#everyone has their faults catholicism is one of them

[gooboogy]

I have a catholicism detector I spy a character and I point You are Catholic, many such cases

[queerprayers]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judensau

luther inspired hitler, following him is a step away from following hitler

Welcome, beloved. I don't want to dismiss your message, but I do want to make some things clear. I, like many, have horrors in my religion that I have to be able to address, and prejudices that I do not perpetuate consciously but know that I nonetheless have absorbed from culture, and am responsible for healing. Antisemitism within Christianity is a huge topic, with people devoting their lives to studying it. I would not fault any Jewish person for antagonism toward my communities--you would be right to be wary, and if I intend to continue participating in these communities, I must be able to understand and accept any justified anger or distrust coming my way.

I'd encourage everyone reading to learn more about this through the Wikipedia link, but a brief description/summary for those who don't want details/images: The mentioned article is about an antisemitic artistic trope from the Middle Ages. The church where Martin Luther preached included an image of this sort from 1305.

Martin Luther was antisemitic. This isn't up for debate. There is more to say, of course--we can look at how his attitudes changed over his life (for the worse, to be clear), we can talk about the extent to which he specifically influenced Nazism (this is a complicated conversation that I'm not qualified for)--but he was undeniably, horrifically, antisemitic. There's a Wikipedia page solely devoted to this topic.

That said, there's huge diversity within Lutheranism, seeing as it's a large religious tradition, and if you're interested in learning about Lutheranism and Hitler specifically, I'd encourage you to look into the split within the German Lutheran Church in 1933 and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran theologian who was hanged at the Flossenbürg concentration camp. It's fascinating to look back at that while living through such religious division in America right now.

Luther was a complicated man, who did not set out to found a church, and opposed the term "Lutheran." He was attempting to reform the Catholic Church from the inside, because he himself was Catholic. Not a very good one, obviously, but he didn't consider himself anything else. He was a monk for a time, then an academic, and his beliefs got him excommunicated. I've read some of his writings, but not all. I find value in them, while disagreeing with a lot of it. Lutheranism is a space with which I have fellowship with God and humanity, not a set of rules or a devotion to every word of a man from the 16th century. I'm not interested in excusing or defending him, nor do I feel the need to honor him in any way. I hope I disappoint him completely.

I am a Lutheran Christian--and I would not fault anyone for thinking those words function similarly. So to explain: I'm a Christian as in I follow Christ, devote myself to his teachings, pray to him, and live for him every day. I'm a Lutheran as in I am a member of a church and culture that traces back to communities of German Protestants who identified with the theology of Martin Luther. I do not follow Martin Luther. I do not follow Lutheranism. I follow God, and participate in Christianity often within Lutheran communities--primarily because of my heritage and the music.

Protestants don't have Saints in the Catholic sense, nor do we have a pope. Martin Luther is not our Saint, or someone we pray through, or our leader. We don't read his writings in church, we don't look to him for answers. He's someone many people have found wisdom in, someone who has inspired countless reformers, but he is a man. A saint in the Lutheran sense, a lowercase-s saint, a member of Christ's community--a sinner from his mother's womb. He probably wrote more about his own sin then you ever will. He devolved into conspiracy, and said horrible things about Judaism and Catholicism and Islam, and we have seen the legacy of German antisemitism (which he did not create, but obviously contributed to), and it's a good thing I don't idolize him. I honestly don't think about him very much. Yes, I read his catechism in Bible classes, but we were free to disagree with it--we were using his most basic writings as a starting point. The words of his that are most present in my life are his hymns, which we do sing often. His teachings were intended to lead people to the Bible rather than leaders/traditions, which is why he translated the Bible into German, and why I go to the Bible, not to him. I learned about his antisemitism growing up, and prayed for repentance on behalf of my ancestors.

There are people who hold Luther in higher esteem than me, to be sure. Do I think they're basically following Hitler? I don't know. It depends why they value him, I would say. Idolizing anyone is dangerous, especially men in the 1500s. I can think of no historical male writer I value that was not at least slightly misogynist. The two authors I've read today, Virginia Woolf and Shakespeare, both have antisemitic writing. Countless people sainted by the Catholic Church, and countless popes, have been antisemitic. There is no innocent tradition. I'm not trying to excuse any of this, or say we shouldn't be critical, but this is why we don't base religions on people. They have to be founded and organized by people, which means there's going to be issues (and Christianity's are quite obvious), but Christians have to remind ourselves every day that the only human we worship is the one who was God.

I wish you well, beloved. I'm glad you see the evil in my religion, genuinely. Not enough people do. I hope you continue educating people and being active in your fight against antisemitism--if you're not Jewish yourself, hopefully this shows up more as supporting Jewish people and communities, and less like borderline accusing people online for following Hitler because they still use the word for their traditions that their Norwegian great-grandparents did, because it's the word that stuck from the beginning. We're named after Luther's excommunication, not his antisemitism--Catholics would have had to change their name to Lutheran too if that was the theological issue happening. There's a whole conversation to be had on whether we should call ourselves Lutheran, but regardless, the communities and heritage exist, and will continue to evolve.

May God have mercy on the crimes of my community members. May God lead me to walk in the way of justice. May our religion serve us, and may we serve God.

<3 Johanna

[thosearentcrimes]

ok so i promised to start poasting more book reports soon and i swear i was gonna but my brain ceases to function recreationally once you get into like 30+ degrees celsius and it has literally been that temperature even at night most of this week please help

Read Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, and Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir. Very good books. Fun time. What if Catholicism were Homestuck? Well, apparently, if the writing is good enough, and there's lesbians, it would be a fun and interesting book series? I wouldn't have thought so either initially.

More seriously, though, they're very good books, and remain good despite substantial changes to the narrative format over the course of the books. I will say, I did not particularly like the interstitial narratives in Nona. This is mostly because I think referring to present-day (more or less) Earth in SFF is a silly move that is sort of pointless by definition. If you've convinced your audience to care about your silly make-believe world, then talking about Earth is an obtrusive diversion, and if you haven't, then you're dead in the water anyway. I appreciate it characterizes John a bit more, but I dunno if either the method or the goal were apt. Nona is still great, because the interstitials are ultimately a small part of a very funny book, but, y'know.

I think more of the meme jokes are forced and unfunny than work out, and I think the bad ones detract more from the books than the good ones add to them. I guess it's lampshaded with the bad pun humor thing at the very start of the series, but, eh, doesn't help.

I have less to say about these books than I do about most things I review here. This is partly because it's easier to tear stuff down than praise it and there's so little to tear down, but mostly because, as I did with Friends at the Table, I have elected to pester exclusively the person whose fault it is that I'm reading this stuff with my inane observations, as punishment. I note that literally everyone else on tumblr has chosen a slightly different approach to the two series I'm mentioning. This is because I am an insufferable contrarian and also I don't really vibe with the concept of fandom but that's a separate issue. By the way, you might wonder why I would punish someone for introducing me to good books.

Been reading the Earthsea books because I never got to as a kid (did get to read the Chronicles of Prydain books, those ruled I think). Bit of a confluence of themes there, lot of stuff about mortality and the ways to attain and use power. Earthsea obviously less a fan of immortality as a concept, though even there I suspect there's a fair degree of ideological overlap. Also the only character who sticks around through the whole series has two names and they are Ged and Sparrowhawk. And the second book takes place in a locked tomb. Coincidences are funny I think.

