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Be On the Lookout Stories and movies of suspense often have a scene in which someone is on the lookout. In times of fear being on the lookout comes quite naturally. Should being on the lookout ever come “unnaturally”? Gregory Boyle in his book Barking to the Choir writes: “…be constantly on the lookout for…

The life—and death–of Senator John McCain proved there is always a larger view and a larger love. You’ve probably read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. His books begins by asking the reader to look at the lens through which he or she sees the world. How does that lens…

The saints knew how to evangelize. It seems they had one rule: go to the people; don’t wait for them to come to you. Missionary saints like St. Paul, St. Patrick, St. Francis Xavier, and countless others traveled the globe to tell others about Jesus Christ. Other saints, like St. Therese of Lisieux, shared the…

Sr. Mary Dean Pfahler SND Parish Ministry Director / Spiritual Director St. Bartholomew Catholic Church Long Beach CA Books let you know they want to be read…. I was in South Carolina as the house guest of Denise, a friend of Springbank Retreat Center for Ecospirituality and the Arts.  While dicing vegetables for her detox salad…

A couple walked into the parish office and said they had phoned ahead to ask for a meeting space.  As I was showing them the community room, the wife excitedly told me that she was going to meet her birth mother. Some time ago the wife had graduated from our parish elementary school and was…

Summarizing Two Great Books in One Word:  Relationship This past week I began reading two books.  The first The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr was one I’ve tried to get hold of since its publication in 2016. The second is Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship by Gregory Boyle, author of Tattoos…

The Way Forward is the Way Inward Our readers may know that the four United States provinces of the Sisters of Notre Dame are in a process of becoming one province over the next two years. Some efforts toward unification have been in the works over the past few years, but with the proximity of…

The Miracle Story of Annie the Bus Driver On a day in April the entire student body at St. John High School, Delphos, gathered in the gym to pray for Annie, one of our associates, who had bone cancer. Because the foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame, Sister Maria Aloysia, lived in Delphos several…

Jubilee!! Around this time of year you may hear of priests’ anniversaries of ordination and religious sisters’ jubilees. Some religious orders mark the years from the time of entrance into the community as postulants. My congregation marks jubilee from First Vows. (The first vows a Sister makes are temporary for a few years until her…

Scripture asks, “Pray always.” Throughout Church history there have been two major ways to follow this demand. Monastic orders make the Liturgy of the Hours top priority, while other aspects of their day (work, meals, recreation, sleep) revolve around these times of prayer. There were even times in history when monks would allow themselves  only…