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Archive: Campus Catholic
My (Forthcoming) Confession
While I’ve always believed that I have much to learn from the wisdom of the ages, I could not surrender on the point of confession.
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 23, 2008; 07:32 PM ET | Comments (15)
Mom, I Give You This Blog Post
When I first heard Billy Collins read his poem, The Lanyard, I was entranced. It was hilarious; it was sensual; it made me cry. It is damn good use of 331 words. I tried in vain several times to write...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 11, 2008; 03:22 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Web of Connections and Disconnects
While the world is becoming more interconnected on the global scale, we are increasingly losing our sense of belonging in the very places in which we live, work and play.
By Elizabeth Tenety | April 30, 2008; 05:05 PM ET | Comments (3)
Confessions of a Cradle Catholic
September 11. The clergy abuse scandal. War in Iraq. It's enough to fill a cradle Catholic with doubts and fears.
By Elizabeth Tenety | April 14, 2008; 04:35 AM ET | Comments (33)
Vegetarian Sins (Meat Happens)
Am I still a vegetarian if I eat steak? Am I still a Christian if I sin?
By Elizabeth Tenety | March 27, 2008; 09:45 AM ET | Comments (29)
Home for the Holiday
These days, home is where my laptop is –where with the help of Skype, Gmail and Facebook I can see, e-mail and yes, poke my friends and family.
By Elizabeth Tenety | March 21, 2008; 02:27 AM ET | Comments (1)
Eat, Pray, Land
Live-blogging my flight: An anxious flyer takes to the skies. 2:00: I’m standing in line to board at Midway airport and the Southwest airline attendant announces that they have overbooked the flight and wouldn’t one generous volunteer just love to...
By Elizabeth Tenety | March 16, 2008; 11:04 PM ET | Comments (3)
Why I Am Not a Nun
Yes, I might have become a nun, if not for the persistent sense that without a family of my own –a caring husband and real, flesh and bone children that will obey me and love me and call me Mommy –I would not fulfill my potential as a human being.
By Elizabeth Tenety | March 11, 2008; 05:14 AM ET | Comments (3)
This Trend Shall Pass
A recognition of our inconsolable insufficiency is at the heart of Lent.
By Elizabeth Tenety | February 28, 2008; 11:16 PM ET | Comments (1)
Do All Websites Go To Heaven?
Should priests use the internet as a source for homilies? Matthew, Mark, Luke and Wikipedia?
By Elizabeth Tenety | February 26, 2008; 02:48 AM ET | Comments (3)
God and Islam at Georgetown
I was afraid to take a course in Islam. I feared the spiritual centrifuge that I knew the comparative study of religion would impose upon me. Terrified that I would lose my religion but curious enough to try, I enrolled in the course.
By Elizabeth Tenety | February 20, 2008; 08:44 AM ET | Comments (13)
Left Behind: The Catholic Edition
I do hope that holy young people will choose to serve the church through holy orders and consecrated religious life. But if they continue to choose to remain laymen, there must be a vigorous, wholesome, Catholic response to my generation’s spiritual hunger.
By Elizabeth Tenety | February 12, 2008; 01:50 AM ET | Comments (3)
Wednesday's Sign
The millions of Christians walking the earth Wednesday, bearing an ashy sign of the cross on their foreheads, may seem to some to be conspicuous trumpeters of their own piety. To the wearer, however, the sign traditionally indicates his penitence,...
By Elizabeth Tenety | February 6, 2008; 12:20 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Great (Caffeine-Free) Wilderness
Because I cannot imagine a world without coffee --smooth, creamy, dreamy Hazelnut coffee --I must give it up. The Holy Spirit better draw very near. I'm feeling desperate already.
By Elizabeth Tenety | February 5, 2008; 02:56 AM ET | Comments (36)
Bigger, Badder, Better?
The future of warfare is here. Do you like what you see? Can efficiency in warfare be a Christian mandate?
By Elizabeth Tenety | January 29, 2008; 11:59 PM ET | Comments (29)
One Body, on a Train to Chicago
Somewhere between panic, self-loathing and the ‘Washington and Wells’ stop, the podcast narrator drew me out of my reverie.
By Elizabeth Tenety | January 22, 2008; 11:11 PM ET | Comments (10)
12th Day: The Agony of Belief
Some may think that believers who struggle to process life’s complexity and heartache contradict themselves. Those believers may simply be honoring the truth they have experienced.
By Elizabeth Tenety | January 7, 2008; 12:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
11th Day: When Faith met Science
Eleven pipers piping: The eleven faithful Apostles Tradition holds that after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the apostles went out to the corners of the earth to spread the good news. Nearly 700 Sisters of Notre Dame have taken a new...
