Jon M. Sweeney
@jonmsweeney.bsky.social
Publishing on Jan. 6: 'Experiencing God: 36 Ways according to Saint Francis of Assisi.' Author of other books includ ‘The Complete Francis of Assisi’, ‘Meister Eckhart's Book of..’, etc. Vermonter. Catholic married to Recon rabbi.
Pinned
I'm happy to announce that the final book I'll write about Francis of Assisi will publish next January, from Monkfish Publishing, in time for the 800th anniversary of the saint's death. Here's the cover!
This was the day, earlier this year, when I pretended to be a Capuchin. It was fun. www.focolaremedia.com/magazine/con...
I Am Francis: Reflections on Playing the Part of the Poverello
A Capuchin friar recounts how portraying Saint Francis on stage became an experience of prayer, identity, and divine love.
www.focolaremedia.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:58 PM
This was the day, earlier this year, when I pretended to be a Capuchin. It was fun. www.focolaremedia.com/magazine/con...
He wouldn’t have irreverently set Q on the floor like that.
November 11, 2025 at 9:40 AM
He wouldn’t have irreverently set Q on the floor like that.
Nicholas Black Elk (left) and Eagle Elk stand in Our Lady of the Sioux Church on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in the early 1900s.
November 10, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Nicholas Black Elk (left) and Eagle Elk stand in Our Lady of the Sioux Church on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in the early 1900s.
My mantra:
“If you can’t pray, at least say your prayers.” George Bernanos
“If you can’t pray, at least say your prayers.” George Bernanos
November 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
My mantra:
“If you can’t pray, at least say your prayers.” George Bernanos
“If you can’t pray, at least say your prayers.” George Bernanos
This may be the publishing rom-com you haven’t seen. It’s fun. Bette Davis as a magazine editor in 1948.
November 9, 2025 at 12:23 PM
This may be the publishing rom-com you haven’t seen. It’s fun. Bette Davis as a magazine editor in 1948.
OK, now write the article about all the rabbis and Jewish leaders who supported him in his vision for the future.
Or would that not be clickable enough?
Or would that not be clickable enough?
Leading up to the election, more than 1,100 rabbis and Jewish leaders from a range of denominations signed a letter against Mamdani’s candidacy.
religionnews.com/2025/11/06/i...
religionnews.com/2025/11/06/i...
‘I feel like I’ve lost my home’: Some NYC Jews who hoped Mamdani would lose consider their future
NEW YORK (RNS) — After Mamdani’s election, the Anti-Defamation League announced an initiative to track his administration and the safety of Jewish New Yorkers.
religionnews.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
OK, now write the article about all the rabbis and Jewish leaders who supported him in his vision for the future.
Or would that not be clickable enough?
Or would that not be clickable enough?
Reposted by Jon M. Sweeney
Access to the sacraments is the tip of the iceberg. They won't allow clergy access bc they aren't running a proper detention facility. The scandal that religious protests are highlighting is not that the detainees' religious rights are being violated, but that ALL their rights are being violated.
He said that the agents would throw food at them to eat. The agents threatened to withhold food for a week and to beat him up if he didn't sign deportation papers. He said he saw others refuse and get beaten/receive no food. He signed because he was afraid.
November 7, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Access to the sacraments is the tip of the iceberg. They won't allow clergy access bc they aren't running a proper detention facility. The scandal that religious protests are highlighting is not that the detainees' religious rights are being violated, but that ALL their rights are being violated.
If you’re interested in the best of religion and spirituality, here are some of the books I’ve been reading. www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/
What's New in Spiritual Books | Spirituality & Practice
See reviews of books on practices and the issues of the day and read excerpts. Find spiritual books for children. Search thousands of reviews or choose from our annual lists of the 50 Best Spiritual B...
www.spiritualityandpractice.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
If you’re interested in the best of religion and spirituality, here are some of the books I’ve been reading. www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/
Al-Jāḥiẓ: Arabic scholar of the Qur'an and Greek philosophy, great 9th century writer, might be the only writer in history who was killed by his books. A massive stack in his Basra library fell on him.📚#bookhistory
November 6, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Al-Jāḥiẓ: Arabic scholar of the Qur'an and Greek philosophy, great 9th century writer, might be the only writer in history who was killed by his books. A massive stack in his Basra library fell on him.📚#bookhistory
Self-publishing history. Dickens published A Tale of Two Cities in his periodical. Melville, Hardy, and Twain all subsidized early works, paying publishers to issue them. And Leonard and Virginia Woolf started Hogarth Press to publish Virginia's fiction that was too innovative for mainstream houses.
November 6, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Self-publishing history. Dickens published A Tale of Two Cities in his periodical. Melville, Hardy, and Twain all subsidized early works, paying publishers to issue them. And Leonard and Virginia Woolf started Hogarth Press to publish Virginia's fiction that was too innovative for mainstream houses.
Catalogers of used books used to refer to bindings like this one as ‘shaken.’ In other words, well read. I gravitate toward them.
November 5, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Catalogers of used books used to refer to bindings like this one as ‘shaken.’ In other words, well read. I gravitate toward them.
“The most ignorant Person…may write Books in Philosophy, Poetry, Politicks, Laws, Mathematicks, and Theology, without the least assistance from Genius or Study.”
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
November 5, 2025 at 5:29 PM
“The most ignorant Person…may write Books in Philosophy, Poetry, Politicks, Laws, Mathematicks, and Theology, without the least assistance from Genius or Study.”
