I have been the altar boy at many a funeral and time does not decrease the frequency of such happenings but yesterday was a particularly graced moment I had the good fortune to assist at the funeral of Sr Mary Milligan RSHM at Loyola Marymount University I was reminded during the ceremony tha

Following up on Kerry rsquo s post about liturgists who are concerned with the new Missal I thought it might be useful to share some practical observations and concerns about its implementation As part of our training for the priesthood every Jesuit scholastic headed toward ordination at my theol

Last Thursday was the first day of class for a university course I am teaching on Catholic novelists and I remembered to ask a question that always intrigues me with a new group of students nbsp What one book have you all read nbsp In other words is there any single novel that everyone in the

Does Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom" merit the hype?

Breaking news from Phoenix earlier this afternoon Phoenix Diocese Strips St Joseph s Hospital of Catholic Status The decree by Bishop Olmsted can be found here Video of Bishop Olmsted s press conference can be found here The hospital s first response is here The National Catholic Reporter ha

Where are the Graham Greenes and Flannery OConnors of today?

A recent blogpost at CatholicCulture org formerly Catholic World News by Diogenes the anonymous blogger who loves to name names but never reveals his her true identity classy blames all the controversy in the past 50 years about Catholic politicians who do not march lock-step in accordance wit

The new issue of Vanity Fair includes a brief and eloquent piece by the inimitable Christopher Hitchens on his cancer diagnosis and treatment it is a must-read for anyone who loves or hates Hitchens musings on any number of subjects nbsp The prognosis sounds grim and Hitchens does not flinch

Today s Feast reminded me of an entertaining story about St Ignatius it has been told and retold to the extent that its original author can perhaps no longer be known but I heard it first when I was a Jesuit novice from the great Fr Vinny O Keefe S J nbsp It goes something like this In the e

The key to changing minds and converting hearts is better access to information right nbsp Wouldn t everyone think just like me us if they weren t just so ignorant of the relevant data This interesting essay by Joe Keohane in the Boston Globe from July 11 suggests that the reverse is often the c