As you read this column, you are probably in the throes of Christmas shopping. No doubt you’ve made your list and checked it twice – all in an effort to find appropriate gifts for spouses, children, friends, and colleagues. After all, gift-giving, especially at Christmas, is more than a superficial social obligation. Our gifts should...Read More

The Baltimore Sun recently wrote an article recounting the horrible abuse committed by John Merzbacher, a former school teacher who terrorized students in the 1970s at Catholic Community School in South Baltimore. The Sun’s story did not break new ground, but rather it re-told a tragic story that the pages of the Catholic Review and...Read More

I. Introduction Dear friends, these men, who are husbands, fathers, classmates, and friends are recommended as candidates for the permanent diaconate. Allow me to address a few words to them as they are formally declared candidates for Holy Orders and resolve to continue wholeheartedly their diaconal formation. II. The Year of Faith This moment of...Read More

Charles Dickens’ classic, Great Expectations, opens on Christmas Eve. It introduces us to Pip, an orphan who was being raised by his sister and her husband. As a boy, Pip didn’t think he’d amount to much but his chance encounter with a convict (Magwitch) and with a rich elderly woman (Miss Havisham) and her daughter...Read More

I. Introduction Many people in this room, my age and older, will remember that, years ago, Saint Michael the Archangel was invoked in prayers after Mass. These prayers were called the “Leonine Prayers,” after Pope Leo XIII. He is said to have seen a great vision of the activity of the devil in the world,...Read More

I. Introduction Sometimes we tend to think that holiness is something we can work on when we’re older, far off in the indeterminate future. After all, right now we’re so busy, endlessly occupied with the pressing demands of our professional lives or the day-to-day responsibilities of our priestly ministry. But when we start to think...Read More

I. In the Days of Their Ancestors Worthy Supreme Knight, Brother Bishops and Priests, Worthy State Deputies, and dear friends in Christ, at the risk of repeating myself, allow me to share with you this morning a story of evangelization and faith which I shared with the Board at one of its meetings earlier this...Read More

Now What? The election is over and from the Church’s perspective the results were mixed. The law known as the DREAM Act was upheld, giving immigrant students the same opportunities to achieve their dreams through education. The Church had advocated for its passage because we believe it gives children the best chance to fulfill their...Read More