Uh, who to recommend these books to. Anyone looking for a good series of novels to fill however much time it takes you to read them? They're really very good. I eagerly await Alecto the Ninth.

[cebwrites]

Merm AU (family lines)

oc x canon/they them law word count: 1.2k

Kirin's grandparents were overprotective and "conservative" to a fault - not so much in the political sense, rather that they were just old and didn't take very well to change - so he ended butting heads with them often, but they did care for him a lot

The reason they held on so tightly was because the didn't want Kirin to end up like his mom; leaving for the city and becoming every parent's nightmare "wild child', having a baby during college she couldn't support so Kirin was left in the care of his grandparents, barely being around for her baby because she was so busy with coursework - Kirin's mother sent money back when she could but honestly, it was meagre and just about all she could afford, but every month there would be an envelope with 100$ in their mailbox anyway

Kirin's father tried to be in his life but his grandparents never liked him - on the account of being irresponsible and having a baby when neither were ready - Kirin spent his childhood back and forth between his grandparents' cabin and with his dad's family in the city, never really got along with either but at least with his maternal grandparents he had the woods and the lake and Law to look forward to; every summer he could just swim and forget about the toils of being in a dysfunctional family

His paternal grandmother raised Kirin's dad and uncles by herself, she was a strict, cold, woman that was very much the Asian tiger mom stereotype; his grandmother and father got into a huge blowout argument when Kirin was a baby over whether his father should have kept him or not, though she'd eventually come to care for him in her own distanced way - in the end she said told him that Kirin didn't need to bring her grandchildren, only to be happy when he visited her grave every few years

Kirin was all cried out by the time her funeral took place a couple years ago but he was the one handling most of the arrangements and organization and was bereft for weeks, everyone on his father's side of the family had issues with one another but they were able to set things aside for a month or two to spend time grieving together at least

He had a strained relationship with his parents before, but when his mom didn't show up that day, Kirin decided that whatever went on in her life was no longer his business - though Kirin still keeps in vague touch with his dad (calls once a few times a year) and has a younger brother he has little interest in because they never got along (this may change but ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ)

As far as he knew, they were still receiving cheques from his maternal grandparents up until their deaths just like Kirin did - seeing them at this funeral and not his "mama's 妈妈" made his blood run that much hotter, and spurred the argument he had with his mom in the parking lot while his dad tried unsuccessfully to calm things down

Both sides of his family were very religious, from his maternal grandparents' Irish Catholicism to his paternal uncle's Evangelicalism, and his late grandmother still clinging onto Buddhist beliefs from her childhood - Kirin grew up surrounded by it, and though his belief shriveled up and died around age 14 where most edgelords thrived, he still keeps a talisman somewhere in his house and keeps the beaded bracelet his grandmother gave him like a family heirloom, mainly because it's too old and frayed to wear anymore and with his grandmother gone, Kirin has no one to fix it

Rarely, very very rarely, Kirin will put on the silver cross from his maternal grandmother to complete an outfit if his usual punk accessories don't fit his vibe

Law was separated from their family very young during a storm, young enough not to remember what their parents looked like or what their sister's name was, but old enough to be haunted by the memories of blurry faces calling out their name and the vague idea of a young mermaid dragging her "big brother" by the arm for playtime

Law was found by Corazon, a fisherman in the area who sympathized with merfolk and kept them secret for safety, and was nursed back to health by him - Rosi would often lament about how they were such a young guppy but already have scars (physically and emotionally)

They spent their time visiting Corazon and playing in the areas where his boat would drop anchor, often helping him coral fish into his net too, for a few years; or at the very least until Rosinante's brother caught wind of these interactions and trouble began to brew - Law would eventually get sent away when Rosinante and Doflamingo had a huge argument over them, Doffy wanting to sell this kid off to the highest bidder and make millions while Cora knew how inhumane it was and wanted to leave the merfolk well enough alone

Law swam as fast away as they could when things got ugly and guns were pulled out, unable to meet with Cora's partner he promised would take care of them and even well into their teens didn't know whether their father figure-- no, their dad, was still alive or not; they'd get their confirmation and subsequent reunion with him when Rena tumbled into their life on the cusp Law's early 20s just a couple years after Kirin left town and, before Law even realized it, Rena had squarely took the role of their baby sister

They consider Penguin, Shachi, Bepo, Cora, and his family as part of their own now—though the latter Law only sees sparingly—so even though it still hurts at times, Law doesn't let old visions from the past bother them all that much anymore, especially with Kirin back in their life, his friends supporting their joined ventures as a couple, and someone new on the way that they can't wait to meet

That said, Law still retains a few key things from their early childhood, like making medicine and salves from the plants and animals around them; their parents weren't exactly brain surgeons or doctors like the people they were on Flevance, but Law remembers how their mom and dad cared for their community and through all adversity, took that to heart

Though they live vastly separate lives and maybe don't even swim in the same waters anymore, the comforts of a lake connected to a river up the mountain and tunnels below opposed to the vast openness of the sea, Lami still holds out hope that she'll get to see her brother's smile again at least once despite her parents' pragmatism since - all things considered, it has been 24 years

And for what it's worth, Kirin has people not related by blood he considers closer than his relatives as well, an older man with a toothpick always in his mouth who ran the bar Kirin constantly frequented in his 20s in particular, along with his gruff partner (who, by the way, also absolutely flipped over video call when Kirin told them about the "news" ie a grandbaby on the way)

[datadegroove]

i've been blue collar all my life and there is an interpretation in this country of being a person who works with their hands as like, this honorable or "real manly man" way of being alive. and when you go from like the absolute bottom tier of like assembly line labor to what's considered a real career, it really becomes clear that this idea is something that infects almost every layer of american culture. it is this disgusting catholicism-adjacent self flagellation thing that people do to justify whatever horrible thing is being done to them. and make no mistake, blue collar work is a horrible thing. but it's not really the average joe's fault. this is why capitalism doesn't work, why it's an inherently evil thing. after all, what the hell are you supposed to do? not everyone has the ability to rock the boat in a way that might matter. unions and striking may be legal in this country, but trust me when i say that kind of action can only occur under very specific circumstances. for every manual labor position, roughly half of the people working there are so uneducated that they're anti-union because the union "takes away their rights". many others are so entrenched in their flagellation that they believe this is the way things ought to be. so you play the game to keep yourself and your family alive, to keep your head above water. and after generations of playing this game, now it's the way of life, both for us, and for the people making profit off of our labor. and i can't even really blame the people who are making that profit. many people who run the middle management of these companies did legitimately come from the bottom, and worked their way to the top. that in itself is a smokescreen, it's a trap to keep you complacent. because you played the game and you "won" (which simply means that you get to work behind a desk now), the system works. everyone has the ability to win. sounds a little bit like the lottery, doesn't it? my general point is that blue collar labor is evil for its needlessness. half of these positions could be eliminated with a little bit of thought and logistics, and the other half could have their workplace environment altered so that it's not quite so similar to hell. I don't deny that there are certain dirty jobs in the world that HAVE to be done. someone has to, say, be the person who casts molten metal. this job is hot, it's dangerous, it has the ability to kill not just that worker, but everyone in the plant with one errant mistake. my point is that when we put something like air traffic controllers on a job, there's an understanding that that person cannot operate for long periods of time, and that lives are at stake if they can't operate. but you see, the blue collar life means nothing. because it has no capital by design, it's designed from the ground up to be as close to a slave as you can possibly be without actually being one. you are a disposable unit, a tool to be used and discarded. and because of this attitude that these people have towards their own fates, they'll smile and shake your hand as they willingly step into a machine that can break you into a million pieces. i know people who have permanently broken their leg from slipping on a ice while they move a 10,000 pound pallet, have had their arm literally ripped off and reattached, have slit their femoral artery on panes of glass. you think the jobs paid for all that? don't worry they're "adding new safety procedures to ensure that this kind of incident doesn't happen again". and these are just some of the things that I know, in my limited experience. these things don't go away. but you go back to work in a couple months and everything is fun and laughter. so at what point is death no longer the baseline for change? i guess as long as you can afford your pointless ford truck, as long as the consumer gets their toys, it doesn't matter how much you or the people who made that purchase possible suffer. as long as everybody got to have their little playtime. if you're happy, i'm happy, right??