By Elizabeth Tenety | January 4, 2008; 09:30 PM ET | Comments (0)
Tenth Day: A Muslim at Mt. Sinai
The pilgrimage up Mt. Sinai is an interfaith act as Muslim Bedouin guides take mostly Christian pilgrims to a place of importance for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
By Elizabeth Tenety | January 4, 2008; 05:49 AM ET | Comments (0)
Nine Choirs Praying Twice
Unlike the Church Yeller, the lady who seems to think that shouting the Our Father louder than any other church goer will get her prayers heard more effectively, Church Singers aim not to be particularly noisy.
By Elizabeth Tenety | January 3, 2008; 02:21 PM ET | Comments (0)
Eighth Day: On Peace
What is a peacemaker? An American soldier in Iraq hoping to bring security to Iraqis? A Peace Corp volunteer? A child standing up to a bully?
By Elizabeth Tenety | January 3, 2008; 01:51 AM ET | Comments (5)
Seventh Day: I Imagine That Today I Am to Die
The late Jesuit priest Anthony De Mello developed the following examination of conscience which I have read many times but never completed. I’ve been afraid of it.
By Elizabeth Tenety | January 1, 2008; 01:53 PM ET | Comments (7)
Sixth Day: And God Said, They Shall Study Me
Don’t take the biblical account of creation literally. But where should Catholics look for information about the origin of the world?
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 31, 2007; 11:18 PM ET | Comments (0)
Fifth Day: The Spirituality of Kissing Elvis
A former movie star uses her talents in art to draw people closer to God.
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 29, 2007; 11:46 PM ET | Comments (4)
Fourth Day: Good News
As a counterbalance to the assault of hate in the news, several websites now serve as portals to positive news stories.
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 29, 2007; 02:56 PM ET | Comments (1)
Three French Hens: This Will Be on the Exam
Catholicism is a religion, but it also is a language, a way to speak about life that reflects the presence of God in the world.
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 28, 2007; 11:11 AM ET | Comments (2)
Two Turtle Doves For 2008
Two people working to get back to the basics, and love the young people of America.
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 27, 2007; 04:51 PM ET | Comments (2)
A Partridge In an Airport
I used to furiously pray Hail Marys when I traveled. Now I put my trust in God - not to protect me, but to simply be with me.
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 26, 2007; 09:02 AM ET | Comments (16)
Our Pregnant Teenager
Jamie Lynn’s decision to keep her baby was met with brutal scrutiny that few pregnant teenagers have ever had to endure.
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 19, 2007; 10:09 PM ET | Comments (273)
Life After De-Santafication
Following Jesus after submitting to Santa has taught me to give without recompense, to constantly re-evaluate my priorities.
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 9, 2007; 04:01 AM ET | Comments (106)
Interfaith vs. Inter-species Marriage
A shared religion is our saving grace, for while some couples have interfaith marriages, we will have somewhat of an inter-species marriage.
By Elizabeth Tenety | December 7, 2007; 12:49 AM ET | Comments (4)
When Worlds and Words Collide
Why did the AP decide to define the 'anti-abortion' group negatively? Why not make it fair across the board and use 'rights-based' terms? Pro-lifers believe in a 'right' to life.
By Elizabeth Tenety | November 27, 2007; 02:19 PM ET | Comments (19)
Getting Involved
I can not even imagine how many other times, in so many ways, that people have pleaded, knocked and shouted at me for help while I smugly walked by.
By Elizabeth Tenety | November 20, 2007; 10:06 AM ET | Comments (2)
Faith on the Front Lines
How does a Catholic who believes killing is wrong reconcile his beliefs with his duty as a soldier and interrogator at Abu Ghraib?
By Elizabeth Tenety | November 17, 2007; 12:30 AM ET | Comments (57)
Indigestion or God?
You know the times are tough when you’re selling insight into eternity back to the bookstore.
By Elizabeth Tenety | November 12, 2007; 12:10 PM ET | Comments (0)
She's Gone Country
Somewhere between listening to Alison Krauss and Tim McGraw, I realized that doggonit, I like this country stuff! And did I just say doggonit?
By Elizabeth Tenety | November 9, 2007; 09:20 AM ET | Comments (34)
Love and War and Peace
Supporting the troops takes on new meaning and responsibility when you actually know the troops. Policy is no longer abstract. Peacemaking becomes an obligation.
By Elizabeth Tenety | November 5, 2007; 02:12 AM ET | Comments (8)
Demonstrating in Word or Deed?
