In many parts of the world right now parishes, towns, villages and even whole cities are preparing for the presentation of their annual Passion Play/ Easter Pageant. First staged in 1634, the well-known Passion Play of Oberammergau in Bavaria, Germany began the tradition of the live reenactment of the final period of Jesus’ life from his arrival to Jerusalem to his crucifixion. In the United States, the Park Performing Arts Center in Union City, N.J. is home to the longest running Passion Play in America.

Arthur Mirell’s love for Jesus originated with free hot dogs, a carnival and a friendly priest. As recalled by his longtime friend, Sister Ave Clark, O.P., during an interview with me for The Christophers’ radio show, Arthur was a young Jewish boy in Brooklyn, when he was walking by a church one day. The parish priest invited Arthur and some other children to come enjoy a carnival the church was having. The other kids quickly accepted the invitation, but Arthur just stood there and responded, “I’m not Catholic.”

Youth of our diocese take heed! It’s time to sharpen your colored pencils, organize your crayon box, and clean up your brushes and paints. The Tablet’s annual Christ Is Risen Student Artwork Competition is at hand.

In his captivating and energetic new book “The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization,” the Harvard University professor Martin Puchner writes: “The impulse to tell stories… is so fundamental that it is as if this impulse is biologically rooted in our species.

The release of Vittorio Messori’s book, “Kidnapped by the Vatican?: The Unpublished Memoirs of Edgardo Mortara” has brought to light an important event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the 19th century.

A few days after Christmas, I battled the crowds at Rockefeller Center to see the large tree, and the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Christmas creche, which includes “Lex” (short for Lexington), the statue of the rector’s dog, sitting and gazing at the Christ Child.