Farewell, Virginia.

No, this is not an ode to the Old Dominion; rather, another soul has departed to see God face to face — may He be merciful to you.

Aunt Ginny has died.

It’s a funny thing to be celebrating the beginning of a new life with a child on the one hand and the end of another life on the other hand. Our lives are full of dichotomies and contrasts that way.[...]

As For Me And My House is a weekly feature, appearing each Thursday. You can subscribe directly to this series here.

As many of you know, St. Josemaria Escriva – the founder of Opus Dei – is often invoked for assistance in finding a job or in doing/completing a job well. This was, in part, because he worked tirelessly “to spread the message that work and the circumstances of everyday life are occasions for growing closer [...]

I love to read. I always have. I think that is why I majored in Literature in college, even though I saw no practical use for it outside of teaching English. Over the past two years, though, I have read less fiction and more non-fiction. After getting a job in youth ministry I started reading [...]

Probably fifteen years ago now, this fellow, we’ll call him “Pete,” asked me for a quote on a printing job, his sister’s wedding invitations. He was in the industry, worked for a pre-press shop out-putting film, and he knew me as a client of the shop he worked for. So I gave him the estimate [...]

During these tough economic times, I’d like to share the Filipino secret to coping. The Philippines is like Haiti in the East.  But despite widespread poverty, Filipinos have the lowest suicide rate in Asia.  Japan, the wealthiest, has the highest.  How do Filipinos face their hard lives daily without sinking to despair?  Is it with [...]

How much time do you have? If you are like most people, you don’t have much. Me? Well, my full time job is as a youth minister and that takes up much of my time. And since youth ministry doesn’t pay very well, I also have a part-time job to help pay the bills and [...]

I started this column last week by stating my conviction that it is very important for dads to spend time with their kids if they want to keep them Catholic; indeed if they want to have any influence over them at all. I want to look more at time, this week. Time & Priorities It [...]

Prayer. It seems like such an easy concept. Yet, oftentimes, in reality it is so hard to do. It’s hard to find the time to pray. And when we do find the time to pray, it is often hard to focus without getting distracted. And what is prayer, really? Prayer is a relationship, and we [...]

I never wondered much about God’s existence.  This wasn’t a virtue, particularly; I didn’t know how.  I could do a thought experiment:  what would it be like if I didn’t believe in God?  But it was just an experiment — like imagining if 2+2 were 5. Later, I got the rational foundations of the faith, [...]

Last week, we looked at the brief but powerful words addressed to us by St. Peter – Pope #1. Today, we examine some words of fatherly wisdom from Pope Leo XIII. He was the oldest reigning pope, dying at 93 years old. His pontificate lasted more than 25 years and is the third longest… which [...]