It's hard to make progress when you can’t see where you’re going. That is true whether you’re navigating down a foggy highway, lost in a forest, feeling your way through a power outage, or just bumbling through life in general.

Leadership skills are desirable qualities. Girls’ and boys’ clubs promise to develop them. From academic programs to the armed forces, turning lemmings into leaders is a constant theme. We need people to take the lead in families, church, the local community, and government.

Joseph had a problem, and it wasn’t a small one: The girl about to become his wife was pregnant. He wasn’t the father, so the law was clear: Honor could be restored to both households by stoning.

Consider John the Baptist for a moment: What a résumé! Luke alleges that John’s kinship with Jesus is biological. That alone is worth some bragging rights.

Christmas is on its way. You can feel it rushing in toward us like a runaway train, uncontrollable and inevitable. It transforms the environment of the church as much as the landscape of the community, not to mention the economic reality of many parishioners.

The demise of the analog clock has probably affected the learning curve a little. But flashing digital displays still don’t offer to children or other fine people the precise meaning of time that goes along with merely knowing the numbers.

Let's drop some names. Who’s the most impressive person you ever met?

I recently sold my home and moved, so I know the heartache and hardship of seeing your whole life packed into boxes or tossed into the trash outright.

What would you include on a list of holy places: Jerusalem? Rome? The local cathedral?

Most European Americans approach All Souls' Day in a spirit of sober reverence. This is a day to remember our dead, and so it has the feel of a collective funeral about it.