As my feet dug into the soft sand of the Jersey Shore just before sunrise one day earlier this month, I briefly flashed back to my pre-teen years of doing the same on the rockier beaches of Noyack Bay in the Hamptons with my maternal grandmother. Every ...
When I first met Walt Chura 18 years ago, it was by phone to express my concerns that the silent retreat I’d signed up for (and which he was leading at ...
It was 18 years ago today — on the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists — that I launched this blog. (You can read my original blog ...
My annual tribute to the baby I lost 27 years ago today, the baby I call Grace:
For the past few days I’ve been looking at the numbers on the calendar, ...
I have been blessed to go on numerous visits to the beautiful city of Rome, and each time I visited, I ran the gauntlet of typical tourist and pilgrim ...
This Soul Seeing essay originally ran in the July 5, 2025, issue of the National Catholic Reporter:
As I drove down the New York State Thruway, headed ...
Growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, our home was adorned with a large portrait of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The same one hung in my grandmother’s home. Back ...
Happy Feast of St. Joan of Arc!
When I was in a difficult stretch a few years back, Joan of Arc became my guide and inspiration. I had the image you see ...
Every woman should watch this. And maybe every man as well. I’ve been a fan of Andie MacDowell since the 1980s, when I carried a magazine picture of her in ...