A family is like a tree: We, the branches, can all grow in different directions but our roots remain the same. Summertime becomes a chance to care for those roots by spending time with our loved ones.
Guest Columnists
A New Moment for Midwest
The appointment of Hispanic bishops as ordinaries of dioceses in California, Texas or Florida is rather common. This is not surprising since most Catholics in the South and the West are Hispanic.
The Cooler Cold War
THE CLAIM THAT “the Cold War is over” and that the West needs a “new paradigm” for relations with Russia has become an antiphon in some conservative political circles, not least conservative Christian circles. The call for serious and creative thinking about Russia is welcome and sensible. The claim that the Cold War is over is not, because Vladimir Putin never got that memo. Ignoring that reality means danger in devising any new paradigm.
Is The Church Being Awkward? Or Wise?
Asked to name books that gave me the greatest intellectual jolt in recent decades, I’d quickly cite two.
A Lesson for the Touchscreen Generation
Make it a priority to make physical contact with someone or to read a book rather than a blog. Revel in the physical matter that makes up our life on this earth.
Fifty Years of Friendship With Cardinal Pell
Precisely 50 years ago this month, a tall, gangly Aussie named George Pell entered my life. By the end of August 1967, he had become a fast friend of my family. Today, the friendship is even closer and it is one of the great blessings of my life.
The ‘Ministry’ Aspect of Administration
by Carolyn Woo
WHILE PREPARING for the Convocation of Catholic Leaders, I paused on a statement describing a design principle for the event. In calling for missionary discipleship, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in the participant guidebook cites Pope Francis’ caution that “‘mere administration’ can no longer be enough.”
Burrow Into the Bible With Paul and John
by David H. Powell
IN THE PREFACE to her new book “Poetic Flotsam,” Magdalen Radovich (Mater Christi H.S. ’80) says that books of poetry are confessions of a literary mudlark: the poet, like the mudlark, burrows through old stuff “in the hopes of finding something of value on which to subsist.”
Summer Reading in the Bechtel Tradition
I RECENTLY MET the good people of St. Benedict Elementary School in South Natick, Mass., which offers classical Catholic education to some very fortunate youngsters. The extensive summer reading lists the school suggests to those kids’ parents put me in mind of my high school English teacher, the late Father W. Vincent Bechtel – who did not, however, do suggestions, and made sure that his charges kept their noses to the grindstone from June through August by assigning us at least a half-dozen novels every summer. Some of them, like Paul Horgan’s “Things As They Are,” I still re-read with pleasure, a half-century later.
Synod 2018: Really Listen to Hispanic Youth
THE WHEELS HAVE been in motion for more than a year in preparation for the October 2018 synod. Bishops, observers and other voices from around the world will gather to reflect about “Young people, faith and vocational discernment.” This is definitely a most timely conversation.