[ophelialoveshandsomemen]

On the '3 things' asks:

#11, #18, and #34

Thanks so much girl!!!

(omg, you're breaking my heart with that gif!) 💖

Anyways! To the answers! I'm sorry to inform you that it has turned into an article, I cannot write about books I'm passionate about concisely. So buckle up I guess?!!?

#11- 3 books I would recommend that everyone reads!

So I'm gonna put down books that I also think most people ( if not all) Could read, because a.k.a Lord of the Rings is not easy for a lot of people, for various reasons surrounding pacing and whatnot, though I highly recommend that one as well!!!

First book would be Sastun by Dr. Rosita Arvigo. It is a woonnnnderful book about her apprenticeship with a Mayan H'men. a.k.a shaman-like healer, who reminds us that the spiritual and the physical Cannot Be Separated! A very easy read that will blow your mind when it comes to your body and how you should treat it and it will forever change your perspective on Western Medicine. One warning though, if you do not actually know beforehand about what is and isn't "allowed" in Catholicism, do not base your future knowledge of it on this, as these healers really mix together Mayan worship and Catholicism. I do not judge them for this, but please be aware that not everything that they recount doing in this book is necessarily okay for Catholics.

Second book is Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This entire series was my comfort book growing up, but I recommend the first as it truly is the cornerstone of the series. ( FYI My personal favourite is actually the last book, Rita of Ingleside.) :) A story about girl with a wild imagination and longing for a kindred spirit, nothing better to dive into!

Third book will be Mexican Martyrdom by Rev. Fr. Wilfrid Parsons. I was obsessed with the Cristero War as a young teen ( thanks to my mother getting me the movie, For Greater Glory, when I was 12 because she knew I liked war movies...I know, weird 12 year old girl, I was a tomboy okay...) This is a period of history that, if I remember correctly, is very rarely talked about because there's a lot of misunderstandings and bad blood surrounding it. But this book was written by a contemporary catholic reverend who was in and out of Mexico while it was happening and was acquainted with some of the "people in charge" shall we say. So it's quite reliable and helps clear some of the murk clouding this patch of history. ( Also, I highly recommend watching the aforementioned movie, For Greater Glory ( 2012), (which you will very much enjoy if you are Oscar Isaac fan btw) and another thing I rec is this short film from around the same time, called Cristeros y Federales, link is here. ( Also, this one has the ever lovely Tenoch Huerta starring! ) ;)

#18- 3 dream jobs from my childhood

Ummm I got at least two. I wanted to be a religious Sister who was also a nurse and I would go help third world countries. Then I realized that heat existed....

And then I wanted to become a famous stage actress!

There was also a bout of wanting to leave everything behind and become a mountain (wo)man/trapper in the Northwest Territories. Dunno if that counts!! ( esp. since I still wanna do that half the time...)

#34-3 people from history who inspire me!

I might stay short and sweet with these, because most have got some, shall we say 'ugly history' attached to them, through no fault of their own.

Pocahontas, the Algonquin Princess. Really inspired me to respect and love and ally myself with nature.

St. Joan of Arc. Peasant girl turned saviour of France who stuck to her principles no matter what.

Marina Raskova, founder and leader of the ' Night Witches' a.k.a the elite soviet pilot regiment who are amoung the most badass ladies ever. Check them out! Their story is so cool!

[jourquet]

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥: 12 & 22

thank you so much, mari, for sending ask in return. ♡ 12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them i think more people should look into the character roach. especially considering how huge role he has for ghost in the OG games. they're more connected than new fans believe they're. even soap comments on it, in his notebook. but newer fans have barely any idea he exists at all. roach also appears in the cod mobile comics; though brief in appearance, is clearly shown he is as skilled as the rest in SAS and carries on his own. many tend to HC him as mute (which, in my opinion, is very annoying, had it been IRL, they would've pulled him off-duty if that was the case). the bigger part is making him half deaf, which is more likely. i understand he rarely if at all talks in the OG and people want representation, but some things people put on him are impossible even in canon. or they make him "weak" for ghost. i love roach since he is excellent at his job, he is a reliable friend/colleague, quiet but smart where it matters. he also can be brutal like the rest of 141. but fandom tends to ignore it. i like him with all his faults and questionable decisions. it makes him a human being. 22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores soap's catholic background. which i personally relate a lot with as a half mexican myself. people tend to just ignore it and go all for his rebellious teenage years when the catholic background forms so much more of who soap is as a person. he keeps having hope when other characters lose it. i think that's one of the reasons price took his death in the OG especially roughly. he is a shining beacon of hope when everything else fails. yuri lived so long because of him as well. and price could make his revenge because of soap's decision in trusting the right person. something catholicism takes highly. he is the glue that keeps 141 together. without soap, everything falls apart. the remaster shows this perfectly as well. he ties unlikely allies into actual friendships which can last for when they need to call for help (141).

[asexual-fandom-queen]

So, I was gonna just reblog this with a small addition in the tags, but I actually wanna go into more depth than that, because as someone who is on the aromantic and asexual spectrums, I feel I have some unique qualifications to speak to this.

Shipping real people is extremely, extremely normal.

It's human nature to care about people we know and invent details to fill in the gaps of what we don't, and that includes people's romantic lives! Have you never had those two colleagues at the office that everyone thinks should just date already? Literally invented the concept of "water cooler talk." Ever think about someone you like and imagine spending time together, or going on a date, or even hooking up? Did you *gasp* tell your friends about it??? Congratulations, that's self-insert RPF baby!!

The thing about the rapid digitalization of our world, and the way social media has been able to connect so many people in such frank, unfiltered ways, does mean we're experiencing a real and undeniable problem of not having strong cultural and social etiquette rules for RPF. You can razz a friend about having a crush when you notice them always stammering around someone cute. You can gossip like old bitties in the cab on the way home about the waiters from the restaurant you just attended having freakish chemistry and obviously something is going on. What platforms like Twitter and Instagram allow is for you to directly razz your waiters and that's just not appropriate!!!!

Circling back to the whole aro/ace perspective, one of the biggest issues to my mental health that I've had to work on taking in stride is the way people's assumptions about what my orientation "should be" directly impacts the behavior they then expect of me. It is deeply uncomfortable to feel like I can't be too nice, or too tactile, or too personal, because the natural societal expectation is that those behaviors only ever indicate romantic or sexual interest, and it's my fault if people's feelings get hurt, and it's my responsibility to ensure I don't give anyone the wrong impression.

I have absolutely zero issues with the way people think about me privately. And, to me, privately includes conversations with friends. Talk about what you think motivates me, or what scares me, or what delights me. Think about me sexually. I have no right or reasonable expectation to control the thoughts in your head. This is not Catholicism and there are no thought crimes.

