I am concerned about maintaining our Catholic presence in Kansas City’s urban core in the future. We have a limited number of priests serving our diocese; the bishop and diocesan leaders must send priests where Catholics live and worship to provide sacraments—there is not a proportionate number of Catholics living or worshipping in our inner […]
Dr. Ralph Wilson, director of Joyful Heart Renewal Ministries, once wrote: “If you ask your average heathen youngster what Easter is about, he’ll tell you about the Easter bunny and finding decorative baskets filled with annoying plastic grass that sticks to every household furnishing and those pastel foil-covered football things that are a sad excuse […]
When fishes flew and forests walked, and figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood, then surely, I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry and ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody on all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, of ancient […]
“You say we’ve got nothing in common, no common ground to start from, and that we’re falling apart…And I said, ‘What about Breakfast at Tiffany’s?’ And she said, ‘I think I remember that film, and as I recall, we both kinda liked it.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s one thing we’ve got’.” Those lyrics from […]
“I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains, I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains. There’s more than one answer to my questions, pointing me in a crooked line. And the less I seek my source as a definitive, the closer I am to fine.” From the Indigo Girls to […]
A year ago, working with a wonderful team at Rockhurst, we activated a podcast with the same title as my blog: “Upon This Rock.” We began by interviewing Alvin Brooks, for whom the future Alvin Brooks Center for Faith-Justice is named; his life and inspiring words encourage us to lay rock-solid foundations in our society […]
Father John Dear recently published his latest book, The Gospel of Peace, in which he offers commentary on Jesus’ mission of nonviolence. In it, he analyzes the words and actions of Jesus from a lens that magnifies Christ’s role and purpose as the Prince of Peace. Father Dear, world-renowned speaker, author, and peace activist from […]
“Magis” is a Latin adverb that roughly translates into English as “greater” or “more” or “higher degree.” It was made popular as a noun (the more) by Jesuits that follow the spiritual path of their founder, Ignatius of Loyola, who challenged them to dive deeper, soar higher, and proceed with more fervor in daily endeavors. […]
UPON THIS ROCK 