My peers entered Planned Parenthood in front of me; my spiritual brothers and sisters prayed for them next to me. The space between us was troubling.
By Elizabeth Tenety | October 31, 2007; 10:18 AM ET | Comments (151)
OMG!
My IM, iPod, Facebook generation is desperate to be caught, to be pulled back in to a world of meaning and intentional living. Hello, Church?
By Elizabeth Tenety | October 26, 2007; 05:43 PM ET | Comments (46)
Be With Me, Raja
Things I have done when I am upset: Cut my hair. Curled my hair. Blow-dried my hair. Enhanced my hair color with subtle tone enhancing highlights.
By Elizabeth Tenety | October 24, 2007; 01:05 AM ET | Comments (0)
Love at First Insight
Who needs to change, to move, to grow? Is it me or the church?
By Elizabeth Tenety | October 17, 2007; 09:42 AM ET | Comments (21)
Peace from Boston to Egypt
I have been looking over my photographs from my trip to Egypt and was reminded of an important episode. My tour guide, a highly educated Cairo native, was a walking encyclopedia for Egyptian history and present day politics. She was...
By Elizabeth Tenety | October 15, 2007; 12:37 PM ET | Comments (1)
And a Video Gamer Shall Lead Them
Youth ministers are trying to be "relevant" to teenagers, but really, which Halo video game aliens would Jesus kill?
By Elizabeth Tenety | October 8, 2007; 01:36 AM ET | Comments (92)
Our Model, Who Lived on Earth...
Some would be satisfied to spiritually exile questioners, agitators, sinners. I prefer Jesus’ way.
By Elizabeth Tenety | September 26, 2007; 10:48 PM ET | Comments (3)
How to Lose a Generation
The Christianity preached from our Catholic pulpits is totally lame.
By Elizabeth Tenety | September 21, 2007; 01:53 PM ET | Comments (45)
What To Do With a B.A. in Theology?
I studied Theology and Government at Georgetown, a double major that has landed me in the lucrative field of . . . Graduate School. Perhaps because of my academic background, I frequently find myself on the receiving end of unsolicited...
By Elizabeth Tenety | September 18, 2007; 10:43 PM ET | Comments (8)
Britney Wants Something More?
Pop culture wants my generation to believe that we are entitled to indulgence at every bend, and that no behavior can be deemed as inappropriate.
By Elizabeth Tenety | September 11, 2007; 10:13 AM ET | Comments (4)
Our Expanding God
From a 2005 article in Spirituality and Health Magazine, Brother David Steindl-Rast asks: (You must register for free to read the article but it’s worth the effort): Does your view of God build you up? Does it give you courage...
By Elizabeth Tenety | September 5, 2007; 12:44 PM ET | Comments (15)
There He Was
Georgetown is the type of place where students debate politics at parties. While I’ve never heard the question asked “Is that beer produced and manufactured under environmentally sustainable and socially responsible conditions?” I wouldn’t put it past my fellow Hoyas....
By Elizabeth Tenety | September 4, 2007; 01:32 AM ET | Comments (15)
The Holy Work of Journalism
In a few weeks I start my graduate program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where I will specialize in Reporting and Writing. The aspiring writer in me is craving this impending grammatical exorcism. I know that I am...
By Elizabeth Tenety | August 28, 2007; 03:21 AM ET | Comments (5)
Wild Life
I am packing for a camping trip –adventure –tonight and was fortunate enough to come across a poem by Mary Oliver that, especially on the eve of my foray into nature, is worthy of pause. Talk about religion and poetry;...
By Elizabeth Tenety | August 23, 2007; 09:46 AM ET | Comments (0)
Religion as Poetry
On Faith asks: What passage or verse in scripture or literature best defines your own faith or beliefs? Why? “Though as adults we want answers, we will sometimes settle for poetry.” –Kathleen Norris As a student of religion and an...
By Elizabeth Tenety | August 20, 2007; 12:15 AM ET | Comments (1)
Work, not Works
Over at Christianity Today, senior managing editor Mark Galli wrote ‘On Not Changing the World.’ Galli notes the pitfalls and even un-Christian-ness of the desire to upend a culture. The real Christian, he implies, is the one who performs the...
By Elizabeth Tenety | August 16, 2007; 02:03 PM ET | Comments (1)
Shamu-ed at Shamu
Ever since we met, The Boyfriend has been trying to instill in me a love of nature. I found that attempt sweet and all, but, I insisted, I don't do nature. The closest I wanted to come to the wilderness...
