Early on the morning of December 13, I sat beneath Christmas lights in my dimly-lit living room, editing one of my final papers. My phone was beside me so I could instantly check any updates about my sister-in-law, who was going to give birth to my niece at any moment….

Advent has long been my favorite liturgical season. Something about the colder weather, the imagery of light shining in darkness, and the joy that accompanies preparation for Christmas has always made it a little bit easier for me to sense God’s presence in this time. But this year, like with…

This summer, the United States lost a great hero. When John Lewis, a civil rights leader and long time congressman, died in July, many people were moved by reading his article, “Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation.” In his writing, he tells us that in his last…

This morning I walked by a church about a block away from our house that I’ve passed many times before. It is no longer in use, with a few windows missing and birds flying in and out. But this time there was a new addition to the familiar sight –…

Like many, over the past month I have been immersed In the news and the constant stream of social media posts about the death of George Floyd and the protests that have followed. I’ve been reading and watching and listening and thinking and talking and praying, and trying to figure…

This week is “Laudato Si Week”, and Pope Francis is inviting Catholics around the world to join together to pray and prepare to build a more just and sustainable world. The theme is “everything is connected,” and now more than ever, this connectedness that Pope Francis speaks of is visible. We…

This Lent has been a particularly heavy one. For me, it began with a trip to the El Paso/Juárez Border with a group of 13 people from the School of Theology and Ministry. There, we learned about the legal, economic, and humanitarian sides of the border crisis, and met some…