Sisters Big and Little

I've been asked if, on my next trip to Rome, I'll be staying with my sister.... Well, my sister's actually here in Philly. Just today, we were about to head out to lunch and she couldn't put down a copy of He's Just Not That Into You.

If you haven't heard about it, don't ask. But it was, for her, some kind of relevatory moment.... It gave me an idea to write a manual for those people who love nothing better than a good catfight with Father after Sunday Mass. Working title: He's Just Not That Into Your Ecclesiology (And With Good Reason).

But as for the Roman sorella in question, Sr. Bernadette Mary Reis of the Daughters of St. Paul has been in my life a sterling model of everything the church needs to be (but usually isn't). I've never seen anyone with her magnetism of heart and passion of mind anywhere. She's a treasure for those of us who know her... and I'm more than happy to be nothing more than her forerunner.

That spirit of goodness found her in a blessed moment the other day with a beggar on a Roman street. Check out her blog and get the scoop -- and send the woman some love, she's just that good.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Bernadette sent me a card for today's feast of St. Rocco. He's the one who got his leg licked by the dog.

More soon.

-30-