Commentary
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The Working Catholic: Jackie Robinson’s story is religious tale
(POSTED: 5/20/13) The events depicted in the movie “42” are relatively recent ones. Yet most young adults and many middle-aged people don’t know much about segregation in our country. We know something about the Civil War. We know something abo
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Horizons: Ma, Jesus and Heaven
(POSTED: 5/13/13) I have been trained in Adlerian psychology. Adler and his disciples did not emphasize the importance of dreams (as Freud did). Rather the pioneers and contemporary Adlerians stressed the importance of memories. They said that we rem
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Church Reporter: Books, crooks and other half-minded thoughts
(POSTED: 4/29/13) Is there room for half-baked ideas, even half-vast ones, in a church column? Let's see. * Praying for peace is a good idea, but for an "end to violence" or even the specific "end to violence in Chicago"? Really? Who is kiddi
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Garry Wills to Chicago priest: You read history backwards
(POSTED: 4/23/13) A priest named Robert Barron has dismissed as “preposterous” my book, Why Priests? Preposterous not here and there, on some points, but everywhere and in everything. His case is easy to make, given his method. He reads history b
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Echoes from the Rectory: The Church is not yours or mine
(POSTED: 4/15/13) “I love the Easter season because it gets me all pumped up. After forty days of Lent, I am ready to sing alleluia and experience the joy of the Risen Christ. This year I feel even more positive because we have our new Holy Father,
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Musings in Ordinary Time: Building walls and moats
(POSTED: 4/8/13) “It’s somewhat fashionable these days to describe oneself as ‘spiritual but not religious,’” writes Francis Cardinal George in his most recent New World column. It’s becoming equally fashionable to critique that descrip
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Horizons: Jesus and all of us
(POSTED: 4/5/13) "He Is Risen!" That stark acclamation is on an Easter card received from friends this week. I deliberately left the card on my desk to keep me focused on the meaning of Holy Week and this wonderful feast. Let us take a few moments to
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The Working Catholic: The importance of not standing by
(POSTED: 4/1/13) After the first Big Ten Commandments, God delivered many more. Among them (Leviticus 19:16 in NABRE) is this: You shall not “stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the Lord.” This commandment provides the the
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Musings in Ordinary Time: Taking the long view on the papacy
(POSTED: 3/6/13) When I was 11 years old, roaming my local library one gray Sunday, I found the book. It was The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. The author was J.N.D. Kelly, an Anglican priest and church historian. I flipped through it and was mesmeriz
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Horizons: A journey of conversion
(POSTED: 3/4/13) When I was a young boy on Fairfield Avenue on the south side of Chicago, most of my neighbors were Catholic and went to St. Thomas More Church at 81st and California. However, directly across the street from my family home there was
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L’Osservatore Chicago: A modern-day Dorothy Day
(POSTED: 2/25/13) It was some 20 years ago, at lunch at the home of a mutual friend, that I sat next to Barbara Blaine, the founder and long-time president of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Even then, when most church-goers were
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Echoes from the Rectory: A “spiritual journey with Jesus”
(POSTED: 2/19/13) Remember Lent is not just about giving up something but changing the pattern of our life so we can get closer to God and be the person He wants us to be. How will you do that? Spend some time reflecting on this and pray to make good
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Musings in Ordinary Time: A “human-sized” papacy
(POSTED: 2/13/13) The last time a papacy ended, in April 2005, great crowds assembled in St. Peter’s Square. They kept vigil, watched and prayed, until it was over. Reportedly, John Paul II had said: “I have searched for you, and now you have com
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Horizons: Pulling back on the throttle
(POSTED: 1/28/13) I was driving to work this past week when I had the alarming experience of police lights in my rearview mirror. My first reaction was that this guy cannot be after me; but he was. He pulled me over and asked for my license. I wa
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L’Osservatore Chicago: Relics
(POSTED: 1/21/13) I quite fancy the neat little half-circles of fingernail that line my sink after a weekly clipping. They may be only modified epidermis, as the dictionary says, but to me they are like diminutive tiaras. They are fetching. And, quit
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