The only reasonable expectation I have is that you not hold me to a standard of behavior solely on the basis of the way you've imagined me.

And how is that not also the golden rule of RPF? Not that it shouldn't exist, or that it's inherently wrong, but that it be recognized as fundamentally a fictionalization, and that we under no circumstances are to expect the real people involved to engage with the fantasy.

Write fics! Share them with friends! Fuck it, I'm not even saying don't post it on Twitter (though I know some pro-RPF folks do) But here's what we're not gonna do. We're not gonna tag the people involved. We're not gonna comment directly on YouTube videos or Instagram posts. We're gonna shame the shit out of interviewers who bring up RPF unsolicited in interviews. Because we are not entitled to encroach on people's reality for the sake of our fantasy.

Even when it's like so fucking obvious something is up.

We leave the waiters the fuck alone.

well.

[french-vanilla-in-the-clouds]

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭! 𝐒𝐚𝐦 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫

Sam Winchester x Reader (HEADCANON)

***early 2000′s playlist to set the scene!***

GIVE IT UP FOR THE STANFORD BOY!

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

- You’re taking a theology course at Stanford and while the course itself is intriguing, there’s something else that always steals away your attention...

- Or rather, someone else.

- In the third row from the front sits a student that you can’t take your eyes off of. He’s tall, he has a kind smile and his hair is ruffled. Sometimes it gets in his eyes and all you can think about during lecture is pushing it away from his forehead.

- You notice that he’s always sitting in the same seat. While everyone else shuffles around to find a new spot each day, this student claims his place in the third row without a problem.

- This means that he’s an early bird. Always a step ahead of everyone. On time and orderly. You’ve made it a habit to match his schedule, so you attend class earlier in the hopes of catching a seat near him. Despite your best efforts though, he always makes it there first. Day after day, you find him reading or jotting down notes before the professor begins.

- One day you snag a seat beside him. You’re nervous and can hardly concentrate. You’re acutely aware of his “ahh’s...” of understanding of the course material, his light chuckles at the professor’s corny jokes, and the broad strokes of his pen during note-taking.

- It’s when his elbow brushes against yours that you let out a small gasp and drop your pencil. It falls down a couple rows and you can’t retrieve it without disrupting the lecture. He stops writing and turns to you. “My fault,” he amends. He reaches into his carrier bag and pulls out a spare pen. “Here, take this,” he whispers. “My treat.”

- Since that day, you’ve made sure not to sit next to him anymore. Why risk making a fool of yourself again? Better to find a good seat a couple rows away and admire him from afar. As for the pen? It’s now your lucky pen and you carry it around wherever you go.

- Weeks of neglecting your professor’s lectures, choosing instead to swoon over the mysterious student have finally caught up to you. An exam is scheduled in seven days and you have no idea where to start your studies.

- You decide to hit the books. An all-nighter at the library never hurt anyone, right? RIGHT?

- So wrong.

- You head to the library and start studying up. Angels and demons; a contrast... The issue of eternal damnation vs eternal paradise... Discourse between European philosophies regarding the morality of the soul and biblical rhetoric... Yeah, what a perfect way to spend the night.

- Your head is aching but still you push on. After you’re through with Demonology: an introduction, you sit up and stretch. Then you walk to the library’s Christianity and Catholicism section to search for the sequel; Demonology: II

- Why did you take this course again??

- As you peruse the bookshelves, you can’t help but silently curse that cute theology guy for distracting you. Who does he think he is showing up to class looking like that?

- You’re reaching for a book when a hand touches yours. You jump back, startled. “Sorry about that,” someone laughs. “Here, let me.” He drops down on a knee and picks up the fallen volume. He looks up and smiles at you.

- He’s wearing multiple layers of clothing and has a carrier bag slung lazily across his shoulder. He picks up the book and hands it to you. “Sam Winchester,” he says, extending a hand. “Don’t I know you?”

- When he figures out you’re from his theology class and are having trouble studying, he insists on helping you.

- SAM WINCHESTER IS A GENIUS. He tells you he’s pre-law but knows so much about... well, everything! He’s especially well-versed in the supernatural and offers his own fun facts about certain pagan deities and demons, speaking about them almost as though he’d met them himself..

- You’re awestruck and tell him how amazing he is for knowing all this. It’s here where he clears his throat, smiles nervously and looks back down at his papers. “You’d be the first to think so.” He says quietly.

- Sam loves coffee and offers you a cup every few hours. In fact, he offers you a lot of things throughout the study session. Pens, pencils, notes, papers... Even if it’s clear you don’t need a thing, he insists. Beneath his kindness though, is a nervousness from being around you...

- The exam comes and goes, but you and Sam continue studying together. Every day he saves you a spot next to him in class and every night you book a seminar room in the library just for the two of you.

- You learn a lot about him in the next few weeks. He’s a model student, he’s always dreamed of becoming a lawyer, and he’s very reserved. It’s clear from the offset that Sam doesn’t like to talk about his family or past, so you don’t pry.

- Three weeks later, the exam grades come back. Sam gets a high 90% which is typical. You’re too scared to look at yours but Sam snatches the paper playfully and checks for you.

- He smirks and turns the page around. “Congratulations.” He says. “85%.” You squeal and wrap your arms around him. When you pull back, Sam is looking at you, a warm expression on his face.

- “Sam?” You ask. He doesn’t say anything but tucks a stray lock of hair behind your ear. “Congratulations,” he says again in a near whisper. Then he leans forward and kisses you.

- Since that day, you and Sam have been inseparable. When he walks around campus with you, it’s always with your hand tucked neatly into his while he carries your textbooks under his other arm.

- Your fall semesters together are usually spent on campus, studying under the shade of the trees. Sometimes, you both lie down on the grass, your head on his chest while he tells you scary stories- Sam has quite the imagination. Other times, he gets sensitive when you ask about ghosts and monsters, so he shrugs it off, opting instead to read you something straight out of a textbook.

- Winter semesters are spent at the college café. You both order your favourite drinks and lounge in the plush seating while students come and go out the door. Some of your favourite moments are when Sam types away at his laptop and you lean your head against his shoulder, eyes closed as the scent of coffee beans and lattes waft around you.

- Sam loves listening to music. He’s a total CD burner and has dozens of playlists on his iPod ranging from soft rock to history podcasts and true crime audiobooks. He never listens to music while he’s studying (it distracts him), but you can usually find him in bed, staring up at the dorm ceiling while music blares from his headphones.

- He’ll never admit it, but he’s a tiny bit emo at heart (we all know that he’s an angsty man!). Sometimes you’ll hear Fall out Boy or Evanescence blaring from his headphones, maybe even The Fratellis (He loves Chelsea Dagger and Whistle For The Choir)... It is the early 2000’s after all.

- On occasion you’ll catch him listening to old classic rock hits with a small smile on his face. His eyes tend to get glassy when he does this...

- Sam bought you an MP3 player for your birthday. He burned a mix of his and yours favourite music so that you can have a part of him wherever you go. He dedicated James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful to you for obvious reasons.

- Sam is a little weird. Sometimes you feel he’s a bit too invested in keeping up appearances. He tries to sell the image of being a normal college boy, but you know that he’s hiding something.

- It’s the little things that tip you off. His refusal to talk about his family and childhood, the small sigils sketched into the margins of his notebooks, the silver blade hidden underneath his pillow... But mostly it’s the salt. How much salt does a guy need?

