Finding Balance
During my junior year of college, I decided to take a semester of ballet. Though I was a Notre Dame student, I was a theatre major and, during the 1980s, most of the theatre courses were held at Saint Mary’s...
Category: Feature
Church on the Move
In the late 1980s, I traded in my computer for a chalkboard, swapped advertising clients for high school students, and became a religion teacher. Within a few weeks of my first day at that all-girls Catholic high school, we had...
Who’s the Greatest Pope of St. Joseph?
March is the Month of St. Joseph! Josephologists (counterparts of Mariologists and Christologists) are enthusiastically wondering what Pope Francis might do next in this relatively new theological field of Josephology. But he’s not the first pope in history with a...
Lenten Resources for Kids & Families
Years ago, Catholic religious education abandoned memorizing questions and answers from the Baltimore Catechism in favor of construction paper, glue, markers, and “God is love” posters. Those of us who were children in the 60s and early 70s were not...
Panning for God
Panning for gold “is slow, backbreaking work.”[i] The panner stands knee-deep in cold, running water, scooping up the deposit at the bottom of the stream and slowly swirling it in his pan. The heavier rocky material, such as gold, remains...
A New Chapter for Lent
There are so many questions we ask to learn more about one another’s stories. During the first weeks of college, freshmen will typically ask each other questions like, “Where are you from?” and “What’s your major?”. Beginning a job, new...
The abyss of evil at the heart of war
On Wednesday during his general audience, Pope Francis made an appeal for peace in Ukraine, and called for a day of prayer and fasting next week on Ash Wednesday: My heart aches greatly at the worsening situation in Ukraine. Despite...
The best and only starting point
When I was 27, I was cast as Louisa, the 13-year-old daughter, in a semi-professional production of The Sound of Music. Physically, it made sense especially since I looked at least 10 years younger than my actual age. My friend...
Finding Hope in the Ashes: Transforming Our Communities
Excerpt from Hope from the Ashes by Paul E. Jarzembowski (Paulist Press, 2022) The stories of many active churchgoers on Ash Wednesday are surprisingly similar. Each of us could probably recount our own stories of Ash Wednesdays past. After months...
Slowing Down on the Journey
When most people think of the Camino de Santiago, they likely think of the journey through Spain. Rarely do folks think of Portugal, but that country is home to some of the oldest of the Camino’s routes, a northerly journey...
Panning For Gold – Part One
In his homily for the opening of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis presented three verbs that “characterize the Synod.” These three verbs are encounter, listen and discern. In a general sense, to “discern” means to” perceive or recognize (something)....
A Memorable Lent for Kids
I am a lifelong Catholic. Born and baptized Catholic. Went to Catholic schools for 27½ years (I took the long route to get my first graduate degree!). My parents were very active Catholics which meant that we as children were...
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