17 March, Leadership
In his first day as Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis told priest confessors at Saint Mary Major Basilica to “be merciful, the souls of the faithful need your mercy”. We…
23 January, fulfilled?
In the Gospel for this coming Sunday (Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21) Jesus in the local synagogue reads the following passage from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because…
Christmas Eve wondering
And so we come yet again to Christmas. It is not an easy time. Most recently there is the tragedy in Newtown, Conn. There is the current fiscal cliff issue,…
December 14, other ways . . .
Why can there not be more than one way to look at and live those parts of the catholic tradition that are not “essential”. In fact, there already are. There…
7 December 12, Eucharistic Communities
There are a number of folks who for any number of reasons feel unwelcome or not accepted at their local parish. These reasons include, but are not limited to, being…
3 December, recent . . .
Some interesting things happening. First off, the NCR (National Catholic Reporter) in an editorial came out in favor of women’s ordination. This is a courageous step, although the way these…
12 November Veterans’ Day Wondering
Today, 12 November, the day the Nation officially celebrates Veterans’ Day this year, I am sitting here reflecting on my time as an Active Duty Army Chaplain (Catholic), I’ve got…
Women in Today’s Scripture Readings
I’m down for maintenance this weekend, so I did not write a homily. But during mass this evening I noticed some interesting things. In today’s Old Testament and Gospel readings…
Some thoughts on clergy . . .
Recently I have had some correspondence with clergy of other traditions who were raised catholic but who, for whatever reasons, went to other traditions and married, became ordained clergy, and…
human rules
It seems to me that there might be something in what Jesus is saying about “mere human tradition” – In today’s Gospel Story (Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23) Marks explains some…