Summer is the perfect time to catch up on reading those books you’ve set aside for that eschatological someday. With that in mind, I offer a short list of summer reading suggestions. The four books can be characterized as follows: new and fun, sort of new and very interesting, old and wonderfu

My grandmother lived with us as I was growing up—a source of consolation who often shared her breakfast with me and who read to me when I was sick. Grandmothers not only play a supportive role in the lives of many children—in some cases they stand out as the single source of love amid ho

For some years my mother has lamentedand this is not too strong a wordthe fact that I never studied Latin. Whenever she spies a phrase in Latin inscribed on a church facade, or comes across a quote in a book or article, or hears an unfamiliar Latin hymn during a Mass, and I am unable to translate it

With their sky high prices, Broadway-level shows are largely unknown to me. But thanks to an actor friend at my parish, I received a complimentary ticket to a matinee performance of “Hank Williams: Lost Highway,” which until late June will be playing on West 42 Street. It arrived there a

One of my earliest religious memories is of learning the Act of Contrition from a Sister of St. Joseph during a C.C.D. class in our parish church in suburban Philadelphia. It was probably a Sunday morning after Mass; I must have been around seven or eight, and was most likely preparing for first hol

Indonesia is a country most of us know only through the media, but a recent visit to America House by a member of the Religious of the Sacred Heart brought it into closer focus for me. Back for a home visit, Sister Nance O’Neil has been teaching in Jakarta for 14 years, at AtmaJaya University,