Greg Erlandson

Columnist

In Pacific Palisades, Paradise Lost Default Thumbnail
Perspective

In Pacific Palisades, Paradise Lost

I have trouble talking about the loss without tearing up, as if the smoke and ash from Los Angeles traveled across the country to find me. My in-laws were French […]

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Perspective

Adult Children and Christmas Mass

There are two kinds of families that I notice at Christmas Mass. The first are those with young children dressed up in their best Christmas finery, excited about the whole […]

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Perspective

Men Behaving Beastly

“Why do men become beasts?” The question was asked by South African Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale. In a speech last August, he was warning men that they will be held […]

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Perspective

The Challenges of the Catholic Voter

Every four years, for as long as I’ve been in the Catholic press, editors get two types of phone calls come election time. The first is to complain about the […]

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Perspective

Dealing with Pandemic PTSD

I’d like a show of hands for how many of you tested positive for COVID this summer. Or felt terrible but didn’t have any tests on-hand. Or self-diagnosed your distress […]

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Perspective

Is Sunday a Wasted Opportunity?

It’s not every day that The New York Times runs a story about Catholics and Eucharistic adoration. Yet the National Eucharistic Congress held in July in Indianapolis caught the attention […]

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Perspective

A Toast – and Advice – to Those Beginning their Marital Journey

I must have skipped the chapter in my “how to parent” instruction manual where it talked about weddings. Not my wedding, of course, but all the weddings of my kids, […]

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Perspective

‘Father Justin’ Explains It All for You

Years ago, I remember a supermarket tabloid cover story about the Vatican creating a robot priest. The image on the cover was an R2D2 type of robot with a confessional […]

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Perspective

Let’s Celebrate Easter for a While

This year, I’m glad to see Lent come to an end, and not just because of Easter alleluias and Cadbury dark chocolate eggs. It was a tough Lent. Part of […]

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Perspective

‘You Will Never Wash My Feet!’

Soon enough, we will be celebrating Holy Thursday, also known as the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The Gospel reading for that Mass is John 13:1-15, which is not […]

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Perspective

How Deep Are Our Political Divisions?

The movie, musical, and now musical movie “Mean Girls” is a reminder of one of the more miserable sides of adolescence: in groups and out groups, the cool kids and […]

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Perspective

How Do We Win the Abortion Battle? Maybe Like This

For abortion’s opponents, it has been a frustrating year. When it came to the courts, the pro-life movement scored its most significant victory when the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 […]