I. Introduction By now many of us have become familiar with Msgr. Weiss, the Pastor of St. Rose of Lima, in Newtown. He has truly exemplified the priesthood at its best in the way he and the young priests who serve with him reached out in love to the grieving families in his parish and...Read More

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, a debate is underway about the best way to rebuild. Many residents of coastal areas that were devastated by that terrible storm would not only like to have their homes restored but also to re-build them so as to withstand future storms. No one can realistically imagine that Sandy...Read More

The Christmas Story may well be the greatest story ever told. No, not the book and movie of the same name about a boy’s obsessive desire for the holy grail of Christmas presents: a Red Rider BB Gun. I am referring to the real Christmas Story, the true story of the birth of Jesus Christ...Read More

I. Introduction As all of us are painfully aware, last Friday morning, in Newtown, Connecticut, a town in the Diocese I previously served, an unspeakable tragedy occurred and now people all across the nation and around the world are mourning the loss of so many innocents. For me the tragedy struck in a personal way...Read More

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