Weekly review in links: December 4, 2009

We're trying something new for the U.S. Catholic blogs this week.  Starting today, I'll be posting links to interesting things I've come across on the web all week.  Since I hope to grow the list of sites I check and blogs I read, please feel free to suggest some of your favorites. (I'm also taking title suggestions. So far, all I've come up with "The Dish on Fridays.")  In the meantime, I hope that these links help you to discover some fantastic online religion coverage.

• Monday was Word AIDS Day. A friend of mine, who has both worked with and adopted from an orphanage run by the Missionaries of Charity shared a beautiful, personal reflection [1].
• I find this multifaith calendar [2] super useful.
• Vocation dolls [3]. Wow.
• Finish up the week with daily Advent reflections [4] from the Shrine of St. Jude.  Next week's reflections [5]are also up.
• I discovered a whole new world this week: Nuns who blog [6].
• On a more somber note, Cathy Lynn Grossman wonders if reconciliation in the church is possible [7] thanks to the sex-abuse scandal.

From our own pages:

• Meinrad Scherer-Edmunds shares his own thoughts on the covering up of sex abuse in Ireland [8].
• I've been reading a selection from our Advent special section [9] everyday. So far, my favorite is the piece [10] where Lola from the Tom Tykwer film, Run Lola Run, is cited as an Advent figure. I enjoy it when faith dialogues with film, particularly when it's unexpected.
• Speaking of unexpected, this review of Bob Dylan's Christmas album [11] treats the unexpected mystery of Christmas (and generates some unexpected interest among our readers!).
• And finally, our senior editor, Cathy-O'Connell Cahill made her debut on our blog this week [12] with some critique on Chicago journalist, Carol Marin's take on the separation of church and state.