By Elizabeth Tenety | August 3, 2007; 08:45 AM ET | Comments (0)
Here Comes Martha
This past weekend I attended mass at St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church, the childhood parish of The Boyfriend, in Redondo Beach, California. St. Lawrence parish is in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, home of the recent $660 million sex abuse...
By Elizabeth Tenety | August 1, 2007; 12:27 PM ET | Comments (8)
Notes from the Underworld
Dispatch from the Drugstore: Why does Hallmark place the “Get Well” cards directly next to the “Sorry that you died” cards? Doesn’t that depressing juxtaposition makes the get well card seem rather disingenuous? Heck, your prolonged illness followed by your...
By Elizabeth Tenety | July 18, 2007; 02:05 PM ET | Comments (7)
11th Commandment: Stop Talking
Have you ever heard the Old Testament read with a Long Island accent? God sounds like Fran Drescher.
By Elizabeth Tenety | July 12, 2007; 10:01 PM ET | Comments (36)
The Trouble With Truth
My last post wastongue-in-cheek effort about the Catholic Church’s assertion of truth. It is rather redundant for the leaders of a particular faith to make pronouncements of truth –of course the hierarchy of the Catholic Church believes the Church is...
By Elizabeth Tenety | July 12, 2007; 12:45 PM ET | Comments (5)
My One True Faith
Today I discovered that, as a Catholic, I am a member of The One True Faith. This is a tremendous relief. As a sometimes anxious student of religion, I have studied other religions, often at a frantic pace. And like...
By Elizabeth Tenety | July 11, 2007; 08:24 AM ET | Comments (17)
Born in the U.S.A.!
I have not been particularly patriotic these last few years. Two brutal wars, a young adult’s cynicism and the study of post-modern theology can do that to a soul. Uncle Sam has proudly found his way back into my identity, in Egypt of all places.
By Elizabeth Tenety | July 3, 2007; 09:25 AM ET | Comments (26)
Like an Egyptian
I think I have done it all. I have ridden a camel between the pyramids in Giza. I have snorkeled in the Red Sea. I have been violently ill on an overheated, under-aerated, 14-hour train ride to Aswan. I have...
By Elizabeth Tenety | June 21, 2007; 02:53 AM ET | Comments (4)
Moses, the Mountain and Me
"Welcome to Egypt," the captain of my plane announced over the speaker, first in Italian, then in English. He did not need to remind me that I was in a strange place: the imposing, interminable desert loomed in the distance...
By Elizabeth Tenety | June 15, 2007; 11:10 AM ET | Comments (2)
Spice Up Your Life
Listening to the Spice Girls brings me back to a place that seems impossible now: a land of unapologetic happiness and innocence.
By Elizabeth Tenety | June 11, 2007; 12:15 AM ET | Comments (53)
Down the Aisle
Dear Strapping Young Man at the Bookstore, Thank you for running to open the door for me as you saw me walking toward Barnes and Noble’s oversized entrance. While you are of course aware that I can open my own...
By Elizabeth Tenety | June 7, 2007; 12:06 PM ET | Comments (4)
Wedded to Traditions
From the Washington Post: “Among Christians, Catholics are substantially less likely than Protestants to get divorced, according to a 2004 study by the Barna Group, a religious research organization. Among Catholics, it found, 25 percent have had a divorce, compared...
By Elizabeth Tenety | June 6, 2007; 01:48 PM ET | Comments (5)
The Girl Is Back in Town
I boomeranged. I packed up my fourteen bottles of shampoo, three hundred twenty four books and two thousand Hallmark note cards and drove to Lawn Guy-land, to move back into the humble suburbs from which I was expelled four short...
By Elizabeth Tenety | June 4, 2007; 09:58 AM ET | Comments (1)
Dark Ages of the Soul
This week, On Faith asks its panelists: How do you keep your faith during times of war? Fr. Reese insists that there are no atheists in foxholes, but Chaplain Major John Morris, on Krista Tippet’s Speaking of Faith, wholeheartedly disagreed....