- Once, you found a salt shaker in his carrier bag when you asked to borrow a book in class. Another time, you visited his dorm and found a dozen packs of table salt hidden around the kitchen. Hadn’t your theology professor mentioned that salt was used in rites of purification? You’re beginning to suspect that your boyfriend is either consuming an alarming amount of sodium, or is a cult member.

- Hopefully, it’s the former.

- Sam is a total nerd and spends most of his time studying. He seems almost obsessed with over-achieving. Though most of his friends take college for granted, it’s almost as though Sam is afraid that if he doesn’t give it his all, someone will snatch it away from him.

- Most of your dates together consist of quiet evenings in. Though Sam is sociable, frat parties aren’t his scene, so he’d much rather spend some downtime with you watching a movie in his dorm, or just lying in bed talking.

- Sometimes when you sleep with him, you wake up in the middle of the night to his low groans and mumbling. Usually you wake him but other times you listen to his sleep talking and wonder what part of his past caused the restlessness. In most of his dreams, Sam talks to someone called Dean.

- Sam likes physical contact. He’s always touching you in some way. At night he sleeps with you in his arms, his head nestled in the crook of your neck. During the day he’ll hold your hand while you walk to class together. He just really needs the security of your touch.

- He doesn’t have many pet names for you. It’s always Y/N, or “hun” if he’s feeling particularly affectionate. He would rather show you his love through deeds like fresh cups of coffee, soft caresses, and second-hand notes rather than call you goofy names.

- Sam’s not into intense PDA. Don’t expect anything more than a quick kiss or a handhold if the two of you are out with friends. He has always been a bit timid and prefers to keep his love life out of the spotlight.

- When the two of you are alone, Sam feels more comfortable showing affection. His kisses are warm and tender. He always smiles against your lips and holds you tight. He feels he can be most vulnerable with you, so don’t be surprised if he steals kisses All. The. Time.

- You usually sleep in his dorm. Sometimes the two of you talk until the first rays of sunlight shine through the window. You like to fall asleep in his Stanford hoodie. The crest and school colours are faded but it smells like him and feels like home. When the alarm blares in the morning, Sam is always the first to hit snooze and wake you up with a kiss on the cheek.

- Breakfast is quick and surprisingly healthy. Though you’d never pass up on a plate of boxed pancakes, Sam prides himself on a balanced diet. He cooks egg white omelettes and frittatas for you when you’re not running late to class.

- Dinner is usually a low-key affair, BUT he does like to surprise you on occasion. Sam enjoys taking you out to local bistros every so often and treating you to cozy plates of small-town food. Just remember, Sam is a student so money is tight. Maybe the restaurants aren’t the fanciest around town and the food isn’t exactly gourmet dining, but with Sam Winchester by your side, does it really matter?

- From morning to night, your relationship with Sam Winchester is perfect. He’s intelligent, compassionate, loving, and you adore him for it.

- One night you feel Sam climb out of bed. You hear the sound of a struggle and sit up. You’re just about to investigate when something catches your eye. You look out the window and see a sleek black car parked in the shadows. “Dean?” Sam asks from somewhere outside the bedroom. You recognize the name and whip your head around.

- Things are about to change.

▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️

Yoohoo! Give Peppermint Kiss a shot!

Hey everyone!!! This was my first HC AND first Sam piece... sooo yeah. 

Omg I LOVE, LOVE. LOVE the vibe of early spn episodes and college boy Sam is just so cute! Okay confession time: I kind of sort of wish that I was a teen in the early 2000′s, what a time, am I right??? Movies and tv shows make it look great but then I think of the perks of being a teen now in 2021 sooo yeah, I guess I’m good where I am lol. A girl can dream, I guess. 

Alright, off the crazy train again... thanks for reading!

If you’d like to be tagged in any future Supernatural fics, just tell me in the comments... or visit my taglist! (and if you’d rather not be tagged in ALL Supernatural fics, please specify; EX: Reader x Dean, Christmas with TFW series, etc…)

tagging the wonderful: @the-chaotic-cow @tuttifuckinfruttifriday @adaydreamaway08​ @stitchintimefan​ @andthevillainshallrises​

[barbaralimao]

Look, I've learned about Calvin in school, all right, both fundamental and high school, but as my books were marxist, we learned it in the way of "oh, and this shitty guy is one of the reason why capitalism SUCKS, the USA is the worst place on earth, Imperialism IS THE DEVIL ITSELF. Do you know how the Portuguese fucked us over? SO, it would be WAY WORSE if they were Calvinists." (I went to school in Brazil in the turn of the century, we were having a ball after the end of the Dictatorship and showing critical everything to everyone. And while I do not like the marxists interpretation in my school books, it's only because it takes our agency on major things of our history).

And that's it, I followed with my culturally catholic life with a deep distrust of evangelicals and stuff (THEY BROKE IMAGES OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE 2000, HOW CAN YOU TRUST THEM), only to come to the year 2022 of our lord, with evangelicals and neopentecostal and megachurches on the rise, the drug traffic and the churches working together and stuff, and I decide to sit down with a collegue that is breaking free of his church to talk about cultural differences between growing up catholic and growing up evangelical. He was explaining something to me and I was so confused, so, so confused. Then something dawned on me. "WHERE'S the free will????? People don't get to MAKE A CHOICE?" and he was so confused. That's when he was introduced to the concept of free will and I was introduced to the concept of manifest destiny live in technicolor, and then there's the two of us having the biggest crisis of our life. "HOW can you follow this religion if everything is already decided? How can you believe in a God that makes you live in fear? How can you think that being afraid is love? That doing things to avoid punishment is better than doing things because you want to, out of the goodness of your heart? How can you live without recognizing that everyone is both good and bad, and goodness is a thing we choose? That sometimes you sin, because you're human and this is our nature, but everyone deserves another chance to change?". He only got angry and stormed off. And before this, I got really angry when they used Christians without including obviously christian religions like catholicism and kardecism (the two other biggest in my country), but after that I'm like. Yeah. If being Christian is whatever you guys got going, catholics are definitely not it. Of course the catholic church has a fuckton of crimes and IS terrible, there's extemists and stuff (I don't even go anymore, fuck them), but like, I can't imagine what it does to someone's brain to grow up in so much fear. In my family, we joke that the evangelical churches seem to love more the Devil and Hell than God and Heaven, because they only speak of them. The first time I heard hell in a mass I was almost thirty and EVERYONE was so pissed at the priest for that sermon that he ended up being removed from the parish.

Anyway, we may not be rich or chosen or anything like that, we have our faults, but at least we care for each other, and in the end that's what matters. And as a country that was marjorly catholic, our constitution follows this principles - to the point that it's way more advanced and offers way more protection to minorities than what the society today would like. Our problem now is that the evangelicals are on the rise, and with them the ideas of exceptionalism and that you should not help the poor and these ridiculous stuff and they prey this same poor and vulnerable people, while throwing rocks at priests that feed and treat the homeless. This is not a metaphor, they are actually trying to outlaw giving food to homeless people, mostly because of one priest that does this in a huge city (with the help of the nearby mosque, I must add!).

Anyway, I got derailed, but what I want to say is that even if you are aware of the consequences of Calvin and his thoughts, sometimes you can't grasp how deep this influence goes and the implications until you see a change. I can say for myself that I never realised who deeply catholicism influenced the laws and the way people behave in my country until it began changing. In the end, growing up in a religion gives you a set a core beliefs about the world that shapes everything around it. The major religion (or lack of!) of a country has huge influence in about every single thing.

