“In My Father’s House” / Paul Thomas Moore It was Christmas Eve, and we were in the grocery store, stocking up on some last-minute items for the big day. One of the store employees was dressed as Santa, and he was working at the check-out. Meanwhile, some other employees — no doubt his elves, were […]
Continue reading“In My Father’s House” / By Paul Thomas Moore “So, this guy walks into the confessional, and says to the priest, “Father, I have a big hurdle in my walk with the Lord. I have absolutely no problem with the various blessings I’ve been given, but these crosses have got to go.” I only wish […]
Continue reading
"Peggy taught me something so important about parish life and the Catholic Church as a whole," writes columnist Katie Faley, shown with her in the provided photo. "Where I always silently complained that there was never a strong enough young adult presence, I was failing to recognize how life-giving and valuable intergenerational relationships are."
“Cause of Our Joy” / Katie Faley It’s said that we don’t know what we’ve got until we’ve lost it. I think that has become acutely true amidst the year’s changes to our regular lives. I’ve come to reflect quite a bit on the importance of community in these last few months when community has […]
Continue reading
The interior of St. Mary's Staghall Church, County Cavan, Ireland.
“In My Father’s House” / Paul Thomas Moore Several years ago, I was walking and talking with a good friend of mine as we passed by a church that was undergoing renovations. The good friend was also a good priest, a man with a highly developed social conscience and a heart for the poor. Although […]
Continue reading
"When we don't abandon ourselves to fear, nor abandon the places of fear within us," writes Lindsey Weishar, "we offer ourselves the opportunity to discover threads of new grass wending through charred soil, the sprout of a new tree growing up out of the remnants of a shattered one."
By Lindsey Weishar / “My Vocation is Love” There is something beautifully hidden about the season of Advent. The early darkness of the evenings and the cooling weather invite us to spend time on the inside — in our homes, with ourselves. If it wasn’t 2020, I’d probably be looking forward to this season more. […]
Continue reading
Novices at Mount Saint Vincent Mother House, July 1959. (Photo courtesy the Sisters of Charity, Halifax, Congregational Archives)
By Paul Moore / In My Father’s House Recently, I was thanking my aunt for an old family letter she had sent me, written by my grandfather. “It was another time,” she said. The letter described the 1958 Eastertide when my aunt was professed as a nun, and her sister (another aunt) had just entered […]
Continue reading
The restored stained-glass window discovered behind a brick wall at St. Mary of Lourdes Church in Germantown Hills. (Provided photo)
In My Father’s House / By Paul Thomas Moore Sometimes being behind the eight ball can be a good thing. It helps us to see who our friends are, and we have all sorts of friends in the saints and souls of November. My much-beloved late father-in-law Jerry Klein, my predecessor in this column space, […]
Continue reading
While in the Roman army, St. Martin of Tours was moved when he saw a beggar out in a snowstorm. He used is military sword to cut his own cloak in half, giving half to the beggar.
Guest column / By Katie Faley Catholic life is marked by times of fasting and feasting. It is one of the wonderful ways we live out the order of God’s creation of time, as well as observe the moments of suffering and rejoicing in the history of salvation. On Nov. 11, the church celebrates the […]
Continue reading
"The light would move slowly across the wall as Mass progressed," recalls Paul Moore of a scene at his former church, St. Peter in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. "And I found my peace expanded as this temporary light hinted gently to me of the eternal." (Provided photo/Father James Mallon)
In My Father’s House / By Paul Moore We’re in the supermarket. My wife has asked me to mind the cart while she checks something in another aisle. My first impulse is to look at my phone. I resist. I’m bored for a second. Then, I slowly become more conscious of the colors, people, and […]
Continue reading
Father Jeremy Freehill and members of St. Ann Parish check on a neighbor during their weekly rosary walk through the church neighborhood on the south side of Peoria. (The Catholic Post/Tom Dermody)
My Vocation is Love / By Lindsey Weishar In early October, Pope Francis released his encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti.” He offers the parable of the Good Samaritan as a model of neighborliness: “Like the chance traveller in the parable, we need only have a pure and simple desire to be a people, a community, constant and […]
Continue reading
