Bridget O’Brien
@bridgetemob.bsky.social
Philadelphian, Chicagoan, Catholic lay minister • she | her
“And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:”
“And having answered so I turn once more to those who sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer and say to them:”
When I was 10, my parents were driven off the highway by a tractor trailer (which did not stop). As a result, my father lost his job, my parents reached their lifetime max insurance coverage, and my family relied on neighbors’ gifts to eat.
I can’t do insurance discourse; it is too painful.
I can’t do insurance discourse; it is too painful.
November 11, 2025 at 5:10 AM
When I was 10, my parents were driven off the highway by a tractor trailer (which did not stop). As a result, my father lost his job, my parents reached their lifetime max insurance coverage, and my family relied on neighbors’ gifts to eat.
I can’t do insurance discourse; it is too painful.
I can’t do insurance discourse; it is too painful.
What, other than aesthetics, distinguishes Taizé prayer from praise & worship music?
I think this is a genuine question.
I think this is a genuine question.
November 11, 2025 at 3:10 AM
What, other than aesthetics, distinguishes Taizé prayer from praise & worship music?
I think this is a genuine question.
I think this is a genuine question.
Reposted by Bridget O’Brien
I love the city both because it is full of people that God loves, beautiful and majestic and because it is full of the beauty that people create - people being fruitful
November 11, 2025 at 2:53 AM
I love the city both because it is full of people that God loves, beautiful and majestic and because it is full of the beauty that people create - people being fruitful
Relatedly, here is a piece of graffiti written on the wall of a former hotel, which until November housed immigrants from Venezuelan who were bused from red border states to Chicago in the dead of winter with only the clothes they wore, after walking hundreds of miles & through the Darién Gap.
November 11, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Relatedly, here is a piece of graffiti written on the wall of a former hotel, which until November housed immigrants from Venezuelan who were bused from red border states to Chicago in the dead of winter with only the clothes they wore, after walking hundreds of miles & through the Darién Gap.
Reposted by Bridget O’Brien
I have seen the face of the Risen Christ crying and begging for food on the CTA.
If anyone says, “I love God [in the forest],” but hates their brother or sister [begging for money on the subway], they are a liar; for whoever does not love a sibling whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen.
November 11, 2025 at 12:43 AM
I have seen the face of the Risen Christ crying and begging for food on the CTA.
Reposted by Bridget O’Brien
"For the masses who do the city's labor also keep the city's heart"
I am sometimes moved to the point of bursting by the beauty of the city at night, by the people who have labored to make it beautiful, by the reality that we do not have the option to ignore each other, by the knowledge that all we have is one another.
November 11, 2025 at 12:41 AM
"For the masses who do the city's labor also keep the city's heart"
Reposted by Bridget O’Brien
One of my hottest takes is that I am personally exhausted by Christian nature spirituality. It’s not wrong; I have no valid objections to any of; we’ve all read Annie Dillard and Mary Oliver; I like Mary Oliver.
But the radical under-development of urban spirituality deeply frustrates me.
But the radical under-development of urban spirituality deeply frustrates me.
November 11, 2025 at 12:26 AM
One of my hottest takes is that I am personally exhausted by Christian nature spirituality. It’s not wrong; I have no valid objections to any of; we’ve all read Annie Dillard and Mary Oliver; I like Mary Oliver.
But the radical under-development of urban spirituality deeply frustrates me.
But the radical under-development of urban spirituality deeply frustrates me.
It doesn't have to be the nearest saint's day. Saints have themes and special interests for a reason.
For example, if you like feminism & Ireland, you can go ahead and name your child Brigid or Bridget (but not Bridgette) whenever she is born; you don't have to wait until Feb 1.
For example, if you like feminism & Ireland, you can go ahead and name your child Brigid or Bridget (but not Bridgette) whenever she is born; you don't have to wait until Feb 1.
No more Braedynns. If you're Jewish, you get named for a dead relative, if you're Catholic you get named based on the nearest saints day and if you're Protestant you open a Bible to a random page and choose the first name on that page. Return to tradition
November 10, 2025 at 7:46 PM
It doesn't have to be the nearest saint's day. Saints have themes and special interests for a reason.
For example, if you like feminism & Ireland, you can go ahead and name your child Brigid or Bridget (but not Bridgette) whenever she is born; you don't have to wait until Feb 1.
For example, if you like feminism & Ireland, you can go ahead and name your child Brigid or Bridget (but not Bridgette) whenever she is born; you don't have to wait until Feb 1.
What a good and decent person.
Michael D Higgins, with his wife Sabina, has left Áras an Úachtaráin for the final time as president.
He was given a guard of honour by members of the Sanctuary Runners, a charity of which he is patron.
The President’s term of office ends at midnight.
@VirginMediaNews.bsky.social
He was given a guard of honour by members of the Sanctuary Runners, a charity of which he is patron.
The President’s term of office ends at midnight.
@VirginMediaNews.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 7:40 PM
What a good and decent person.
Ah, it’s time for my mother’s annual Christmas tradition: asking that I tell her what sort of a gift I would like and then telling me over & over how stressful my request is.
November 10, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Ah, it’s time for my mother’s annual Christmas tradition: asking that I tell her what sort of a gift I would like and then telling me over & over how stressful my request is.
Watching a near-opaque wall of snow outside my windows, with the end “The Dead” ringing in my head.
”His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
”His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
November 10, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Watching a near-opaque wall of snow outside my windows, with the end “The Dead” ringing in my head.
