In a policy shift with enormous implications the state of California rsquo s Department of Managed Health Care has ruled that Anthem Blue Cross and Kaiser Permanente cannot offer Catholic institutions health insurance plans that ask members to pay their own premiums for abortion procedures The mov
Jim McDermott
Jim McDermott writes about pop culture at jimmcdermott.substack.
Posted inIn All Things
Perchance to Dream: Feynman’s Caltech Lectures Released
Nobel laureate brought new discoveries of physics to the people
Posted inTelevision
Enraptured?: The sad, strange comfort of HBO’s ‘The Leftovers’
When HBO first announced that it had greenlit a television series about the Rapture, one would have been forgiven for assuming we were in for yet another twist on Hollywood’s seemingly endless obsession with the post-apocalyptic. Given the popularity of recent “scripturally inspired&rdqu
Posted inSigns Of the Times
Dispatch From Los Angeles: Murrieta Revisited
The example of Christ looms large over the immigration debate here.
Posted inIn All Things
Not a Hollywood Ending: Robin Williams, RIP
“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”
Posted inTelevision
A Broken, Humbled Heart: Netflix’s ‘Orange Is the New Black’
Netflix’s ‘Orange Is the New Black’
Posted inFilm
A Meditation on Sin: ‘César Chávez’ and the ongoing struggle for labor justice
I once had a homiletics professor who said not to worry too much if it appears that members of the congregation are daydreaming during your homily. A homily, he pointed out, is not an act of persuasion. You’re not up there trying to prove some point. (Or if you are, God help the people.) A goo
Posted inTelevision
Beltway Shakespeare: Treachery and vanity in ‘House of Cards’
I can’t tell whether I was actually sick the week season two of Netflix’s House of Cards dropped, or if I was glued to the couch because I just couldn’t stop watching.
Posted inFilm
Blow the House Down: The big, bad ‘Wolf of Wall Street’
Jim McDermott, S.J., reviews the big, bad “Wolf of Wall Street,” up for five Oscars at this Sunday’s Academy Awards.
Posted inTelevision
He Who Is: ‘The Doctor’ Turns 50
Late on Sunday nights when I was a kid I used to sneak downstairs to our family TV room, where more often than not my father was asleep in his chair, the news or sitcom reruns droning on. I would do my best to slip the remote control from off his chair, turn down the volume and switch the channel. I