Holy Week Homestretch
We’re into the homestretch now and there is something I find really fascinating about Holy Week. There is more drama in this one week leading…
read moreAndy Warhol: Closeted Catholic
The longer Lent carries on, the more exposed I feel as a Catholic. I don’t mean this in a negative way, it’s simply that certain…
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Four Tips for Keeping Your Semester Holy
I’m a college English professor with two children, ages 6 and 8. As a new school semester begins for our family, new routines automatically emerge.…
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Community Service: How You Can Act on Catholic Social Teaching Every Day
During my many years of volunteer service (primarily in hunger relief organizations), I’ve witnessed a frustrating phenomenon. While people (admirably) tend to focus on opportunities…
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Salt of the Earth: Engaging Hearts and Minds With Jesus’ Metaphors
“Why didn’t Jesus talk plainly? Why didn’t he just say what he meant?” The student asked. “What is, ‘You are the salt of the world’…
read moreMy Husband the Agnostic
Every year during Lent I try really hard not to eat meat on Fridays, and every year I usually fail at least once. Sometimes it’s…
read moreLosing Mayorships During Lent
I spent last weekend in Philadelphia at a friend’s house, where a group of my old friends and I convened to catch up on each others’ lives. It was a very 21st century sort of gathering: eight of us live across four states, and the weekend was organized through a combination of text messaging, emails, and Facebook. Somehow, despite confusion of train times and places, we all arrived at my friend’s apartment with enough spare blankets and more than enough food to go around.
The subject of Lent came up when, after a friendly reminder that it was Saturday, there was a sigh of relief that we could all eat chicken and pasta with prosciutto. A few of us in the group are Catholic, to varying degrees, and everyone tries to be adaptable.
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