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 31, 2007; 10:14 AM ET | Comments (3)
Today I shall buy Tillich
Today I shall buy Tillich. Last year, this penniless college student spent over $100 at Barnes and Noble one afternoon, scooping up Bonhoeffer, Newman and Augustine by the armful. It was Summer break, and I was hungry for God. The...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 29, 2007; 08:37 AM ET | Comments (3)
Love Letter of a Lifetime
When my family and I heard this letter read on Ken Burns’ documentary, The Civil War, there was not a dry eye among us. The letter’s author, Sullivan Ballou, sounds like an 18th century author of the Song of Songs,...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 28, 2007; 04:20 PM ET | Comments (5)
Lord, Send Out Your Spirit
Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, “a feast of the universal Church which commemorates the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, fifty days after the Resurrection of Christ.” I am a fan of the Holy Spirit/Ghost. The more malleable of...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 28, 2007; 03:43 PM ET | Comments (5)
Welcome to the Navy, Ma'am
Question: How do you like your freedom? Answer: Soaring overhead at 600 miles per hour. I am recovering from the sensory overload that is the Blue Angels. Today was a day straight out The Onion. The Boyfriend is to graduate...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 23, 2007; 05:51 PM ET | Comments (268)
God versus Georgetown
I walked from my apartment this morning to my final destination: graduation mass. The liturgy was the last celebration of a beautiful graduation weekend, and was the one event to which I was most looking forward. I am planning to...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 20, 2007; 10:40 PM ET | Comments (3)
She's Somebody's Mama
Yesterday, while doing work for the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, where I am a student assistant, I came across an inspiring blog. Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Pulmonary/Critical Care physician currently practicing in the greater Chicago...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 17, 2007; 12:17 PM ET | Comments (0)
Thank you, Marlie
“His heart, whenever he knew the child had been beaten, felt as if it were slightly too large for the space that was supposed to hold it.” –Flannery O’Connor, “A View of the Woods” The pizzas were delivered. Hundreds were...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 15, 2007; 11:10 PM ET | Comments (3)
Dear Paris Hilton
Dear Paris Hilton, You are one lucky woman. I am glad you are alive today to complain about your jail sentence. Many others who drove under the influence perished or killed others by their one bad decision. You are one...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 10, 2007; 11:51 PM ET | Comments (40)
On Pizza and Jesus
The headline reads: Death row killer orders pizza for homeless as final meal “Riverbend Maximum Security Institution will not deliver the pizza," said Riverbend spokeswoman Dorinda Carter. ‘We can get some special things for the inmate but the taxpayers don't...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 9, 2007; 01:05 AM ET | Comments (9)
One Morning in London
I love The Fresh Air Fund. Since 1877, the non-profit has provided free summer vacations to New York City children who would otherwise spend their June through Septembers in a bustling, crowded city. The Fund matches these children with area...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 7, 2007; 11:51 PM ET | Comments (4)
People and Bees
I was driving on Rhode Island Avenue a few days ago, just as school was letting out in the area. Children and their parents filled the streets. While the light in from of me remained red, a plump crossing guard...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 3, 2007; 10:51 AM ET | Comments (4)
This 42.86% Catholic
Earlier in the year, Georgetown’s campus ministry sent out an email inviting its Catholic students to take a survey called the “Catholic Faith Inventory,” a creation of Paulist National Catholic Evangelization Association. (PNCEA) The email included a link to the...
By Elizabeth Tenety | May 1, 2007; 01:13 PM ET | Comments (5)
Thank God I'm a City Girl
This past weekend, Matt, the boyfriend, and I took to Shenandoah National Park. Since he, the outdoorsman, has endured musicals, dance performances, theological lectures and artsy films on my behalf, I reluctantly acknowledged that I owed him a spirited jaunt...
By Elizabeth Tenety | April 26, 2007; 11:16 AM ET | Comments (9)
The Herbivore's Rumination
If you are what you eat, then I am not a dead animal. Michael Pollen, author of the “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” wrote another stunning article in the New York Times, detailing the complexity of eating. This time, he took on...
By Elizabeth Tenety | April 25, 2007; 10:03 AM ET | Comments (4)
Light to the World
There are deeply disturbed, destructive people in our world. This we know for sure. There are also everyday saints among us. This we have humbly witnessed. In Blacksburg, Virginia, gunman Cho Seung Hui killed a Holocaust survivor. Professor Liviu Librescu,...
By Elizabeth Tenety | April 18, 2007; 11:22 AM ET | Comments (5)
God (and Grandmother) Help Me
It is on days like today that I am reminded of how tenuously I cling to my own life. Despite every desperate desire to control my own safety, unthinkable events like the one at Virginia Tech, once again, prove that...
By David Waters | April 17, 2007; 02:27 PM ET | Comments (42)
Liz's Links
Resources: Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs Feminists for Life U.S. Conference Catholic Bishops Pew Forum on Religion Blogs I frequent: Beauty Tips for Ministers Crunchy Cons Get Religion Testosterhome (Catholic Mom Blog) Religion News: Speaking of Faith...
By Elizabeth Tenety | March 1, 2007; 01:04 PM ET | Comments (4)
