College is about learning what it means to belong.

Who was this brilliant, saintly priest who founded the Christian Brothers? Perhaps now, on the 300th anniversary of his death, it is time for those of us who have benefited so richly from our educations to remember who he was.

The question my students struggle with is, what is an authentic identity of the church today? I believe that the only way the church can be relevant is if it embraces the model of a penitent.

Growing up, I saw most of the marriages around me crumble. More often than not, it was the men who ran their relationships into the ground, whether by being unfaithful or worse.

I think of mentors and helpers, men and women of kindness and compassion, heroes who listen to their better angels, as triggers for good.

We have to advance the conversation beyond one that limits women to emulating male models but instead understands women and men in relation to one another.