Should Church be Fun?
A Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter A while back, while driving down I-27, I passed a billboard that said, “Church Should be Fun!” I thought to myself, “Really?” I weighed the notion, then shook my head. “What garbage!” Don’t get me wrong. I think church youth groups should be fun and pitching in at parish festival should...
Saints in Rehab
“It takes two things to knock down a tree: a strong wind and a rotten trunk.” So began my presentation to a group of recovering drug addicts. I turned and pointed to a slide on the screen behind me: A STRONG TRUNK = STRONG CHARACTER. “What builds strong character? Virtue! The practice of virtue.” I was fired up. I could hear convic...
Talking At Each Other
This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. Tommy Killackey discusses the loss of virtuous friendship in our culture of kitsch. A sunset, an adventure, a tragedy, a profound belief, a moment encountering the sublime: life’s most riveting moments seem to demand from deep within us the need to share them....
Discernment Is Not About You
This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. Benjamin Mann, as one deeply involved in vocations within the Eastern Catholic traditions, corrects a common problem in discernment. It is quite traditional and correct to speak of “discerning a vocation” — particularly to consecrated life or the priesthoo...
Of Fatherhood and Harvests
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...
On Feeding The Beast That Devours You
This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. Gregory Matthews, corporate lawyer, is concerned that versions of the American dream are leading some to a nightmare. Our communities are being torn apart today by a host of divisive agendas that are seemingly promoted by all of our cultural institutions, from the classroo...
Is It Good For Man To Be Alone?
This article was previously published in Sword & Spade magazine. Fr. Matthew Buettner, Spiritual Director at St. Joseph College Seminary, Charlotte, distinguishes loneliness and solitude. Man is a social animal. Most of us enter the world in the context of a community, principally, a family. Even the Son of God stepped onto the stage of...
Blue Highways
In the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned. Travelers took to winding paths. (Judges 5:6) When it comes to long-distance travel, most people book airline flights or drive Interstates. Personally, I prefer blue highways, those two-lane roads printed in blue, squiggly lines on foldout maps. My schedule does not allow much for scenic ro...
Vessel of Devotion
Invocations from the Litany of Loreto play in my mind as I drive through Indiana and across Illinois: Morning Star Ark of the Covenant ...
The Harder Lessons Taught More Easily
This article was previously published in Sword & Spade Magazine. Tim Bennett, handyman and father, learns more from a son than he’ll ever teach him. I call myself a handyman, and I truly enjoy the work that I do because I’m not doing the same thing every day. I often get to be challenged by working through problems that many people ca...