“I’m very happy I’m an alcoholic,” Anthony Hopkins said in a recent interview. The 45-years-sober actor, aged 83, continued: “It’s a great gift, because wherever I go, the abyss follows me.”
7/1/21
Reading Time
3
min
By Mary Beth Bonacci
I love my hair stylist. She’s a devoted Christian. So, when I see her, we tend to have much deeper discussions than the usual gossipy hair stylist sessions. And, because it’s a small shop, the discussions often branch out to the other people within earshot, waiting for their appointments or waiting for their color to process. Because she tends to attract a smart and faithful clientele, the discussion is always interesting.
7/1/21
Reading Time
4
min
By Christina Capecchi
Every house, in its own way, is a living thing. It changes as we change. It expands with joy and contracts under duress.
6/23/21
Reading Time
3
min
By Russell Shaw
What is Breyer going to do? As the Supreme Court nears the end of its 2020 term, many court-watchers ask that with an urgency that equals or even surpasses their eagerness for the results of several high-visibility cases due to be announced in the next couple of weeks.
6/23/21
Reading Time
3
min
By Russell Shaw
The Supreme Court’s announcement that it will consider an abortion case from Mississippi next fall touched off a predictable outpouring of frenzied criticism from pro-choice sources worried lest their cherished “right” to abortion be in jeopardy. No small part of it was what might politely be called exaggeration or, not so politely, baloney.
6/17/21
Reading Time
3
min
By Susan Doyle
The World War I movie “1917” ends much as it begins, with the protagonist, Lance Corporal Schofield, sitting in uniform under a tree. If you viewed only those two scenes, you might believe not much happens in the film — and what a mistake that would be.
6/17/21
Reading Time
3
min
By Richard A. Miserendino
On a trip to Tokyo years ago, my friends and I visited a Shinto shrine in the heart of the city. Our tour-guide explained the local custom: To pray in the temple, the locals believed that you had to clap twice to wake up the god who lived there. At the time, I laughed to myself and thought, “What good is a God who takes naps? Who wants a deity who’s asleep at the switch?”
6/16/21
Reading Time
3
min
By Nora Hamerman
“The man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,” who yet “played an incomparable role in the history of salvation” — these are the words Pope Francis used to describe St. Joseph when he proclaimed a year dedicated to the saint, a patron of the Universal Church.
6/16/21
Reading Time
3
min
By Elizabeth Foss
I noticed it first in the bookstore. A brightly colored table full of self-help books interspersed with flip flops and beach blankets promised readers that this would be the summer they’d finally become the best version of themselves. If only they’d crack open the books and do the right things and change the wrong thoughts, all would be well. Later that day, as if to beat me over the head with the message, I saw it as a meme on social media.
6/16/21
Reading Time
3
min
The sweet and the sour in this week’s Gospel
It is fun on occasion to take note of people’s different taste preferences. If you like sweet and sour dishes, there are two courses for you to enjoy in the banquet provided in this Sunday’s readings.