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Published Articles, Poems, and Essays
Love is Love
If two people love each other, they should be able to get married, right? This is the popular logic for so-called gay marriage. “Love is love. What if the slogan is gibberish? It is
Catholicism and Christian Pluralism
Have you ever overheard people discussing how world religions are basically the same, and only superficially different? “We have different opinions about the small stuff,” someone says, “but when it comes down to the essential
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Pope?
One of the most controversial stories in the Bible is also one of the strangest. Jesus is the true king, the “anointed one” in the royal line of David, but very few know it—not until in
In Defense of Domesticity
The Norwegian secret to enjoying a long winter is to see the freezing months as something to be enjoyed, not something to be endured. According to a seeker of human happiness, this makes all the difference.
Why Do So Many Millennials Become Catholic?
Why do so many millennials become Catholic? It’s not because they’re hipper than thou, and it’s certainly not because they’re holier. Michelangelo’s writhing, unfinished statues of slaves, struggling in their prisons of stone, are a
Marian Entrustment in the Gospel of John
“The man who writes a good love sonnet needs not only to be enamored of a woman but also to be enamored of the sonnet.” ∼ C.S. Lewis I was reading the Gospel of John and
The Lost Art of Talking About Jesus
It’s easy to think of the words we should not have said—the gossip or the insult or the impertinent remark. But what about the words we should have said, but didn’t? What about all the kind words we
A Time to Kill
In the 1996 crime drama film A Time to Kill, a ten-year-old black girl named Tonya is violently raped by two white supremacists. She survives and the men are arrested, but before an all-white jury
The Birdwatcher’s Guide to Marriage
At last, here is an easy-to-follow guide for identifying a real marriage that exposes the new imitations to be, well, imitations. Essential for the 321 million Americans who have a biological mother and father, this
Every Story Has A Bellybutton
Everyone has a story, and every story has a bellybutton. In the shadow of Planned Parenthood and what has been aptly called abortion’s Wilberforce moment, it could be said that bellybuttons are the most
Every Story Has A Beginning
Can a man have an opinion about abortion? I think so. As sure as a woman becomes a mother at the moment of conception a man becomes a father. If ever there was something
Life Begins @ Conception
Rainbow profile pictures and equals sign bumper stickers are an easy way to share an anthropology. In a split second you can say, without having really to say, “I believe a human person is thus and
Real Men Love Babies
Do real men love babies? Everything about these pooping, screaming, totally helpless little people—the babies, that is—challenges a man’s feral instincts and refined sensibilities. Yet, whether we like it or not, babies put to
The Protohomosexual
Why are so many straight people pro gay? Because the normalization of homosexuality is the premier achievement of heterosexual ideology. “Gay” and “straight” are not taxonomies but ideologies. They are not orientations but disorientations: whether
The Writing Life
Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. I am a published writer, it’s true: but that does not mean I am a
When it Hurts: How to Share the Catholic Faith with Non-Catholics
This is for the broken hearted, those men and women who have risked sharing the faith only to be psychoanalyzed, slighted, even shamed. God knows sometimes you just need a box of Kleenex and a
Why Are Catholic Mom Blogs So Awesome?
