Old lines, new thoughts: Writing out a Gospel by hand
Because my Lent took a nosedive about two-thirds of the way through, I am still immersed in a project I undertook in order to get my spiritual groove back: Writing out the Gospel of Mark, in longhand. It ...
Odds on Peter: Trump vs the pope
Anyone who reads me regularly knows I am not the sort of Catholic who grabs the smelling salts for every seeming insult or ignorant remark made about the Church. Ever since Madonna danced before a ...
Why does the Annunciation loom so large in Catholicism?
Non-Catholic friends are often puzzled by our calendar of memorials and solemnities, particularly the solemnity of the Annunciation -- a moment that usually only hits their awareness in the days leading ...
St. Patrick's Breastplate and the terrors of mid-Lent
I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation. Well, here we are in mid-March ...
Fear: The destroyer of our Lenten works
Perhaps fear, after all, is at the root of all sin. I used to think it was selfishness, but it's not. Even selfishness is rooted in fear. We can see this in the early wreckage of our Lenten practices: ...
A steady light: Pope Leo XIV's top five moments of 2025
"Lebanon needed this embrace." The words went out over a social media platform, made more poignant for the accompanying image of Pope Leo XIV consoling a weeping Lebanese woman. I couldn't help ...
To become a cherished 'little one,' reject the seat of honor
''When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor" (Lk 14:8). Okay, can we stipulate that a working and fully engaged pope probably does not have the ...
Parents, PLEASE: My seventh-grade religious ed students do not know the 'Our Father'
Several years into young motherhood, I volunteered to prepare parish second graders for their first Communion. The weekly classes with 18 children often felt like 45-minute exercises in humility, but ...