Me, starting a video that says it's going to explain how Victorian poorhouses fucked up the concept of charity forever: ok, show me what you've got

Video: it starts with the ideas of the Christian philosopher --

Me: DON'T SAY IT DON'T FUCKING SAY IT

Video: -- John Calvin

Me:

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

reading tolkien takes me ridiculous amounts of time and I'm trying to work out why exactly is that. his work just rings a bit hollow to me, beautifull story, beautiful world, beautiful words but while I read it, I feel like I'm watching the story and especially the character through glass. LOTR is a story driven story, right? or it is just me not vibing with it as much as I'd like to. cuz I truly want to! the history, the world building makes my heart soar but then I crashland while the characters come into the picture. (Tolkien's allergy towards "human" characters, those that have their own faults and make mistakes does not help at all...) I wonder if it's just me or other people have even a bit similar problems with Tolkien's writing

I think that's an entirely valid opinion to have and not at all an uncommon or unusual experience with Tolkien's works.

My own experience is one of those ones where I love the world, I love the potential, the broad outlines he's given us of characters, but the execution of the story itself? I've a few critiques I'd make if I were in a writing workshop with him. (Stop letting your Catholicism scuttle and undermine how you demonstrate the message of the story. Unless you specifically do want it to be that death is the only form of redemption possible, fuck basic kindness and the power of friendship and love. I somehow don’t think that’s what you’re aiming for.)

It does come down to the fact that Tolkien is doing a specific thing with LOTR, and Middle Earth more broadly. He's got this language he's created, this history he's developed for it, and now he's got a world to make for it and those are ultimately the fundamental details he cared most about. It's where his linguist, academic side really shows through.

Not that he didn't care about his characters, he absolutely did (as is abundantly clear in letters, in writings outside the trilogy). But Tolkien was writing, in many ways, a mash-up of Arthurian legend, Anglo-Saxon epic, and classic fairy tale. All these modes of story telling are ones meant to convey things in a more allegorical format. They're not, traditionally, character driven/deep interiority forms of writing/story telling.

To get a great depth of connection to a character requires a lot more work on the side of the reader than in, let's say, something written by Ursula K. Le Guin or NK Jemison. Even things like Lies of Loch Lamora and hell, Discworld (which started its life as a spoof of works like Tolkien's), have more character-driven-ness than LOTR and I think most of us are more used to that than these more traditional, if at times archaic, modes of story telling.

Because, as you said, LOTR is story-driven, not character-driven. The characters exist as vessels for the story, which can - and in the case of Tolkien does - give them a distant feeling. (Obviously, everyone is different and there are plenty of people who would vehemently disagree with me, and that's fine. To each their own/we all get different things out of different books.)

The withdrawal from the intimate portrait of people that LOTR does is what allows Tolkien to world build so successfully. Doing all that development, while being deep inside someone's head, is hard! It's something GRRM has run into (and I suspect one of many reasons why he's never going to finish ASOIF).

So, yeah, I wouldn't say you're alone in finding connecting with the characters hard and finding the books a bit difficult to sink into the way we would with another series. Tolkien does require the reader to work harder than other writers and, at the same time, he's writing a specific kind of series and it's just not character-first.

My very long way to say, I don't think you're alone and you're right in thinking it's a by-product of how Tolkien has structured his narrative (i.e., story driven entirely which leads to less rich and fleshed out characters, because every approach to a novel has its pros and cons).

Thank you for the message/ask! <3 <3

[caspercryptid]

Wait what was that bit about Pokémon Go nearly causing your parants’ divorce

Okay so sit down and strap in this is gonna be a long one.

So my father is a person that exists, right. Most of my stories about my father land somewhere in the "is your dad an alien" range of being that wonderful mixture of quirky and straight up horrifying that will definitely be funny in hindsight. Probably. Maybe.

Maybe.

Anyway he's really into Pokemon in the way of someone who's never actually played a pokemon game or... Any. Game. As far as I can tell. We had VCR tapes when I was a kid he recorded off of the TV with Pokemon episodes and he played them to me when I was in the crib so much that my first word was Squirtle, but he doesn't have the attention span for video games. And then comes the summer of 2016.

Now, some more context.

My father lost his telecommunications job in the great recession and after four years working overseas came home with his tail between his legs and found his second calling as a full time couch potato

My mother is a lapsed Catholic wound care nurse whose fond story about how she met my father starts with the words "he annoyed the piss out of me"

You can see how this is not exactly the setup for Marital Bliss. My brother and I used to take bets about if they'd get divorced once we both left for college. And then neither of us managed to stay at college. But anyway, back to the summer of 2016.

I'm gonna put a cut here and warn that this story is going to contain... Uuuuh unsafe driving, catholicism, and some weird weird emotional manipulation. Okay? Okay. Let's go.

So it was probably my fault, but in my defense, absolutely everybody needed more friends in Pokemon go in 2016, and I did not have an abundance of those, since, as mentioned. Home from college. And my father has a habit of trying to stay current, so while I can't place the exact conversation in my memory, it almost certainly went "hey what's this Pokemon game everyone is talking about" "oh it's a new app! It's really easy, you should try it." And there began the slowly unfolding horror of the next six years. Or maybe he asked me what all of those people were doing lurking around and the only thing I have to blame myself for is that time I introduced him to Reddit. Regardless, at the time that absolutely everyone was playing Pokemon go, my old fuck of a father was out there with my brother and I, and we like. Actually got along for like two blissful months. And then things started to get a little weird.

Now, my mother is, as mentioned. A nurse. She not only works an incredibly high stress job full time, she has no patience for superfluous crap, and so she was not joining us, and was in fact, starting to get a Little Stressed about the fact that instead of looking for a job my father was playing Pokemon go full time, joining discord servers for other players, and generally talking about the game nonstop and how much he hated team valor players. I kind of tuned that out because "your dad needs to get a job" was sort of a recurring motif in our household and like, I was a box office worker at a movie theater so what am I supposed to do about it, mom.

But here's the thing— box office at the movie theater is a night job. So I'd get home Late. And my dad's always had some problems with insomnia, so running into him as I was coming in wasn't Super unusual, but what WAS unusual was the fact that he was... Going out. As I was coming in. At 1 and 2 and 3am (hey kids don't buy tickets to the last showing of a movie on a weeknight your movie theater employees will thank you) and when I asked him what he was doing, he went. Oh you haven't heard about PokeRadar?

For those who didn't live this, or were too legit to use it, PokeRadar was a short lived hack that allowed you to see what was spawning on a map of your area and how long it would be there. So my father was opening his PokeRadar map at 1 and 2 and 3 in the morning and seeing that there was a Dratini down the street and just Wandering Out In The Middle Of The Night to catch it. I'll cop to having gone with him a few times, even. So that's. Happening. And then the server outages start happening, it gets more and more frustrating to play Pokemon go, they're slowing down releasing things, the community days are starting to suck, and my father is.... Still playing.

