June 10th through the 14th Mary Kay Ryan put on her last Vacation Bible School. It was fun to watch the kids get into the whole process and interesting to see how much they learned in that amount of time. Many people come together to make this event happen. I am grateful to all of […]
The beginning of the editorial that I put in my column last week certainly raised some interest among parishioners…not all of it good. I do appreciate the feedback people gave me, both positive and negative. Some of you were wondering if I had lost my mind (a point that can be argued for many reasons). […]
Below is the beginning of an editorial published in America Magazine. I will continue to reprint the rest of the editorial over the next couple of weeks. Plagued by rising levels of violent crime, in the autumn of 1976 the District of Columbia enacted one of the nation’s toughest gun control laws. The law effectively […]
Last year I went on a priests retreat at Conception Abbey. The director of the retreat covered the Seven Deadly Sins. With each sin covered he would talk about what the antidote (virtue) was to overcome the sin. This weekend we celebrate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Eucharist. Our retreat […]
There is a story of a king who at the end of his life was beset by melancholy. He had experienced many things in his life, but he had never seen God. A shepherd heard of the king’s plight and came to the king and told him he could help him. The king was delighted […]
The lectionary provides a number of options for the scripture readings on Pentecost. There is the familiar story in the book of Genesis about the tower of Babel. The people are building a city with tower so they can make a name for themselves and not be scattered all over the earth. God confuses their […]
Patricia Sanchez writes a wonderful reflection on the Solemnity of the Ascension in Celebration. From the time he was a young boy, Mark Twain wanted to pilot a steamboat up and down the mighty Mississippi river. In his book Life on the Mississippi, Twain tells of his struggle to do so. After he ran away […]
