donations through two separate email accounts. I’ve tried several times to contact Substack without reply so I’m resorting to public comment. Plz advise

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please email kflynn [AT] pillarcatholic [DOT] com, and we'll get it worked out.

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JD and Sir Mix a Lot, both having affinity for the same thing

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“It’s a 6-hour flight — that’s nearly a whole Parisian working week — without a drink.”

This kind of honest read of the situation is why I read the Pillar.

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I feel so sorry for those who didn't read this whole post. Laughing out loud at my kitchen table, so glad you do what you do!

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Anyone who doesn't want to shell out a cool 170k to not go to space might want to take a look at the Space Elevator from Neal.fun, whose trolley problems JD linked to a while back: https://neal.fun/space-elevator/

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I don’t read America because I don’t need borderline heretical writing.

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In England you can guarantee that donkeys are in demand at Christmas and on Palm Sunday for church processions. But it seems to be mostly Anglican parishes who hire them. There is plenty of room for another Donkey Walk on 14th January.

G K Chesterton wrote a lovely poem on The Donkey. After describing the staggering abuse this luckless animal has endured, he concluded:

Fools! For I also had my hour.

One far fierce hour and sweet.

There was a shout about my ears.

And palms before my feet.

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JD -- Come visit Mount Calvary in Baltimore where we do celebrate Catholic Feast days. Every Sunday is a feast -- 90+ minute liturgy followed by the best brunch at a parish I have witnessed. And other festive feasts falling on a weekday like Candlemas, Annunciation, All Saints are celebrated with a 6pm liturgy and then "Pot Providence" where families bring food to share a meal and fellowship with each other. https://www.mountcalvary.com/

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Thank goodness for the Festum Asinorum! Finally, a saint I can identify with.

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Beer? In France? The spirit of France is wine.

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Lille, in the far north of France, is a craft beer town.

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God talks about wild donkeys in Job.

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