”His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
”His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
Reposted by Bridget O’Brien
“Do not let familiarity dull your outrage” man you could do eye surgery with my outrage, we’re good on outrage
November 9, 2025 at 9:17 PM
“Do not let familiarity dull your outrage” man you could do eye surgery with my outrage, we’re good on outrage
I do keep thinking about how I would be having a full meltdown if my father were still alive and there was no guarantee I could make it to Philly to spend Thanksgiving / Christmas with him.
November 9, 2025 at 9:08 PM
I do keep thinking about how I would be having a full meltdown if my father were still alive and there was no guarantee I could make it to Philly to spend Thanksgiving / Christmas with him.
Is livermush just North Carolinian for scrapple?
November 9, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Is livermush just North Carolinian for scrapple?
Not to brag (sorry, I am definitely bragging) but people burst into applause after my boss’s homily today (this is not a common occurrence, even for very good homilies).
November 9, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Not to brag (sorry, I am definitely bragging) but people burst into applause after my boss’s homily today (this is not a common occurrence, even for very good homilies).
(looks left)
(looks right)
(sprinkles salt & Holy Water)
(crosses self)
(whispers)
…it wasn’t that bad.
(looks right)
(sprinkles salt & Holy Water)
(crosses self)
(whispers)
…it wasn’t that bad.
Planning to risk my life by going to Trader Joe’s after the morning Masses the day before a major winter storm.
If I don’t make it out, just remember: I love you, and I think I love (but will inevitably be disappointed in) Jingle-Jangle.
If I don’t make it out, just remember: I love you, and I think I love (but will inevitably be disappointed in) Jingle-Jangle.
November 9, 2025 at 7:21 PM
(looks left)
(looks right)
(sprinkles salt & Holy Water)
(crosses self)
(whispers)
…it wasn’t that bad.
(looks right)
(sprinkles salt & Holy Water)
(crosses self)
(whispers)
…it wasn’t that bad.
Planning to risk my life by going to Trader Joe’s after the morning Masses the day before a major winter storm.
If I don’t make it out, just remember: I love you, and I think I love (but will inevitably be disappointed in) Jingle-Jangle.
If I don’t make it out, just remember: I love you, and I think I love (but will inevitably be disappointed in) Jingle-Jangle.
November 9, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Planning to risk my life by going to Trader Joe’s after the morning Masses the day before a major winter storm.
If I don’t make it out, just remember: I love you, and I think I love (but will inevitably be disappointed in) Jingle-Jangle.
If I don’t make it out, just remember: I love you, and I think I love (but will inevitably be disappointed in) Jingle-Jangle.
Watching an improvised musical about high school mock trial and—as a former mock trial nerd—I am DYING.
Mock trial kids: theater kids, but nerdier & more self-righteous.
Mock trial kids: theater kids, but nerdier & more self-righteous.
November 9, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Watching an improvised musical about high school mock trial and—as a former mock trial nerd—I am DYING.
Mock trial kids: theater kids, but nerdier & more self-righteous.
Mock trial kids: theater kids, but nerdier & more self-righteous.
Yesterday it was 61°; Monday we may receive anywhere from two snowflakes to 87 feet of snow; Chicago baybeeeee greatest city in the world.
November 8, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Yesterday it was 61°; Monday we may receive anywhere from two snowflakes to 87 feet of snow; Chicago baybeeeee greatest city in the world.
Every day I become more convinced that Philadelphia is the most similar city to Chicago & vice versa. There are many reasons for that, but one of the funniest is:
I’m in a neighborhood quite far from where I live & work. I’ve run into two people I know on the street.
I’m in a neighborhood quite far from where I live & work. I’ve run into two people I know on the street.
November 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Every day I become more convinced that Philadelphia is the most similar city to Chicago & vice versa. There are many reasons for that, but one of the funniest is:
I’m in a neighborhood quite far from where I live & work. I’ve run into two people I know on the street.
I’m in a neighborhood quite far from where I live & work. I’ve run into two people I know on the street.
“I thought I knew what it meant to love Chicago. … I love this place, and I thought I knew how much, until you made me love it more.”
November 8, 2025 at 4:37 PM
“I thought I knew what it meant to love Chicago. … I love this place, and I thought I knew how much, until you made me love it more.”
I once again regret to inform you* that wrenching oneself out of bed before dawn, immediately showering, and leaving one’s apartment is “good” for “mental health.”
*myself
*myself
November 8, 2025 at 1:36 PM
I once again regret to inform you* that wrenching oneself out of bed before dawn, immediately showering, and leaving one’s apartment is “good” for “mental health.”
*myself
*myself
There’s no right or principle this administration respects.
“…the anonymous representative, told a group of faith leaders and activists that “There is no more prayer in front of building or inside the building because this is the state and it’s not [of a] religious background.””
“…the anonymous representative, told a group of faith leaders and activists that “There is no more prayer in front of building or inside the building because this is the state and it’s not [of a] religious background.””
Feds Tell Faith Leaders 'No More Prayer' Outside Broadview Facility
In a possible violation of the First Amendment, federal officials instructed demonstrators to stop holding religious gatherings outside the immigration processing facility in suburban Broadview after ...
blockclubchicago.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:11 PM
There’s no right or principle this administration respects.
“…the anonymous representative, told a group of faith leaders and activists that “There is no more prayer in front of building or inside the building because this is the state and it’s not [of a] religious background.””
“…the anonymous representative, told a group of faith leaders and activists that “There is no more prayer in front of building or inside the building because this is the state and it’s not [of a] religious background.””
Reposted by Bridget O’Brien
Stuck boat coupla days before the Fitz anniversary, spitting distance from Mariners Church.
November 8, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Stuck boat coupla days before the Fitz anniversary, spitting distance from Mariners Church.