About every six weeks, I am asked to write the pastoral letter. This is the letter that is addressed to the parishioners on the inside front cover of our parish bulletin. I live in the downtown area of a fairly rural section of Gloucester county. The best tomatoes I ever tasted were from a parishioner …
Introducing Affirmation
My new car came with a trial subscription to satellite radio and so earlier last spring, I got into the habit of listening to Joel Osteen in the morning when I would drive over to the gym. I enjoyed starting my day with a positive, encouraging message rooted in the word of God. It wasn't …
What are you doing for Lent?
Every year, for Lent, I try to do something. Some years, I'm successful, and other years, I'm not. Sometimes, I use the Lenten season as a time to change my diet and try to maintain that practice after Lent has ended. I have successfully cut my refined sugar intake as a result of a Lenten …
Official Hymn for the Holy Year of Mercy
My tastes in liturgical music are quite eclectic. I love Taize and but I also love contemporary music by artists like Chris Tomlin. The Official Hymn for the Holy Year of Mercy is closer to Taize than Tomlin, but has a lot of potential for adaptation. The hymn is composed by Paul Inwood and Eugenio Costa, …
Happy Catholic Schools Week!
Today begins 2016 Catholic Schools Week. As an adult, I've come to appreciate particularly the financial sacrifice that my parents made for my Catholic education. Click here to download the Catholic Schools Week Supplement in the Camden Catholic Star Herald. The editor of our paper has allowed me the opportunity to write two other pieces for him last …
Sock It to Me!
There is a song called Goatee produced by the off-beat alternative rock band They Might Be Giants wherein a sock puppet power-duo boasts of its synergistic charisma. https://youtu.be/c23PzBhu8b4 I love this video for several reasons: 1.) Sock puppets...who make jokes. 2.) Innocuous references to goats, the Indian island of Goa and the paper coffee cup. …
Common Psalm, Common Psense
A member of our parish music ministry team asked an excellent question: Since we only have 2 or 3 weeks before Lent, I have a suggestion. Is it a viable idea to continue the Responsorial psalm that we have been doing? To answer your question, First of all, what Psalm have you been doing …
Prayers of the Faithful
Hi folks. It's been a while since I have written anything. I am passionate about prayer and finding beautiful words to connect the human experience with the thirst for God's presence. I love thinking about how beautiful God is and what it must be like to live with Him forever. Just about every week, I am entrusted to craft …
Marriage and Communion
Now those who wish well to their friends for their sake are most truly friends; for they do this by reason of own nature and not incidentally; therefore their friendship lasts as long as they are good-and goodness is an enduring thing. - Aristotle (Nichomachean Ethics, VIII, Ch. 3.) I had the opportunity to help out …
Dreams or plans?
There's a song by Shakira that came out in 2005 called Dreams for Plans. She sings: "Can you tell me how it used to be? Have we missed our chance? Have we changed our hopes for fears And our dreams for plans?" These lyrics resonated with the way I'd been feeling recently about my professional endeavors. …