Weekly Summary: 11/29/25
The week in review, through the eyes of a veteran Catholic journalist
It’s been a short work week, so this will be a short post.
We celebrate Thanksgiving to the full here in New England (where the beautiful holiday originated). For me, that always means taking both Thursday and Friday off work, and this year I left the office at noon on Wednesday, to begin smoking a turkey. The weather was perfect of the occasion: slate-grey skies and brisk breezes, but not bitter cold: a good day for a long indoor gathering. We had a total of 23 people around the table for the feast, equally divided between adults and children. We served two turkeys— the one smoked, the other roasted— with all the fixings. As always the meal ended with a choice— a very difficult choice— among four different pies. I hope all my readers had a similarly wonderful day.
• The week began well for me, too, with a friend’s praise for Ghost Runner. Not just any praise; he compared my novel to the work of exactly the author I had mentioned, in a talk last week, as my model for the book!
• I welcomed the news that Prince Albert of Monaco had vetoed legislature that would have made abortion legal. But I was not enthusiastic about the reason he gave for his decision: “the role of the Catholic religion in our country.” Abortion isn’t wrong because it offends Catholic; it’s wrong because it offends God.
• My one short essay for CatholicCulture this week was about the Vatican’s return of Indian artifacts that had been donated to the Holy See a century ago. Leaning heavily on an outstanding piece by m Ashley Frawley, a Catholic with roots in the indigenous community, in Compact magazine, I observed that by returning the gifts— which had been freely given— the Vatican unfortunately lent some support to the falsehood that there’s an inherent conflict between the Catholic Church and the Canadian tribes. As Ashley Frawley wrote, speaking for the many Catholic Indians: “Are we not Catholics, too?”
• Then just for fun (and to answer some readers’ questions), I explained the title of my novel. Ghost Runner refers to a baseball term, but I want it understood that I was thinking of the sandlot version, not the unfortunate innovation by Major League Baseball.
And that’s it! As I said, a short work week. But I’ll be back with new vigor on Monday.