Are We Becoming “Junkified?”

One of my favorite all-time Saturday Night Live characters was Debbie Downer, a fictional person created and portrayed by the show’s regular, Rachel Dratch. Debbie could always be counted on ...

Can the Ordinary Become Extraordinary?

When I read gospel passages like the following from the Gospel of John – the whole of which was read in Catholic and other churches a few weeks ago – ...

What Hiking and “Church” Have in Common

My wife, Amparo, and I were blessed over the Labor Day weekend by a visit from our son, Sean, his wife and two sons, aged 8 and 10. They live ...

How Could God Possibly Love Us?

I don’t recall how, but I recently came across the above painting of St. Jerome by a 15th century Italian artist named Benvenuto Tisi da Garafalo. Being nearly illiterate in art, ...

How Fear Threatens Us

I’ve told this story to many people because I think it’s a fascinating illustration of how fear often gets the better of us. I heard the story from my wife’s, ...

Ordinary Faith, Ordinary Science

I keep coming back in these blogs to the perceived conflict between faith and science, mostly because so many people cite it as a reason for having lost their faith. ...