When in Rome, Lesson Is in the Cobblestones

by Father John Cush Last April, I was asked by Bishop DiMarzio to begin studies for the doctorate in Sacred Theology in Rome, beginning this September. This came as a big surprise! I had been a student at the North American College as a seminarian and as a newly ordained priest and I had earned […]

Father Mann

The Heavenly Sounds of The Glenn Mohr Chorale

by Father Frank Mann A few months ago, prior to the start of a newly ordained’s First Mass, my soul was stirred by the wondrous music emanating from the choir loft. Many of the inspirational and moving selections were unfamiliar to me. I thought, “Where is this choir from? What is this music?” I introduced […]

Religious Liberty Is Issue for Candidates

by Wendy Long While crisscrossing the state in my campaign for the U.S. Senate, I was recently sitting around a table talking with some women. I asked them, “What’s the most important issue facing our nation and our state?” The tears welled up in one woman’s eyes, then spilled down her cheeks. “Wendy, my daughter […]

Visit to Kenya Reveals Presence of the Church

by Virginia Jama Why visit Kenya now? One reason was that my husband was working there for an indefinite period. I had lived in nearby Somalia and worked with the Peace Corps there in the 1960s and 1970s and often visited Kenya on the way in and out and on our annual leave. Now, as […]

FATHER PETER J. DALY

Compassion and Fatigue Collide in the Parish

by Father Peter J. Daly Every day brings a new parade of mental illness to our door. We see schizophrenia, manic-depression, schizoaffective disorder, major depression, drug addiction and just plain craziness. They come by phone, by car, by foot, by bicycle and by e-mail. Here they come with all their troubles. They dump them at […]

Sudden Loss Teaches Each Moment Is a Gift

by Veronica Szczygiel Losing a loved one hurts. The hurt is slightly appeased, however, if the death is expected. Take my grandmother’s passing in March. She had been suffering from cancer for several months, and her prognosis was not hopeful. Although her death was still difficult for me because I loved her so much, I […]

Immigrant Can Finally Pursue American Dream

by Luz Amada Muy Palaguachi I came to the United States from Ecuador at age 15 to reunite with the members of my family who had traveled to this country in search of a better life. The change was very difficult because of the language and way of life, which is very different from my […]

Placing Hope for the Economy in the Gospel

by Steven Kent Waiting for “the recovery” as something that is all but inevitable may be little more than misplaced hope. “This time it is different” was the much scorned optimistic line used by those who tried to deny historic economic cycles when touting their latest scheme, be it the medieval Holland tulip bulb craze […]

Travelling on Time as Grandma Turns 100

by Gabriel Marocchi Today my eyes have been filled with emotion, my grandmother is 100 years young, still carrying a bright mind, not many wrinkles in her face, a heart full of life and more hair than me. When I approach her bed to say goodnight and she grabs me and gives me a blessing and a […]

Church’s Founding Fathers Faced Hardships

by Veronica Szczygiel We give thanks for the freedoms we gained when our Founding Fathers declared independence from England, but we must also remember the perseverance it took Jefferson, Franklin and others to organize a democracy. Just like these Founding Fathers, the Founding Fathers of our Christian Church had to undergo hardships. First, the teacher […]