And not only is he still playing, he's getting worse. There's a Catholic church near our house with a gym on it and a bunch of Pokestops and he goes over there so often that a priest came out to talk to him about finding more meaningful pursuits. He started going to the church every Sunday during mass to take down the gym while no one's in the parking lot. (Remember I mentioned my mother being formerly Catholic? Yeah that one didn't go over great) He's also started softly kidnapping my brother and I every time we go out to eat. He just takes random detours on the way home and tries to convince us to join in the raid "since we're already here, come on, I need three people for this raid". He makes a discord account that has my great uncle's name (my mom's uncle) because it's the "most generic name he could think of". He literally will not let my brother and I go home directly after meals. He still doesn't have a job. My parents don't stock the fridge and my dad is going out to eat while Pokemon go-ing for every meal so it gets to the point where my brother and I look at each other and realize we literally have to play Pokemon go with this man if we want reliable access to food.

But the thing that really drove my drove my mother insane— after the 2am climbing out of bed to catch a Dratini and the lack of a job and the constant bitching about team valor and IVs and candies and the lack of food in the fridge and so on and so forth. And I am surely forgetting some of it. As if all of that weren't bad enough. The thing that Almost broke my mother was the fact that this man plays Pokemon go and drives.

When Pokemon go was first introduced they didn't quite have the egg hatching system figured out yet and you could hatch eggs while driving. And then they introduced the speed measure and you could only hatch eggs driving slow. But Pokemon still spawn at full car speed! And that is why my life has flashed fully before my eyes more than once because my dad has mounted the phone against his center console and just played. Constantly.

Anyway this story ends on a bit of an anticlimax, because I once asked my mother why she hadn't divorced my father yet and she looked me dead in the eyes and said "when you marry someone you swear to love them until they die" but I've lived with these miserable assholes for the better part of 25 years and I swear my mother has never been closer to divorce papers than the day my father decided it would be a good idea to go 15 miles per hour in a giant circle instead of going directly to our destination and nearly got into an accident because he was spinning a PokeStop.

He still does it tho.

Has Not Stopped.

Anyway thanks if you read this far plugging my ko-fi because I still live with these people and I Hope That Answered Your Question, Anon.

Bonus: one time we went out to play Pokemon go with my dad and my stoner boyfriend and my stoner boyfriend's Californian friend and the Californian friend looked at me and went, verbatim "Yo your dad's cool though. I fuck with your dad." And I had no words for that one. None. I still don't.

[recovering-catholic]

Hi Emily, I really hope this is okay to ask, I find your blog very helpful and would appreciate your insight a lot if you feel comfortable with answering. I feel very much alone in this because even when I had Catholic friends back in high school (I went to a Catholic private school), no one in my group of friends had a Catholic upbringing as strict as mine. Most of the people in my school were just there due to being "rich kids" tbh, none of them really had Catholicism ingrained in them outside of school, and they still got to enjoy stuff like Halloween, rock music, and fantasy books, while those are considered "sins" by my mom.

Anyway, the main point of my question is how do you deal with Holy Week? I had been trying to privately practice "anti-Lent" this year but I find that once it actually gets to Holy Week, things get HORRIBLE for me.

I still live with my mom who's very Catholic, she already gave me a hard time on Palm Sunday, but the day I'm really afraid of is Good Friday since she always gets extremely unstable during Good Friday (crying, talking about demons being in our house, making sure that everyone around her is mourning properly, etc.) and there's no real way for me to leave. I just have a bad feeling that this year is going to be even worse compared to previous years (we currently have some bad stuff going on in our family, like illness, conflicts with other family members, and just generally a lot of day-to-day annoyances that of course are always the fault of 'demons' which she blames on me supposedly 'inviting' into our home). She has been really out of touch with reality lately, even before Holy Week started, I won't go into everything she says, but she is having hallucinations related to demonic entities 'invading' our home and doesn't want to seek help because she "trusts God, not humans." I'm sorry this might sound like a heavy topic but I really need advice from someone who understands what this is like. Do you have any coping tips you could share since I really don't have a support system? Or at least some reassurance that I'm not the only one with trauma surrounding Holy Week, and in particular the day of Good Friday? Thank you so much, take care.

Hi there.

Thank you for your ask. I'm sorry for the delay - this ask got buried and then I had a lot of personal/work stuff come up as well.

I hope you are well. ❤️

You are welcome to DM me if you want to talk more.

In terms of coping without an irl support system, I would recommend looking for community online - Facebook, Discord, etc. These things were helpful to me during my deconstruction.

This sounds like a really challenging situation, and I'm sorry that you're experiencing this.

You are absolutely not alone. Even 5 years out of the church and living away from my family, Holy Week can still trigger me intensely.

I am lucky that I have friends and some family who understand and that I can talk to about it. And when the religious trauma really hits, I go on here or in some of my Facebook groups to remind myself I'm not alone, I blast music, and I write.

Please take care of yourself and like I said don't hesitate to DM me if you want to.

Love and light ✨💜✨

[sneverussape]

this crossed my dash so i’ll go ahead and answer since it applies, but since it’s also a workday they’ll probably be really simplistic and based on top-of-mind thoughts.

- a definite thing that makes catholicism unique is the veneration of Mary and all linked practices, i.e. the rosary. Mary is THE girl. we don’t mess with her; we love her. she is everyone’s mom;

- another thing that makes it unique is the concept of transubstantiation which is when bread and wine turn into the body and blood of Christ during consecration (and no, no one believes it literally happens). this is the most sacred part of the mass;

- the veneration of saints is also unique to catholicism in the sense of it still being a thing in a major world religion in the modern era. we have a saint for everything and they are great little fellas who can help you out because god is often busy. each day has an assigned saint and we still name kids after saints in the hopes that they will emulate their good traits. also, a lot of the names are cool;

- im a born and raised practicing roman catholic but grew up in an amalgamation of cultures so have seen how different places practice catholicism. my formal education is jesuit-based (so quite liberal) and I also have a number of jesuit and Dominican priests and lay ministers in my family. my culture also blends catholicism and animism because our catholicism came from colonizers and had to adapt to local practices. the ancestral beliefs have meshed so well with the catholic ones that it’s difficult now to tell them apart. it’s very different from American catholicism (which can be further divided into subsets - Irish, Italian, etc). I honestly think we have a lot in common with irish catholics;

- what feels uniquely catholic to me are the concepts of guilt and also humility. these are concepts that i not only remember being referenced at mass and in lessons but also practiced by the catholics I know, whether or not they notice it. in line with this we were trained not just to pray but act (corporal works of mercy - feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc) because words aren’t enough and you should care for the community. the concept of forgiveness was also a recurring thing. forgive your enemies, forgive those at fault, move on and pray for them, don’t wish them ill. In my experience a huge part of the religion is being aware of your faults and the fact that you too are a sinner, saying sorry and trying to right wrongs (although we know the Church itself has issues with these, but the church is also not a monolith). those three - guilt, humility, forgiveness - are def the core catholic traits I feel and it’s what should propel you to action in the form of community work. when my mom first watched iron man, i shit you not, she asked if Tony stark was catholic ksdjkdk;

- i also feel like catholicism has the most tactile form of worship among the Christian sects (although I can’t speak for orthodox and anglican bec afaik we have similar practices). prayer and devotion often involve touch - holding a rosary, holding hands, kissing a statue, touching a scapular, the sign of the cross. this is also why i think romanticism or eroticism is on another level when linked to catholic concepts, since worship is often accompanied by intimacy;

- we also have…banging aesthetics. the way catholic art never shied from blood, death, and gore is something a lot of people are surprised with but that in itself is very catholic because it shows Suffering which is also a key concept;

- we are also not super into jesus the way Protestants are. I suspect this is due to the concept of the trinity but we are not as Jesus-obsessed the way we are for Mary lol. like he’s cool and a great guy but have you heard about his MOM? 😌 (this is slightly jokey but if you’re catholic you get what I mean)

sorry for the ramble and disjointed thoughts!