Why are Catholic Mom Blogs so awesome? You can almost hear the holy noise of their children playing in the other room while they upload photos from last night’s Candlemas dinner party. Joy spills onto
Anglican Decline and Its Biblical Remedy
For years, I thought I was called to be an Anglican priest. My wife and I wanted to plant an Anglican church in Minneapolis. To that end, I attended a beautiful Anglican seminary couched in
Catholicism and the New Creation
“This is not Middle Earth, this is not Middle Earth,” I kept telling myself. But how else could I make sense of the towering cathedrals, the Tradition and the Scriptures, the real evil to
This Lent, Prepare Yourself for a Marian Consecration
Want to drop a V6 engine into your Volkswagen Bug prayer life? Would you like to battle sin and Satan and sabotage like the mighty saints of yore? Then gird your loins, get on
Death in Kristin Lavransdatter
Those who have read Kristin Lavransdatter, the epic trilogy by Catholic convert and Norwegian Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset, have read it at least twice. This formidable tale of farming and holy pilgrimages and family in
Kristin Lavransdatter and Your Nordic Medieval Catholic Heart
I will not sleep, I will not even sit down, until every man goes to bed with a paperback copy of Sigrid Undset’sKristin Lavransdatter. In these high fourteenth-century mountains, priests still visit the sick
The Biblical Boots of the Papacy
Do you remember that one scene in Toy Story when Sheriff Woody, unsure of his vocation, doubts his authority over the rest of the gang? Woody’s been insulted and abandoned, his motives have been
How to Pray like a Child at Play
Let’s be honest, most of us don’t pray nearly as much as we could. It’s not that we don’t believe in prayer; it’s that prayer can seem so…boring. If you’re like me, you’ve probably
Social Media and the Sacrament of the Present Moment
Why are people who quit social media so amusing? After years of embroiled use, a bad break up, a nasty spat, a vague feeling of listlessness, another Luddite throws up his hands and renounces social
The Treasure of Singleness
It can be difficult to be a single Christian. I remember watching as one by one my friends would marry, start families, and settle down. The cards would come just before Christmas with news of
The Catholic Dad: the Call, the Craft, the Cross
Forget the dads you see on Television: selfish, workaholic, lazy, absent, bullying, pushover dads. They do not deserve the name. Real dadness is bigger than that. It’s as big as Our Father who art
Your Wife is Wearing What? Men, Veils, and the Mystery of Femininity
The strangest thing happened a few months ago. My wife covered her head during Mass. I’ll never forget the moment when I first glanced up to see her noble cranium veiled in a strange
Did the Synod Endorse “Lifestyle Ecumenism”?
I would like to suggest to you that so-called “lifestyle ecumenism” helps us see ecumenism for what it really is. You see, in my Anglican days, I used to think I was more catholic than
God is an Artist
Why do Catholics honor the saints? Because God is an artist, and the Church is his masterpiece. Catholics do not honor the saints because they forget to worship God. They honor the saints because
Charged with the Grandeur of God
You have opened this page on your web browser. Now you’ve got to close it. Find your shoelaces and start untying. I want you to take off your shoes. Moses approached the burning bush,
We Are Not Garden Snails
“In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). For years I had been trying to get to the bottom of this troubling passage, and it all started
Who Gets to Pray the Lord’s Prayer?
The startling thing about Catholicism is that it is built on this idea that God is not a blob somewhere in the sky. God is not simply the Ultimate Force, the Gitchi Manitou, the
The Curse is Real (And So is the Cross)
Not many people are offended by the message that God loves them. They might find it old-fashioned or naïve, but usually not offensive. Almost everyone, however, is offended by the message of Christ crucified. It
Lay, Catholic, and Suburban: Who’d-a-thunk it?
Tyler and Brittany here, your friends from Church of the Cross. We want to thank you for joining us in a process of discernment, a vision of fruitfulness, a lived prayer. From the Seminarian
Was I Made for Pillows?
Pornography is not free speech. Pornography is pernicious. So why do so many men look at pornography? I would like to suggest to you that the reason so many men look at pornography is not
Catholicism: The Real Women’s Liberation Movement
Protoevanglium. It’s not a kind of octopus or jellyfish. The Protoevangelium is the first announcement of the Gospel, the promise that sin would not have the last word. It reminds us that without woman,
Is Catholic Sexuality Good News?
When we speak of sexuality, we often learn to speak our pain. We think only of how we might get hurt, or have been hurt, and so we guard ourselves. We do not risk the
Sex: Our Greatest Natural Resource
Sexual differentiation is our greatest natural resource. The fact that Adam and Eve are not identical, but corresponding, is not just a part of God’s creation. It is the best part. The fruitful tension between
Lose Yourself: Finding Freedom in Mary’s Risky Yes
Did she really say that? Did she really mean it? I keep turning back to Luke 1:38, “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to
Saint Mary, Pray for Us!
