Perspective
How to intimately learn Catholicism
Fifteen years after Richard Louv’s bestseller “The Last Child in the Woods” was published, it is more relevant than ever. I’m fascinated by his insights on the “nature-deficit disorder” ailing […]
Perspective
Learning how to saunter: the gifts of quarantine
Tonight, I wrote two events on my calendar: a birthday party and a baptism. They will be sanitized, scaled-down gatherings — and they will be fun — but still, it […]
Perspective
Catholic beats coronavirus at age 99, inspiring legions
The nurses kept using the same phrase. The doctors used it, too. Rock star. Anne Giardino, the 99-year-old on the 15th floor, was a rock star among the many COVID-19 patients […]
Perspective
‘Keep that hope machine running strong’
It started with the Italians, whose arias rose from the balconies. They were on lockdown, but their voices rang out down empty moonlit streets. Ballads, the national anthem, improvised ditties […]
Perspective
‘Joyful momentum’ when two or more are gathered
There comes a moment when something clicks. At a book club or a Bible study. In a carpool circle or a coffee shop. A connection is made, and a gathering […]
Perspective
What I learned on the pond: Reckoning with winter
The snow has begun. It is expected to last 18 hours, piling 9 inches high and crippling weekend plans. The streets are emptying, the collective dash to the grocery store […]
Perspective
The story of our lives
I’m beginning the new year with a clean office. It seems a good place to start, a practical way to set me up for any other resolutions I make. My […]
Perspective
Rudolph to the rescue: the triumph of an under-deer
Robert May was painfully aware of the distance between his dreams and his reality. The 34-year-old Dartmouth graduate had long fantasized about writing the great American novel. Instead, he was […]
National
Minnesota high school prepares for beatification of one of its own
ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) — A man who scrubbed toilets and shoveled sidewalks at Cretin-Derham Hall High School is on his way to becoming a saint, and the school is […]
Perspective
Grandma remembers: the secret of 90
It has become a four-generation tradition to head south of the cities and take in a small-town celebration of fall. Our route winds between soaring bluffs and a shimmering lake. […]
Perspective
Wonderfully made: finding courage to create
I was a sophomore in college when I received the little blue book, a gift from a friend who also wanted to be a writer. At the time I was […]
Perspective
Being resourceful: I can read! I can pray!
“We ate our honey. We ate a lot. Now we have no honey in our honey pot.” With those 17 words, averaging just three letters in length, Jan and Stan […]