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
"Love does not make you weak; it is the source of all strength. When you begin to love you see the nothingness of the illusory strength you once depended on." Leon Bloy
November 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
"Love does not make you weak; it is the source of all strength. When you begin to love you see the nothingness of the illusory strength you once depended on." Leon Bloy
Very cool! And I'm told that anyone can join.
"The Boston College Faith Feeds Book Club offers a sacred space to explore Christian books and engage in virtual conversations with the authors who inspire them. Our next feature book and author is..." www.bc.edu/content/bc-w...
"The Boston College Faith Feeds Book Club offers a sacred space to explore Christian books and engage in virtual conversations with the authors who inspire them. Our next feature book and author is..." www.bc.edu/content/bc-w...
November 5, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Very cool! And I'm told that anyone can join.
"The Boston College Faith Feeds Book Club offers a sacred space to explore Christian books and engage in virtual conversations with the authors who inspire them. Our next feature book and author is..." www.bc.edu/content/bc-w...
"The Boston College Faith Feeds Book Club offers a sacred space to explore Christian books and engage in virtual conversations with the authors who inspire them. Our next feature book and author is..." www.bc.edu/content/bc-w...
Save the date? Milwaukee- at the Capuchin Spiritual Center - on January 10 to learn practical ways of encountering God in daily life according to the experiences of St. Francis of Assisi.
Or, come to my event at @boswellbooks.bsky.social the night before, Jan. 9: www.eventbrite.com/e/jon-m-swee...
Or, come to my event at @boswellbooks.bsky.social the night before, Jan. 9: www.eventbrite.com/e/jon-m-swee...
November 4, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Save the date? Milwaukee- at the Capuchin Spiritual Center - on January 10 to learn practical ways of encountering God in daily life according to the experiences of St. Francis of Assisi.
Or, come to my event at @boswellbooks.bsky.social the night before, Jan. 9: www.eventbrite.com/e/jon-m-swee...
Or, come to my event at @boswellbooks.bsky.social the night before, Jan. 9: www.eventbrite.com/e/jon-m-swee...
I love the simple typography of this book jacket. I always find Updike interesting, often frustrating, but this is a beautifully edited and produced book by @AAKnopf.
November 4, 2025 at 1:14 PM
I love the simple typography of this book jacket. I always find Updike interesting, often frustrating, but this is a beautifully edited and produced book by @AAKnopf.
I keep thinking about Mr. Brown, the 45-year-old man who I registered to vote 5 years ago on this day in Milwaukee. He leaned toward me and said, “I can’t read.” Imagine the courage that required! So we read him the ballot and he voted for the first time.
November 4, 2025 at 11:41 AM
I keep thinking about Mr. Brown, the 45-year-old man who I registered to vote 5 years ago on this day in Milwaukee. He leaned toward me and said, “I can’t read.” Imagine the courage that required! So we read him the ballot and he voted for the first time.
7 years ago today Fr. Thomas Keating was buried at St. Joseph's Abbey/Spencer.
November 3, 2025 at 11:26 AM
7 years ago today Fr. Thomas Keating was buried at St. Joseph's Abbey/Spencer.
Nine years ago, when my kid was in kindergarten, I remember asking after school what she enjoyed most and she said, "Most of all I like the scienceing, when we go outside and do observations."
November 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Nine years ago, when my kid was in kindergarten, I remember asking after school what she enjoyed most and she said, "Most of all I like the scienceing, when we go outside and do observations."
Well done, FSPA! www.wpr.org/news/francis...
Franciscan Sisters transfer land to Lac du Flambeau tribe in bid to repair boarding school legacy
In a historic moment, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have completed the first known land transfer nationwide from a Catholic instituti...
www.wpr.org
November 1, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Well done, FSPA! www.wpr.org/news/francis...
I recently got around to watching all of Homeland, and it was so cool at the end of the final season how Carrie Mathison needed to understand Tauchnitz Editions of British authors in order to decipher the identity of the upper level Russian spy.
November 1, 2025 at 11:04 AM
I recently got around to watching all of Homeland, and it was so cool at the end of the final season how Carrie Mathison needed to understand Tauchnitz Editions of British authors in order to decipher the identity of the upper level Russian spy.
you know the internet might just shut down someday when advertisers realize no one cares or even sees their ads because when i'm trying to look at the weather to see when it's supposed to stop raining it's not as if i pause or look to say wow what cute boots those are
October 31, 2025 at 11:53 AM
you know the internet might just shut down someday when advertisers realize no one cares or even sees their ads because when i'm trying to look at the weather to see when it's supposed to stop raining it's not as if i pause or look to say wow what cute boots those are
Speaker Johnson says clergy protesting deportations have no right to 'get in the face' of DHS agents www.ncronline.org/news/speaker...
Speaker Johnson says clergy protesting deportations have no right to 'get in the face' of DHS agents
Johnson initially claimed he was not aware of the instances, despite having been directly asked about one of the incidents in a press conference earlier this month.
www.ncronline.org
October 31, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Speaker Johnson says clergy protesting deportations have no right to 'get in the face' of DHS agents www.ncronline.org/news/speaker...
After a famed Canadian author exits a U.S. tour, a Vermont library enters with an alternative vtdigger.org/2025/10/30/a...
After a famed Canadian author exits a U.S. tour, a Vermont library enters with an alternative - VTDigger
Bestselling mystery writer Louise Penny hopes a weekend reading at the border-straddling Haskell Free Library and Opera House will show “what happens politically is one thing, and transitory. What hap...
vtdigger.org
October 30, 2025 at 10:22 PM
After a famed Canadian author exits a U.S. tour, a Vermont library enters with an alternative vtdigger.org/2025/10/30/a...