On the Saturday before Lent, March 2, there will be a half-day retreat at Rockhurst High School for women.  If you are somebody’s mother, daughter, sister, or wife, irrespective of religious background, you are invited to join in.  I will team up with Rockhurst president, David Laughlin, to share presenter duties. The doors will open […]

Not being a parent or a teacher, I’ll be gutsy here and suggest that what children need most from home and school is also what they most desire: happiness that is found in identity, independence, and intimacy—a positive identity, appropriate independence, and healthy intimacy.  These interrelated items that they need most in their youth are […]

Over 150 years ago, Milton Bradley introduced Life as a board game, originally titled The Checkered Game of Life.  From board games to video games to sports games, the metaphors for life are aplenty.  On Sunday, one team will proudly hoist the Lombardi Trophy.  Vince Lombardi, famed coach of the first Super Bowl champs, once […]

On Sunday, many of us watched two exhilarating football championship games, both taken to overtime, each with final outcomes that could have gone the other way.  There is sometimes a slim margin between victory and defeat.  Kansas City Chiefs’ fans can look back on a fun season with an explosive offense, slowly-improved defense, strong special […]

Like most of Kansas City, I woke up happy.  Beyond the Chiefs hosting the AFC championship game for the first time since ever, Saint Charles Borromeo Parish is also having a good season. Last month, I informed you that we would conduct a #GivingDecember campaign in an attempt to close out the year with a […]

Catholic extremists on the left will not be satisfied until the church elects our first openly transsexual or lesbian pope; extremists on the right are worse—they live in fear.  Those with extremist views are unreasonable and illogical; they are often scrupulous and many suffer from mental torment.  It is, of course, impossible to exterminate extremism […]

Making a New Year’s resolution can sometimes motivate us to pursue a better life; once in a while it can also sustain us to change habits.  I believe that the annual pledge will be more motivational and sustaining when made before a Christmas crèche.  Churches keep the holy manger scene visible and prominent throughout the […]

It would be attention-getting for me to inform you that I sleep around. To introduce a message, preachers are encouraged to first get people’s attention.  Now that I’ve got yours, I’ll direct it to your beds.  Though I am the only person living in the Saint Charles Borromeo rectory, it has six bedrooms.  None was […]

The coming of Christmas sparks joy in the lives of children and generosity in the hearts of earth’s citizens.  People of good will, especially Christians, are touched by the message of God’s incarnation as a Jewish baby, though not welcomed by many cultural and religious leaders, was welcomed by common folk and outsiders.  We often […]

Inspired by the #GivingTuesday tradition that now inaugurates the annual holiday season of giving we, at Saint Charles, are conducting, this month, a #GivingDecember in hopes that we can close out the year by closing out some financial hardships that have been carried here for many years.  Nearly forty percent of all charitable giving takes […]