Some thoughts upon returning from the second session of the synod
I returned just a few days ago from the second session of the Synod on Synodality in Rome, and I will confess to feeling a tad exhausted. As I've mentioned before, the synod is a full four weeks long, ...
The higher you go liturgically, the lower you should go in service of the poor
This past week was one of the most liturgically rich of my priesthood. As part of the National Eucharistic Revival, the Marian pilgrimage was making its way through my diocese en route ultimately to Indianapolis. ...
The three countercultural promises of a priest
In just a few weeks, I will ordain three men to the priesthood for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. Ordaining priests is the greatest privilege that I have as a bishop. Period. When, at the high point ...
He saw the cloths and believed
The Gospel for Easter Sunday is from St. John's account of Easter morning (John 20:1-9). We are told that Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb very early in the morning while it is still dark. She has ...
Pro-life Christians: Now is the time to shout from the rooftops
Tom Holland's magnificent book "Dominion" develops in detail what amounts to a very simple proposition -- namely, that Christianity is responsible for many of the central values that we take for granted ...
It's not your life, it's not your death, it's not your choice
When I was an auxiliary bishop in the Los Angeles Archdiocese some years ago, the state of California was militating in favor of physician-assisted suicide. During the campaign, while driving through ...
Ivy League presidents and the collapse of moral reasoning
Last week, the presidents of three Ivy League universities -- Harvard, MIT, and Penn -- appeared before Congress to address the issue of anti-Semitism on their campuses, in the wake of the conflict between ...
My experience of the synod
Now that I've had a bit of time to readjust to my normal rhythm and to think through the rather extraordinary experience of the last month in Rome, I would like to share some impressions of the Synod ...