Calling All Catholics!

Weird thing for a Jew to post I know I know but hear me out here.

I would like to hear from Catholics (current and ex/raised),

what do you feel separates your religion from others (both other sects of Christianity and other religions as a whole? what feels unique or specific to you/your culture/your beliefs/your church? this can be theological beliefs, practices, or even aesthetics

what things feel "inherently Catholic" or "Catholic coded" to you?

if you don't mind, would you also include what subset of Catholicism you are/were raised in (Roman, Byzantine, Irish, Opus Dei, etc)?

As you may have guessed, this is for research, and I personally only have experience with Roman Catholicism (and limited experience at that, more cultural than truly religious). I would love to hear from a larger subset of people. My family is extremely Italian Catholic but that's just one very specific version, and I don't have much/any experience with any others. I'm curious to see what the common ground is.

Reblogs/signal boosts are appreciated as I doubt I have like a SUPER broad Catholic following myself lol!

[fanonical]

I've seen you mention the Pendle witch trials pls tell me more about it (if you're down if not where can I find info?)

Please, like I didn’t put that in just to bait someone to ask me about it so I could go off about local witch history.

So it’s the 1600s, specifically 1612, and we’re in Pendle Hill, Lancashire. This is where the Device family live - yes, Good Omens fans, this is where Anathema got her name. Though it’s actually pronounced Deh-viss, to rhyme with ‘crevice’.

Anyway, the Device family were social outcasts. They were beggars who lived off whatever they could borrow, steal, or beg from others. They might have been Catholics if I remember right, which was a dangerous thing to be in James I’s England. One day, one of the children, Alizon, was walking when she came across a peddler. She begged him for some pins, and he refused, so she cursed him. And he fell down, instantly afflicted. He managed to get to an inn, where he told everyone what had happened. He survived, but the damage was done.

In the modern day, it’s agreed that he probably had a stroke or heart attack caused by shock or illness, but imagine how this looked to poor young Alizon. She was convinced it was her fault, and confessed the crime.

The Device family was arrested, along with some others - a local wealthy woman named Alice Nutter among them. (I also take issue with Gaiman and Pratchett using these names for real witches in Good Omens, by the by.) Evidence against the Devices included that the grandmother was a local wise woman, a kind of hedge witch healer, and had known grudges against others in her community. Adding to this was a meeting at the Device household on Good Friday. This was probably a Catholic meeting in actuality, Catholicism still being underground at this time, with outspoken Catholics and Catholic priests being executed, but it was claimed to also be a witches meeting, where some of the accused bragged about children they had murdered.

Enter Jennet Device. Jennet was the youngest child of the family, around nine years old. Her testimony against her family and the others tried for witchcraft (Alice Nutter, some of another local family, the Chattoxes, who were hedge witches similar to the Device grandmother) was crucial. Jennet claimed that the meeting on Good Friday was a witches meeting, that her mother had been a witch for years and had a familiar, a dog. She claimed that there were human body parts in her house used in black magic rituals, and that Satan spoke to her relatives. Confessions from some of the accused were taken after torture. The ‘witches’ were accused of the murders of local people, as well as witchcraft. Reportedly, Jennet’s mother had to be removed from the courtroom during her testimony as she was screaming at her daughter that her accusations were untrue.

Now, to place this event in some historical context - James I was the King of England, and his Daemonologie was published in 1599. His writings about witchcraft are similar to some of the events of the trial. He said witches use human body parts - human skulls are found in the Device family’s home. He said children could act as key witnesses - here’s young Jennet, condemning her family. It’s likely that the prosecutors were manufacturing the ‘perfect’ trial to get in King James’ good books, essentially, and coached Jennet on what to say in court. It’s also likely the poor kid didn’t quite understand what she was saying, and what the consequences of her testimony would be, or that she was conditioned into thinking that her family were sinful and guilty by prosecutors.

Nine of the accused were hanged, including poor Alizon, her brother, mother and father, and Alice Nutter. The Device grandmother died awaiting trial. Jennet Device was left essentially alone in the world, a victim of discrimination and oppression, with the knowledge that she had testified against her family in the trial that led to their deaths.

The event has some fame still, because it was written up in an account called The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, Lancaster being how the county of Lancashire was sometimes referred to at the time.

Now, in 1634 there was another witch trial in the local area, in which one Jennet Device was one of the accused. It’s unknown whether this is the same woman, but it’s interesting to see the comparisons in the trials. Like in the 1612 trial, the key witness was a child - a young boy, who claimed to have escaped abduction by witches and blamed them for murders of local people. Unlike the 1612 trial, this boy was found to be lying. It was a scam. His father was blackmailing local women for money, and having the boy accuse them of witchcraft. This was after they had been found guilty in Lancashire, and during cross-examination at a later trial in London. The accused were pardoned - though with prison conditions being even poorer than they are today, it’s likely at least some of them died in jail.

And that’s the story of the Pendle witches, at least as far as I recall it.

[big-blog-of-cheese-day]

How the cast of The West Wing plays Cid Meier's Civilization V

Bartlet- Has been playing since the original Civ. Every move is calculated. Knows how to max out all of his resources. Has a firm military presence, but doesn’t often go down the warpath. Founds Catholicism every time. Favourite Victory: Diplomatic

Josh- Makes deals with everyone. Has defence alliances with every other player, but is constantly hoping that none of them go to war with each other, because he cannot handle them fighting. His capital is somehow almost always right next to tundra, which he won’t stop complaining to Donna about. Favourite Victory: Diplomatic

CJ- Uses her army EXCLUSIVELY for personal vendettas. Uses all her spies as diplomats to try and secure a diplomatic victory. Will sanction anyone who doesn’t follow the freedom ideology, and is not afraid to ban that one luxury that other civ has a monopoly on. Favourite Victory: Diplomatic

Toby- Tries for a culture victory every time, but somehow always ends up spending all of his gold on troop maintenance. It’s not his fault that everyone else is constantly encroaching on his territory! Calls his Giant Death Robots SpaldingTM High Bounce Balls. Favourite Victory: Claims it’s cultural, is actually domination. 

Sam- Actually succeeds at going for a culture victory. He knows the quotes for every tech, era, and great work of writing. The only person Toby will have a trade rout with. Favourite Victory: Cultural

Charlie- Constantly screwed over by his start location, but persists on to become a serious world power. Bartlet regularly sends him units and holds concerts on his territory so that he can focus on the tech tree. Starts wars with CJ. Favourite Victory: Science

Leo- Spends a lot on military, so that he can attack and be confident he won’t ever lose a whole unit. One of two people who can consistently beat Bartlet victory. Is always lagging behind in the tech tree. Favourite Victory: Domination or Diplomatic, depending on how annoying josh has been.

Will- Regularly gets a really good start, and plays it pretty safe. Constantly gets world wonders snatched out from under him though. Doesn’t stop him from constantly trying to build more. Favourite Victory-Time

Donna- Doesn’t know what most of the menus and screens tell her. Runs the city states as kind and benevolent ruler, and thus is able to kick everyone’s ass at any victory type of her choice. The OTHER person able to beat Bartlet at diplomatic victories. Favourite Victory: Any and all.