I miss Pope Francis. Although he had been seriously ill for several months, his death on Easter Monday was a shock and made it hard for me to savor the joy of the Easter Season. Pope Francis had a gift for reaching people on an affective level. A lot can be said about Francis and… Read More “Authority is Service”: Grateful for Francis, Hopeful for Leo XIV
Since I learned that Gustavo Gutierrez passed, I’ve been thinking of him and the time I spent with him at Boston College in the summers of 2008 and 2010. I’m still amazed at the joy he radiated in all he said and did. Here is my favorite story with Gustavo Gutierrez: After class, I’d help… Read More Ice Cream, Gustavo Gutierrez, and a God That Delights in Us
In his newest encyclical, Pope Francis calls on Catholics and people of good will to “dream together” (no. 8) as members of a “single family dwelling in a common home” (no. 17) in order to build a “community of belonging and solidarity” (no. 36). Fratelli Tutti reinforces themes Francis has stressed throughout his pontificate: the… Read More Fratelli Tutti: A Call To Love and Accept All
In First Things, RR Reno writes, “There is a demonic side to the sentimentalism of saving lives at any cost.” Is this sentimentalism? Or is it the care for the human person that Jesus showed by healing the sick? Jesus identifies his mission as the promotion of life in abundance (John 10:10). The Catechism states… Read More It’s Not Demonic to Close Churches to Protect Human Lives and the Vulnerable
Two unfinished Masses are linked to the legacy of Saint Óscar Romero, pointing to his unfinished work to see Christ in and be Christ for the poor, marginalized, and excluded. Forty years ago, Óscar Romero was murdered while he celebrated Mass in the Divine Providence cancer hospital chapel. The Gospel was from John 12:23-26: “Unless… Read More The Unfinished Work of Saint Óscar Romero
I’ll never forget standing in the rose garden at the UCA—the Jesuit university of El Salvador—and being hit with the costliness of Jesuit education. On November 16, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper Elba, and her teenage daughter Celina, were dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, taken into the courtyard of… Read More Remembering the UCA Martyrs: The Costliness of Jesuit Education
This Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 10:25-37) might be Jesus’ best-known story. How many times have you heard the phrase, “Good Samaritan”? Even non-Christians know the term suggests someone who is kind, generous, or brave. But few of us fully understand – much less live up to – the demands of Jesus’ teaching. Here are 10 things… Read More How to Really Understand the Parable of the Good Samaritan
Millennial 