On Ash Wednesday, Father Morris Jalal, OFM Cap, the pastor of our parish, St. Columban, said Mass for us and the children. Father Morris is a native of Lahore. He has a vision and his passion shines through. He spoke…
Many of our own accounts of joining Loretto begin with an attraction to the sisters. How much fun they had. They were happy. They had endless patience with us. They listened. They talked about big things and encouraged us to…
Rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice! Every word of today’s readings tells us to rejoice because our feet are firmly planted in the goodness of God’s creation and we have nothing to fear. Isaiah promises that…
About 10 years ago Paulette Peterson, who directed the Queens Vet Center for combat veterans, asked me if I said anything to my two veteran brothers on Veterans Day. It was a whole new thought to me. I had opposed the Vietnam…
That first reading needs to be finished. The fifth and sixth sons refuse to eat pork and are tortured and killed. Then the mother is threatened with torture if she doesn’t’ convince her youngest to eat pork. Of course, she…
Mother Magdalen Hayden had a devotion to Our Lady of Light. Whether that’s why the school in Santa Fe, NM, was so named, we don’t know. We do know that about eight years after the Loretto sisters arrived in Santa…
In 1984, when my brother Joe was diagnosed with Gay Men’s Virus, before it was named AIDS and then identified as HIV, before there was any treatment, I prayed. I prayed that Joe would be cured. I’d been taught that…
“Who can know God’s counsel?” asks the book of Wisdom. We are timid and find it very hard to grasp the world around us – except that sometimes, says Wisdom, we do receive guidance from the Holy Spirit to make…
In 1946 The New Yorker devoted an entire edition to publishing John Hersey’s “Hiroshima.” Hersey reported on six residents. They were there in the city and, by turns of fate, they survived. This is the story of their suffering. We’ve…
The easy way to reach your senator or congressional representative is to call the congressional switchboard (202-224-3121). Call to say you are dismayed at the Supreme Court action on — just about anything — and what is the senator or congressperson doing about…
It’s finally happening, the first Meeting of States Parties to the U.N. Ban Treaty! Eighty-six countries have signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and 61 states have ratified it! The states parties are meeting in Vienna along with civil…
I was 18 when I wrote my will, leaving all my possessions, including future royalties, inheritance and payments for service, to the Sisters of Loretto. What I knew when I was 18 was that Loretto had a future, and I…