One of the benefits of reading the Bible and different stories of the Bible over and over again is that you discover new insights that you missed the first time around. You read a familiar passage or a story you have read many times before and then suddenly something new jumps out at you. In […]
It has been a little wistful to see the final days of Pope Benedict. I, of course, did not know him, though I did meet him on several occasions. When I was a student in Rome he was already a very famous theologian who worked at the Vatican. He walked to work every day and […]
I love the story and life of Abraham. As we read in Genesis, although he is considered our father in faith, his faith is by no means perfect. At times he openly disobeys God. Other times he acts out of fear and cowardice. Another time, he tries to force things rather than wait for God […]
About three years ago, my associate Tom started saying we should write a book. I dismissed the idea. I had no idea of how to write a book, or where to begin. The project seemed beyond my reach or ability. But he kept advocating for it. Eventually he did better than that, he started writing. […]
This weekend we are kicking off one of the centerpiece message series of the whole year, and one like no other. That’s because it’s based on a book. Our book: Rebuilt Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame Indiana, February 2013 This weekend we’ll be introducing the general approach of the book and what we are […]
I was greeted in the office this morning by our youth minister, Chris. He likes to think he’s funny (and sometimes he is), so I laughed when he told me the Pope had just retired. Yeah, right Chris. But this time he wasn’t kidding. To say the least, it was an unexpected development. My friend […]
We’re calling the release of the book the book “launch.” Release sounds like getting out of jail, launch sounds more dynamic, the start of a dynamic process or event. Officially the book is available on February 25 online on Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble. Additionally, it will be available and on display in […]
My associate Tom and I have a book coming out and here are a few of the questions we’ve frequently received. 1. Why did you write a book? We simply wanted to tell our story about what happened to us, what we know and what we learned when it comes to parish life. We definitely […]
When it came to the title of our forth-coming book, Rebuilt, (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2013) the publisher and editor decided what it would be. But, we were actually delighted with their choice. Rebuilt is a word that appears dozens of times in the Bible, and is a basic exercise entrusted by God […]
In our upcoming book we devote a whole chapter to small groups, because that’s how important we think they are to parish life. And we acknowledge that they are a very hard sell in a Catholic setting (maybe they’re a hard sell in other settings too, I’ve never tried to sell them anywhere else). So […]
