The Catholic Church has divided up the world and called it our own: the universal church on planet earth is divided into conferences; conferences are divided into dioceses, dioceses into deaneries or vicariates, those into parishes, and parishes into homes that are, de facto, the domestic church.  As part of the United States Conference, the […]

Parishioners from church to church tend to be interesting, even, at times, fascinating; their variety can be categorized similarly to groups in high schools.  As most students are at school to gain an education, most parishioners are also at church for the right reasons: to become better people and grow closer to The Lord. But […]

Six months ago I was transferred from a vibrant life-giving parish that I loved and had served for ten years to one that was profiled as dying.  Though probably time to go, and diocesan priests like me know that we are ordained to serve a diocese not a particular parish, transitioning is usually not fun.  […]