23 Comments

Mrs Flynn is one personwith whom I would like to sit down to chat.

Expand full comment
Aug 30, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

I can relate... many years ago I helped at a monthly activity at Jeanne Jugan in Boston. They were cheerful, bright, lovable, and some were very disabled. I will never forget those visits.

Expand full comment
Aug 30, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

Prayers for the Flynn family. I loved your closing. The vocation of marriage is a great challenge and blessing-- your reflections on family are heartening.

Expand full comment

Mrs. Flynn seems pretty cool.

Expand full comment

I LOVE that Mrs. Flynn!

Expand full comment

Truly, the Little Sisters of the Poor are a holy and beautiful community. I spent a weekend with them, while I was discerning a religious vocation. While I did not have a vacation to their community, I had extraordinary experiences of love, and kindness, and the tender care their charism embodies. May St. Jeanne Jugan intercede for all her sisters on this, her Feast Day!

Expand full comment
Aug 30, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

My grandmother spent many years in one of the homes run by the Little Sisters. I've never seen elderly residents so happy to be where they were...a real testament to the love shown by the sisters and the environment of care they foster!

Expand full comment

So true. The elderly there are treated with such human dignity! With the Little Sisters, a person is respected as an image of God's likeness in life and death !

Expand full comment

Great newsletter, solid reporting! Thanks for all your hard work!

Expand full comment

Ooo hoo! Column ends with a Mrs. Flynn zinger. Excellent. Just want you to know, JD, that my wife does that to me, too. And Ralph Cramden was right about Alice: “Baby, you’re the greatest / Why I oughta; bang, zoom!”

Expand full comment

It's genuinely amusing that the top authorities in the Church, just like the rest of us, have no idea what "synodality" is supposed to mean.

Expand full comment

What a great summary of Little Sisters of the Poor; and a hopefully inaccurate forecast of the current trend resulting in fewer homes for the indigent elderly and more euthanasia disguised as 'mercy killing'.

Expand full comment
Aug 30, 2022Liked by JD Flynn

Was singing the praises of the Pillar to friends at our monthly marriage group, and one of them said they knew your family since they helped babysit when you came through Kansas City. Guess the Pillar is growing bigger than I realized!! Everyone is getting on the Pillar train!

Expand full comment
author

A great family!

Expand full comment

JD, I think your wife and I are kindred spirits :) I have a similar background and have said the very same thing to my husband: "Maybe someday." ;)

Expand full comment

That's so funny about the habit, maybe one day... though perhaps a little disconcerting for Mr. Flynn

Expand full comment

Gosh, I love reading the Pillar! I love the info, the humor and the personal stuff y’all share. I have grown to really trust your very good reporting on our Catholic Church. I love that you are honest but not negative. While I love the Catholic international news I would like to hear more about the Church in America as I live in the USA. Thank you for what you are doing.

Expand full comment

> I think she might have been assessing my overall health and fitness.

I am sure I have read of multiple examples of married couples that, later in life, rode off separately into the sunset (to a men's monastery and a women's monastery) like "see you in heaven if you make the list", but I think monasteries may have been less picky then.

Expand full comment

Every day is a good day for an REM reference

Expand full comment

"Fireplace" is the ideal soundtrack for pondering St. John of the Cross's sketch of Mount Carmel

nada, nada, nada, Throw the walls into the fireplace!, nada

Expand full comment