Facebook’s new prayer feature seems much more likely to invite us to turn further inward into that social media hellscape of narcissism and self-promotion. Pray for us, indeed.
Jim McDermott
Jim McDermott writes about pop culture at jimmcdermott.substack.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
Meghan Markle and Melissa McCarthy, let Catholics help you with your mentoring initiative
Forty minutes of mentoring is only a start, but Meghan Markle and Melissa McCarthy’s initiative for women is a well-timed opportunity to show compassion.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Is your smartphone making you sin more? Consider a technological examination of conscience.
Summer is a good season to take stock of how our dependence on technology can change us. Here are seven steps for seeing your smartphone more clearly.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
It’s O.K. to be mad at people who refuse to get vaccinated. (But you should pray for them, too.)
Even as I still would like to make everyone get vaccinated right this second, I also find myself praying for those still hesitant.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
What I learned from saying Mass on Facebook Live for a year (from a La-Z-Boy chair)
We begin each Mass like the disciples, locked in our rooms, isolated and maybe afraid. Then out of nowhere Jesus appears in our midst and brings us together.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Los Angeles is struggling with vaccine distribution equity. Can the Catholic Church help?
Age-based, “first come, first serve” strategies appear impartial, but statistics indicate that everyone is not the same.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Covid has brought two parallel worlds to L.A.: one hopeful, one overwhelmed by suffering
It is as though there are two parallel universes co-existing here, one hopeful and “normal for now,” the other overwhelmed by suffering.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
In a year when we couldn’t go anywhere, everything became ‘TV.’ Here is the best of it.
In 2020 the best TV was whatever got you through the night.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Behind the Baby Yoda memes, ‘The Mandalorian’ asks a deeply religious question: Is anyone beyond redemption?
Hidden amid its meme-ready moments, “The Mandalorian” is quietly investigating the inadequacy of our ideas about each other.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ confronts the dark side of our love of superhero stories
‘The Boys’ gleefully satirizes every aspect of superhero movies by showing how corrupt all-powerful beings would be if they existed in the real world.