A 90-year-old World War II veteran is arrested and charged for giving a sandwich to a homeless man on the street because a new law said it’s all right to feed them through an institution, but not personally, so that it became nearly impossible for a “Good Samaritan” to publicly provide meals for the homeless.
I’m not really “from” anywhere. I was born in Indiana, but by the age of 5, I had lived in five states. My dad worked in sales and he got transferred a lot. I spent a long stint of my childhood in Chicago, then we moved to Michigan, then I moved back to Chicago to go to college.
He’s gone now. But 50 years ago you could always find him on the corner of State and Madison in Chicago, which back then was called the "world’s busiest corner.” He dressed in what appeared to be a train conductor’s uniform—bib overalls, a bandanna around his neck, and the conductor’s cap.
Not long ago, I felt overwhelmed with my position as pastoral minister in a thriving parish. People were in the hospital; I had promised visits and could not get to them. I had committee deadlines that were hanging over my head, and a few people who were not happy with decisions I had made.
My dad was a regular attendee of wakes and funerals. The natural politician in him made it a good way to stay connected with his people: family, friends, and business associates.
An ancient homily, “The Harrowing of Hell,” dramatizes what we say in the Apostles' Creed, that Christ “descended into hell.” Here, hell means the realm of the dead (not the place of condemnation) and harrowing implies an overthrow.
The wonderful 2016 Martin Scorsese film Silence is the story of two 17th-century Jesuit priests who travel from Portugal to Japan to find a missing missionary. The priests enlist the help of an alcoholic fisherman named Kichijiro to guide them in their search.
Sunday morning after Mass four times a year we’d pile into Dad’s Chrysler and drive out to Mt. Carmel Cemetery. Our family graves were there. Under the granite stone with our last name carved in bold block letters was my sister’s name etched in much smaller print. She died 10 months before I was born.
India's Project Prakash describes its mission as “Illuminating lives, illuminating science.” It was founded in 2005 by MIT Professor Pawan Sinha, who was seeking to understand the brain’s plasticity by studying blind patients who had recently gained sight through cataract surgeries.
One day during a prolonged funk, when I was sure the world as we know it was coming to an end, my neighbor stopped by to ask me for help.