Dear Friends, What an incredible week we just finished! I am sure that those of you who had the opportunity to attend the Lenten Mission with ValLimar Jansen found your faith-life stimulated, challenged and filled with joy. Her powerful singing voice and acting...

Dear Friends, I hope you can join us for the Parish Lenten Mission being presented by ValLimar Jansen. I am sure you will not only learn, but you will have a chance to pray and to celebrate all that God is and does for you. And, it will be enjoyable. The enjoyable...

Dear Friends, Next weekend, St. Frances Cabrini Parish is having a Lenten Parish Mission!! Years ago, this type of event would have brought in Redemptorist, Dominican, or Jesuit preachers to speak each night at the parish for a week with the goal of challenging people...

Dear Friends, One of my addictions is reading. I cannot read one book at a time. I am always reading four or more at the same time. I blame this on college where we always took at least four courses at once and all of them had reading to be done. I just got into a...

Dear Friends, On Ash Wednesday morning at Mass, Pope Francis gave a challenging homily to his listeners. He recommended three words for the Lenten journey to help us return to God: “Pause a little, leave behind the unrest and commotion that fill the soul with bitter...

Dear Friends, Lent is a holy season in the church calendar, but I wonder if it isn't awfully easy to miss the point of it. Pope Francis recently wrote a letter to the church about the season. In it, he reminds us to practice the basic Lenten disciplines of prayer,...

Dear Friends, The Christmas season ended on January 7, though in some churches the remnants of Christmas remain. The three CUES schools gathered at Holy Name Church on Wednesday of last week to celebrate Mass for Catholic Schools Week together and, in their church,...

Dear Friends, This week we celebrate the gift of Catholic Schools to our church and to our community. I am a product of a Catholic School upbringing. When I was student, I did not really know what a gift I was receiving by having that kind of education. I did not know...

Dear Friends, Most of us probably think it would be wonderful if we simply received a clear command from God. In my experience of giving spiritual direction, people keep seeking for what God wants them to do. They ask God for signs, for some clear manifestation of...

Dear Friends, In the gospel today, disciples of John the Baptist begin to follow Jesus and he invites them to come and stay with him. That is how they get to know him. It is how we get to know him too. One of the first demands of discipleship is to have a relationship...

Dear Friends, Preparing to leave for the IXIM mission trip to Guatemala has inspired me to pray about the purpose of the trip and what will make it a success. From our North American view, we might be tempted to say that the trip is successful if we have accomplished...

Dear Friends, In preparation for our celebration of our country’s independence on July 4th, I thought I would give you some reflections from the Catholic Bishops of the United States on the issue of religious liberty: “Religious liberty is not only about our ability...