Every summer, the Church, in her wisdom, gives us several weeks in a row of Our Lord talking about the Eucharist and its centrality in our lives. The Bread of Life discourse is an annual reminder of who we are as a people: we are nourished by the Lord, healed by this pledge of eternal life, and sent out to bring others to share in the joy we have received. A true disciple is a beggar who knows where to find bread and shares that with other beggars. We recognize our own need for Jesus and are generous in sharing Him with others. Click title for full column.

In no uncertain terms, Our Lord tells us that “to whom much is given, much will be expected.” I am aware, though certainly not to the degree that I should be, of the incredible blessings I have received in my life. I could never sufficiently thank God for my vocation, my family, my health, His continued care for me, the list goes on. Therefore, I should also expect Jesus to ask a lot of me, and I shouldn’t hesitate to do anything He might ask. Indeed, there are a great many things I am always willing to do: I try to work hard to discharge my office, I am committed to celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, I’ll get out of bed at all hours of the night to go to bring the sacraments to my spiritual children, you name it. But if there’s one thing that always gives me pause, it is being asked to look like a fool for Christ. Click title for full column.

Hello friends, As many of you probably remember, our Lenten Mission this year was focused on the blessings, difficulties, and opportunities of being a parish region with two significant language groups. I found it to be very fruitful, and I am grateful to the many, many people who have inquired as to how they can best get involved and help unify our parish families. It has made me proud to see people be open-minded and willing to leave their comfort zones for the sake of bringing souls to Christ. With that in mind, Fr. Jeff and I have been working with a dedicated group of staff and volunteers on an initiative to strengthen our unity as a region, and we’re ready to share more information to get people involved. Click on title for full column.

What would our parish region look like if everyone who was moderately connected to these parishes understood and lived out the call to evangelize? I don’t know for certain, but I can guarantee that things would be different, and perhaps the Archdiocese wouldn’t be at the beginning of a massive undertaking to re-examine parish regions, resources, and the entire way we’ve been doing ministry for decades now. This is not meant to be an indictment of just the parishioners, just the staff, or just the clergy. But since we hear the Gospel this weekend give us a detailed account of Jesus calling His disciples to Himself and then sending them out into the world to preach the Good News, it’s definitely a good opportunity to ask why we are reticent to live as though we are sent. Click title for full column.

It’s an understatement to say that there are very few things that are universally agreed upon in the Church these days. Most everything quickly becomes grounds for a rancorous debate, except for the universal belief that priests, and to some extent, parish staffs, should be more like Jesus. However, even that is contentious because of our tendency to move right past who Jesus actually is and interpret Him as we would like Him to be. A zealous young priest I met when I was in seminary referred to this phenomenon as “cocktail party Jesus;” the presentation of Jesus as someone interesting, novel, but above all else, not offensive to guests. Click on title for full column.