William Van Ornum

Those remembering Father George Hunt wrote movingly of his literary interests and former Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent s story of Father Hunt scouring used bookstores for that hidden book gem brought a smile to my face and I m sure to many other readers as well I m certain that a shared charac

Last Fall Father Jim Martin wrote about Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez a Jesuit brother who met young Peter Claver and encouraged him to work overseas in the missions which at that time included ministering to people from Africa who had been imprisoned by the slave trade Several months ago a friend

Fr Raymond Schroth points out in Why Johnny Can t Write some saddening observations about the lack of writing assignments in college classes particularly among education and business majors Today my very own education and psychology students will be reading here and I hope they click the link

Much has been written is being written and will continue to be written about celibacy in the priesthood and its effects Contrastingly very little is written about persons who for many reasons find themselves alone despite related efforts to connect intimately with others In the past several y

Last week I wrote about soldier suicides and other articles and blogs in America simultaneously were focusing on what we as a church can do to support and keep our young people in the church So it seems a natural follow-up to focus on what the Church can do to provide ministry belonging and fell

The recent Fordham Conference brought to everyone s attention the divergence of young people s lives from church attendance and Catholic beliefs Reading through the comments section of different blogs here suggests many different hypotheses and it is interesting that a common theme is lack of conne

Despite the great potential for diversity to serve as a clarion call to break down harmful boundaries between people there still exists as part of the human condition a longing for the familiar and the comfortable We find people associating with one another based on common tasks beliefs or opport

This winter brought the unexpected intersection of Henri Nouwen and Super Bowl Sunday into my life mdash a great spiritual force making an appearance during a weekend when tired winter existence was about to become bedazzled by whatever would occur between strong teams from the gritty towns of Green

This week week we celebrate National Catholic Education Week from January 30 through February 5 Although Valentine s Day is two weeks away you might consider doing something special for someone in your life who works in the field of Catholic education whether this be an elementary school high s

I hope you will read this but suspect many will simply keep scanning It is a sad topic and probably will not evoke the spirited commentary of writings on women priests celibacy the rights of gays or newly discovered evidence of priestly abuse or associated cover-up For the past several years