Every great story revolves around change happening within a person or a group of people, or at least a revelation of who that person was all along. Without transformation and deep change a story might be amusing, entertaining, or many other things, but it will not impact us deeply, because it does not touch the deepest part of ourselves, that is, our identity. As we gather to celebrate Christmas as a parish family, we do so fundamentally because Christmas tells us, along with the story of Easter, who we are. Much of the world celebrates Christmas because of custom, and many of these customs are built on consumerist ideals. Others may celebrate Christmas out of a sense of obligation, either to their families or to their traditions. These things are fine in as far as they go, but they are but a sad shadow of what Christmas is meant to be.   Click on title for full column.

“Joseph, because he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.” The often unquestioned assumption about this passage, because we live in the broken world of paternity tests on reality television, is that Joseph was suspicious of the Blessed Mother and wanted to get out of the situation entirely. That said, such is not the view of a great many of the Church Fathers, who look upon this “suspicion theory” with a skeptical eye, mostly because it seems unlikely that someone who knew Mary would immediately assume the worst about her. Every year I take up this crusade anew, trying to convince the 21st century Christian world that there is more to the story than Joseph being concerned about infidelity.  Click on title for full column.

When I was a Junior in college, I had the incredible opportunity to study in Rome for a semester, and it changed my perception of the universal church in many important ways. Click on title for full column.  

Every year on the Second Sunday of Advent the Church calls our attention to John the Baptist, the great forerunner of the Lord. I always find it to be a fruitful opportunity for meditation, as it pulls us away from some of the more commercialized scriptures which we traditionally associate with Christmas. We’ll get to the manger and the birth of the Prince of Peace soon enough, but reflecting on a man going out into the desert to wear a loincloth, eat bugs, and yell at people to repent always comes first. That’s the real Advent spirit for you. Click on title for full column.