Did she really say that? Did she really mean it? I keep turning back to Luke 1:38, “And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your
The Visitation Revisited
The days following the angel’s announcement had been the most exciting, most disorienting days of Mary’s life. With only one fresh water spring, the village of Nazareth was small. Rumors flew. By all appearances, she
What is the Goal of the Catholic Church?
Why did Christ establish one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church? Why did the eternal Son of God become incarnate of the Virgin Mary, call the Twelve, establish them on the rock that is Peter,
Redeeming LGBTQ in Christ
For Catholics, sexuality does not start with sexuality. In a fallen world, it starts with the cross—and almost everyone harbors stereotypes when it comes to the cross. Some worry I’m about to get wildly conservative.
The Beauty of Baptism: Part 2
Beautifully, it all began with water, water and the Holy Spirit: “Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters…” (Gen. 1:2). As with the
Male and Female: A Perfect Pairing?
Why did God make us male and female? Surely God could have devised some other manner of human life, made in his image, that did not require two sexes. Why Adam and Eve? Why
God’s Masculine Names: Misogyny, or Mystagogy?
Why is God a he, not a she or an it? Could Jesus have been a woman? What if the Lord’s Prayer began not with “Our Father,” but with “Our Mother”? Reading modern commentaries, you’d think a female goddess
Saint Joseph, Pray For Us!
Pull out your highlighters. What word stands out most when you read Matthew 1:24? Isn’t it that small, overused, three-letter word our English teachers told us to avoid? “When Joseph awoke, he did as
Jesus Calling
Near my desk there’s a map of the Sea of Galilee. Luke called the sea Limnen Genneseret, the Garden of Riches, the waters on which Jesus walked like a ghost, the waters Jesus calmed in the
The Beauty of Baptism: Part 1
The sheer glory of baptism. It’s as beautiful as a wedding or a newborn baby, and heavy with just as much promise. But what is baptism? Why must we be baptized? And why do
Mary’s Invitation to a God-Bearing Life
It was anything but a holy moment. Last spring, a bug flew in my ear. I do not mean that a bug landed on my ear and flew away. A bug flew into my ear and got
Why Did God Make Eve?
Why did God make Eve? Why not just stop with Adam? God made Eve for the same reason God makes anything—as a celebration of his own glory. [Note: this essay was first published by Crisis Magazine and
Get Your Beard On
From bearded indie rockers to hipster barkeeps, facial hair is in. And with it come rumors of a holy renaissance. Men and women everywhere are rediscovering the hairy lore of church history, the long
Jude
When Jude came back to class He did not talk about the accident. His right arm, severed at the elbow, Would move by reflex, To his embarrassment and ours. He would bend over, half
Why Christ Needs Christianity
Have the words "Christian" and "Christianity" become dirty words? From writers like Shane Hipps to songsters like Marcus Mumford, the idea that Christ does not need Christianity has become fashionable. Like the "spiritual but
Get Your Beard On: A Call to Untrimmed Spirituality in a Clean-Shaven World
From bearded indie rockers to hipster barkeeps, facial hair is in. And with it come rumors of a holy renaissance. Men and women everywhere are rediscovering the hairy lore of church history, the long
How To Transform A City
From lesbian graphic designers to Somalian taxi-drivers, Minneapolis is a city crowded with culture. Folk musicians play gigs in her bars, tattooed vegetarians run her grocery co-ops and yogis are opening shops on nearly
Are Men Emotional Prudes?
