Birds of beauty:

One of our regular commenters, Diane, has written on women priests. Read the comments, too.
Food pantries are falling short this year in the Chicagoland.
Post of the week — Hamo and Jarrod conspire to provoke conversation about orthodoxy.
Amen!
A series on St. Francis by JR Woodward.
Reading on the decline: “simple, consistent and alarming.”
Moving church?

NY Times 100 top books of the year.
1. Interview of Tom Wright by Trevin Wax.
2. Tony Stiff on kingdom and church.
3. Jesus Creed prayer beads.
4. Is “denial” connected to forgiveness?
5. Conversationalists do better. (HT: RJS)
6. African Church.
7. Our best and brightest need to dedicate themselves to global crises.
8. To tenure or not to tenure?
9. Tony Myles tells the story of a man who chose to confront Phyllis Tickle after a standing ovation talk at the Youth Workers National Convention. I’ve seen this done; I’ve never seen it done right. So, just in case you are tempted to remonstrate with a speaker after a talk, take a walk, say some prayers, cool off, and write them a note the next day.
10. The Munchkins are now given their due:

Sports:
Sports Turkeys of the Year. Whose the biggest turkey?
Got a caption for this?

America’s newest sport!