by Father Caleb Buchanan WE LIVE IN a society that is quick to treat conflict, moral failure and the need for conversion in the harshest and most destructive ways. Unfortunately in our everyday lives, local communities and even houses of worship, we fail to give people the benefit of the doubt in times of disagreement. […]

 by Father Thomas Catania As it happens, today is the anniversary of the dedication of our Cathedral of St. James in the Diocese of Brooklyn. The event will be observed only in the cathedral itself, but it is apparently God’s idea (if God directed the composition of the Lectionary, and who am I to say […]

by Father Thomas Catania YOU DON’T WANT to get me started on the subject of professional athletes’ salaries. I really don’t care whether the Mets or the Yankess bring joy (or misery) to your summer evenings — they’re all overpaid. Maybe it’s because there are so many teachers-in-training at the college where I teach, but […]

by Father Thomas Catania SOME OF YOU, like me, may have been born under the sign of the “crab,” in late June through mid-July. I know this makes us “water people,” but I do not know whether it makes us crabby. I do know that summer’s heat and humidity can bring out the crab in […]

by Father Thomas Catania I write these columns too far in advance to be able to speak to this summer’s weather; in fact, I write them far enough in advance to be only too mindful of this past winter’s weather, of which the less said in a religious journal, the better. But it seems that […]

by Father John P. Cush IN THE SEMINARY, I had a professor for homiletics named Father John Burke. Father Burke was a Dominican Friar who would come to the North American College in the month of September and run an intensive pastoral workshop for the seminarians on preaching. Not only focusing in on the stylistic […]

by Father John P. Cush FOR THE PAST few weeks, we have been proclaiming the Gospel from the 13th chapter of the Evangelist Matthew. Today we conclude this Gospel which has given us so much on which to reflect during these hazy days of summer. Jesus continues His use of parables to get His message […]

by Father John P. Cush AS I WRITE this, I am congested. I must have sneezed 57 times in a row today, so afflicted am I with allergies. The great outdoors is no place for me. All I seem to do when faced with the beauty of nature is tear up: not overcome with the […]

by Father John Cush When I was a seminarian at the North American College in Rome, one of the week’s biggest events was Tuesday night formation. The seminary program in Rome is slightly different than most major seminaries in the U.S. The academic formation was done at one of the pontifical universities. Most of us […]

by Sister Patricia Berliner, C.S.J. IN THE LAST few weeks, we have been walking with the disciples through a holy boot camp. Losing their bravado softened them and made pathways for new ideas, beliefs and behaviors. Finally, it all started to come together and they began to see themselves, others, Jesus, and God the Father-figure […]