Perspective
Getting beyond Darwin
Bishop Robert Barron and others working hard to evangelize the “Nones” — young adults without religious conviction — tell us that a major obstacle to a None embracing Christianity is […]
Perspective Archive
Perspective
Marriage: When expectations yield to love
This summer marks the special occasions of David’s and my 40th anniversary and the marriage of our older son Ryan to Sarah, our new daughter. In one of the pre-wedding […]
Perspective
Living in largo: in praise of a slower pace
There is an art and a science to slow living. This summer I’m trying to learn both. In music you can measure it. The tempo called “largo” – Italian for […]
Perspective
Random thoughts and caveats
One of the things I’ve been thinking about lately is how it’s well known that preschool-age children who go to day care centers have more respiratory illnesses than those children […]
Perspective
Finding God in all things
There is, to be sure, a stress within the Biblical tradition that God is radically other: “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.” […]
Perspective
Summer at the lake
Chemists and economists speak of equilibrium conditions, where the concentrations of reactants and products, or supply and demand, are in balance. If you have a bottle of soda water with […]
Perspective
Securing authentic children’s rights
Children require extensive support and protection to meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. They are uniquely dependent on their parents because they are particularly vulnerable. Often they are unable […]
Perspective
The summer reading list
Continuing a venerable tradition, I offer the following for your canicular reading pleasure: John Hay spent decades at the center of American public life as Lincoln’s secretary and biographer, a […]
Perspective
How far is too far?
How far would you drive for Mass? I don’t know if anyone has ever done a study of such a pedestrian topic, but it is a question that will become […]
Perspective
‘God wants me to be happy’
A reflection on a deeply flawed moral stance One of the questionable, and unfortunately common, forms of moral reasoning today is the rather narcissistic notion that God wants each of us […]
Perspective
How to accept criticism: a spiritual exercise
More than 19 million people tuned in to watch the final episode of “Game of Thrones” May 19, making it the most viewed show to ever air on HBO. Yet […]
Perspective
A Year in the Eternal City
It’s hard to believe, but almost a year has passed since I last saw my beautiful homeland (the United States) and came to Europe. A lot has changed in that […]