This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine.   Paul Waldorf didn’t always remember the power of heart to heart moments with dad.   "The older my father gets,” I thought to myself when I was a young adult, “the smarter he gets.” It was only after years of maturing and making an honest effort to g...

Kate milks cows with her dad each morning. She then drives to her full-time job in town at a day-care center. Her fiancé, Travis, works for a local plumber. He moonlights on the weekends. They’ll be married in a couple of months. “Looks like we’ll be renting an apartment,” says Travis as he, Kate and I take our seats in a restaurant. �...

The elderly woman praying a rosary in the front pew of church? Her daughter is married to Ernest Hemingway’s son. The district judge who serves on the pastoral council? He was General Schwarzkopf’s driver during the first Iraq war. The old cowboy at the feed store? He rode bulls with Chris LeDoux and is mentioned in one of the singer’s ...

This article was originally published in Sword & Spade magazine.   I met my wife in 1996 while I pursued a marketing degree from the University of Alabama. I had for many years longed for the day that I would find my spouse and begin a family. I read many books about marriage and studied the Church’s teaching on the sacrament of ma...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. John Waldorf discovered what is most real about his inheritance. Eugene Waldorf died just four days after his 84th birthday. As I write this, most of my family is arriving home after gathering to celebrate the first anniversary of his passing. Besides being married to my mo...

In Cruce Salus (In the Cross is Salvation) “Stretch out your hand,”says the Lord. "And you will live.” (Sirach 15:16-17 When I was a boy, my grandmother lived on a farm across the road from my parents’ farm. Like all grandmothers, she was the best grandmother in all the world. Each day, my brothers and I would feed her she...

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)   We live in a time of division. The priesthood is not exempt: young vs. old; tradition vs. innovation; social justice vs. prayer and fasting. This past week, I listened to a presentation by a priest who urged his fellow priests to consider exempl...

Mighty grain elevators—1,500 broad-shouldered "Sentinels of the Plains"—once stood guard over farm towns across the State of Texas. Today, less than a third of the aged watchmen report for duty. In their place, prison towers now shadow the edge of many rural communities. I spent the first week of November in one of those prison towns. Normal...

This article was previously published in Sword & Spade magazine.   Ed Toth, Fraternus Sage, didn’t recognize his worldly  attachments and identities until they were gone. I remember hearing the revelry and cheering outside as the new year dawned on December 31st, 2019. I was alone, laying on the floor of my newly emptied office...

The prison guard weighed the small plastic bottle in the palm of her hand. “It’s not grape juice?” “No, ma’am.” She held the three ounces of rose-colored liquid up to the light. “Not permitted,” she said. I was taken aback. “Ma’am, Catholics are required to use real wine for Mass. I’ve been to this unit numerous...