A Generosity Hormone?
As a young man, I traveled to Europe on a ship. Since a friend and I were seminary students, talk at the table where about a dozen of us second-class ...
Is My Faith Merely a Cultural Expression?
As American priests in Bolivia in the 1970s, my colleagues and I tried to overcome the cultural differences between the Aymara people with whom we worked and the cultural baggage ...
Avoiding the Deep Funk
At 28, Mitchell had a passion for sports, had gotten his pilot’s license and “did really well with the ladies.” One day he jumped on his motorcycle, off to see ...
Humility, the Most Despised Virtue?
Today, many Christian churches celebrate Holy Thursday. For me and my fellow Catholics, the day commemorates Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist, or Mass, and the priesthood. Included in today’s Mass ...
Gratitude for our Common Home
From a distance the world looks blue and green And the snow-capped mountains white From a distance the ocean meets the stream And the eagle takes to flight. People of ...
Doubt, and the Fear of Death
Back in 1995 when I was 53 years old, I wrote a Father’s Day piece for The Des Moines Sunday Register about Pat Carney, my 94-year-old father. It was entitled, ...