Real intimacy comes from listening and being vulnerable, not having sex. When it comes to sex, many men live in a fantasy. The problem with pornography and masturbation isn't only lust, but that they
Fernando Ortega’s Foreword
Below is Fernando Ortega’s Foreword for my new book, When Donkeys Talk: Rediscover the Mystery and Wonder of Christianity (Zondervan, 2013). I wrote much of the book while hymning praises to God with Fernando’s music turned up
When Donkeys Talk Sample Chapters
When Donkeys Talk by Zondervan
When Donkeys Talk Endorsements
Blanski’s work is Anglican popularizing Christendom at its best. —WORLD Magazine Blanski is on a mission to shake up Christianity…his edgy and hip prose breathe new life. —Publishers Weekly Tyler Blanski adores Jesus and downright
Order of Julian of Norwich & When Donkeys Talk
I am grateful for the kind review of When Donkeys Talk in the recent journal of Order of Julian of Norwich. I have had the privilege of sharing the daily Eucharist with Father John-Julian here at
Lost Nashotah House Poems (Part 3)
This is the last of a three-part series celebrating the recently rediscovered “Nashotah House Poems” by the Rev. L.V. Klose. His verse invites readers into the devotional life of the seminary in days past, a
The Lost Nashotah House Poems (Part 2)
Snow clings to the low-hung branches that crowd the wooded campus. It’s sunny this Saturday morning, and a few families and students trekked it through the snow to morning Mass, their breath making small cloud
An Explosion In Reverse
“Ever since the coming of John the Baptist the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and violent men are seizing it.” Remember that one scene in that one movie (it doesn’t matter which)
The Lost Nashotah House Poems
My good friend Nathaniel Kidd, a son of the House with a rich, fuzzy beard and a pounding heart for God, was quarrying the archives of the stone Nashotah House library, and stumbled upon an
Nashotah House: Your Next Road Trip
Nashotah House, in all its trend-less glory, is still making itself relevant after more than a hundred and seventy years of ministry. With a spruced up campus, a top-notch faculty, and a packed library, the
The Silent Hymns of Heaven
Glory be to God for his glory in the day;Praise him all you night stars in spangled vast array. Join the happy anthem, all creatures here below;Turn your eyes to heaven, give up your noise and
Nashotah’s Benedictine Rule
Folks here at Nashotah House have been picking up the same vibes as everyone else in the Midwest: it’s been a strange winter—unusually gray and unseasonably warm. Early March in Wisconsin is usually knee-high
Why Christian Sex is Better than the Kama Sutra
My first kiss probably looked like a food-eating contest. You know, the ones where throngs of pear-shaped people snarf down as many hot dogs as possible. I thought kissing a girl was like eating
How Christians Should Rethink Sex
When it comes to sex, many Christians confuse the fences for the playground. We’ve created what I call the chastity cult. Married and single Christians alike put sex on a pedestal. We’re more serious
Dr. Michael Bauman’s Foreword
Below is Michael Bauman's Foreword for Mud & Poetry: Love, Sex, and the Sacred (Fresh Air Books, 2010). Dr. Bauman was my favorite professor at Hillsdale College. Regarding the use of earthly images, Christian spirituality has
Mud & Poetry Endorsements
Musician and new author Blanski is on a mission to shake up Christianity. The themes he addresses are not new, but his edgy and hip prose breathe new life into them. —Publishers Weekly Mud
Mud & Poetry Sample Chapter
I, too, saw God through mud— The mud that cracked on cheeks when wretches smiled. Chapter 1 Mud & Poetry We must not rank ourselves too low; and with still greater care we must
You Are The Secret Kept Secret
you are the secret kept secret, the song only stars have known. whatever the moon hasn’t told and why its shining, whatever men spend life looking for, rarely finding; whatever is sun and sod
O Soulish, Violets in Springtime, Five Fallible Senses
An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it... Even if Love squirmed and groped under my laboratory microscope, or so much as blinked in my rearview
A Dissertation
Aurora Borealis, Aurora Australis1 We are, I am told, evolved2 star powder: The explosion, the exodus, the slow growth— Our anatomy3 is a little cosmology.4 No wonder a firmament5 fills the cerebrum:6 Expanses stretch
Senior Citizens
When senior citizens start splash ing in pudd les, and hoary old women let down their gray hair; when every old man brandishes his sword and cudgel and takes to bellow ing as he