The Catholic Church is in a state of chaos, some say a state of crisis.  Twenty-first century Catholics are not like those of the last century or last millennia; they are motivated by spirituality far more than by religious structures, rituals, or questionable regulations.  They value church as a means of following Jesus’ message and […]

Clustered with some guys at a social gathering, the conversation turned to what channel would come on next time our TV power button got pushed.  For me, it’s always a news or sports station except, I admitted, between Thanksgiving and Christmas when movies of holiday love and magic run non-stop on the hallmark channel.  I […]

This note is to alert you to the upcoming Academy Prayer Breakfast (APB) at Saint Charles Borromeo.  Though maybe not an all-points-bulletin, I will present here an outline of our annual end-of-year fundraiser to be held on the morning of Friday, December 7. Mass will begin at 7:30.  You can enter through the new plaza […]

Though my mother is not a complete luddite, she’s never been interested in what’s trendy and has no concern for new products or technology.  She doesn’t have a computer and has never sent or received an e-mail message.  She has no cell phone—in fact, has had no phone at all for the past quarter century.  […]

For some Bible readers, John’s Gospel is full of gibberish: “…The Father is in Me and I am in the Father (John 10)…you are in Me just as I am in the Father and the Father is in Me…The Father and I are one (John 14)…I am the vine and you are the branches…Live in me […]

When young couples ask me to come to their church to officiate their wedding ceremony, I explain to them that we, priests, need to be invited in and granted permission by the pastor who has jurisdictional oversight for the parish.  One of them responded, “Oh, you mean like a vampire.”  Yes, I guess it is […]

Jacob, one of the most famous biblical characters in one of the most famous biblical scenes, wrestles with God (Genesis 32).  It is a game-changer and a name-changer in his life.  His opponent appears as a stranger in the darkness of night.  The stranger, we’re initially told, is a messenger of God in human form; […]

Repressed memories are a significant topic in our modern time.  My earliest memories go back to when I was four or five years old.  Most people I’ve talked to about it are able to remember events earlier than that—some claim to even have memories of being in their mother’s womb.  I wish it were possible […]

Everything in The Holy Bible is true but not everything contained therein is accurate.  The first two chapters of Genesis give conflicting stories of creation; each is true but they can’t both be accurate.  Like the thirty-six-year-old account that haunts Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, many people recall stories from teenage years from perspectives […]

This is, no doubt, an awfully difficult period in the history of Catholicism.  Whether the church implodes at this time because of our scandals and sins, or limps along into the future in spite of them, one thing is immensely clear: this ecclesial institution cannot continue to operate in the future as it has in […]