Essay

After Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium was torn down in the old hometown in 2002, I began describing the vast empty space left behind as “the abomination of desolation.” Things are a bit more sightly now: two […]

• If I see any more headlines about Kaine and “Able” or “Unable”, I’m going to go dwell in the land of Nod. • I didn’t watch the Vice-Presidential debate last night—I took my horse-obsessed […]

Recently, while working at my computer in Santa Barbara, I encountered a confounding problem and decided to call Brandon Vogt, who is not only the excellent content director at Word on Fire, but also a […]

Readings for Sunday, Sept. 25th: • Am 6:1a, 4-7 • Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10 • 1 Tm 6:11-16 • Lk 16:19-31 As we hear the various parables from the Gospel of Luke it is good […]

Let’s not kill one another in print, virtual or otherwise, over the death penalty. That was a main point of my recent comments regarding the re-emerging debate on that topic.  We’ll see what happens as the debate […]

I’m here for the Formation for New Bishops’ program, more colloquially known as “Baby Bishop School.” My colleagues are about 150 other bishops from around the world who have been appointed in the last twelve […]

There’s emerging what some will call a new brouhaha and others will regard as a renewed rigorous discussion about capital punishment and the Catholic Church. The issue itself has been controversial in the last several […]

In a message to a gathering of bishops of the Americas in Bogota, Colombia, Pope Francis made a point that’s always worth recalling but especially timely now in this Year of Mercy. Sin exists, he […]

The month of May is sometimes called the month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When I was a kid, that was certainly the case, and the highlight of the month in my parish was […]