Messing with Political Agendas
Pope Francis’ recent document on the environment, “On the Care of Our Common Home,” elicited interesting reactions from many American politicians, including some announced and presumed presidential candidates of his ...
Do We Really Need a God like Us?
When I worked as a priest in Bolivia, I was told that the Aymara-speaking people in my parish would do anything short of murder and mayhem to get their babies ...
Getting Home
I recently attended a Mass at Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago’s West Loop where the new archbishop, Blase Cupich, happened to be visiting and conducting the liturgy. As usual ...
Finding Your Calm
For many of us in the western world, a glut of obstacles impedes the search for God. In my view, they include indulgent prosperity, religious illiteracy, damaging sex, secularism and “busyness.” ...
Good Old-Fashioned Hate
Years ago, a colleague at The Des Moines Register related what happened when he was covering members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS, who were protesting something ...
Who’s In and Who’s Not?
My admiration for Pope Francis is no secret to readers of this blog. So what’s his greatest contribution to the modern world? In my opinion, it’s his oft-quoted conviction that ...