#tbt- World Youth Day

#tbt- World Youth Day

Throwback Thursdays allow us to be grateful – whether that be for SuperSoakers, labor laws or for the youth of the church, those in whom “Christ has confidence… with the very future of his mission.” It is no secret that World Youth Day enables the Spirit to move...
L.A. Plague Squirrel and Cultural Memory

L.A. Plague Squirrel and Cultural Memory

So the Black Death hit SoCal.  Sort of. Over the last few weeks, media outlets worldwide have reported that parts of the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County were shut down when a squirrel was discovered to be carrying a variation of the bubonic plague.  No...
Homeless Pastor?  Not Quite.

Homeless Pastor? Not Quite.

A year-and-a-half ago, when I was in Cuernavaca, Mexico on a faculty-staff seminar immersion, I heard a story told of a bishop in northern Mexico who, one Christmas Eve, abruptly entered the cathedral before mass and, announcing to the assembled worshippers that there...
You Can Have Carrot Top

You Can Have Carrot Top

File another one under: “Yay, he’s on our side!”  I’m not one to get all into who’s Catholic and who isn’t, but sometimes … it’s worth celebrating. Jim Gaffigan is a very funny man; Catholic too, and he’s got the five kids to prove it.  A recent article in...
The Jumbotron and the Cross

The Jumbotron and the Cross

I watched it on a jumbotron, ready to be sometimes confused, occasionally prayerful, and mostly bored. It was going to be standard, if Catholic, public pageantry, but lacking the usual commentary track of disembodied voices speaking quasi-reverently over the...
Both Rockin’ and Prayerful

Both Rockin’ and Prayerful

Nothing could dampen the enthusiasm at last night’s World Youth Day Rio 2013 kick off celebration. Cold? Rain? Power-outage on the subway? Nothing. A party thousands strong right on Copacabana Beach was both rockin’ and prayerful. Oh yes, I said it: rockin’ and...