Just heard this week’s message (listened in on Tom’s practice) and it is going to be a very strong conclusion to our current and final message series of the summer, “Do This.” Don’t miss it. We’re still talking about the Mass. Tom is focusing on the Liturgy of the Eucharist, especially the communion that we […]
Weather wise this has been an amazing week, if you don’t count earthquakes and hurricanes. This is also the third week of our current message series, which is all about the Mass. Tom will be speaking about the Offertory of the Mass. I heard his message yesterday and I can tell you, it is challenging. […]
This is week two of our current message series, taking a look at the Mass. Today we’re looking at the Liturgy of the Word (liturgy means work). At Mass we read the Scripture, but not in a linear way from Genesis to Revelation. Instead it comes in cycles, that are repeated every three years. Interestingly, […]
This weekend we kick off a new four week series all about the Mass, we’re calling it “Do This” because the Mass is something Jesus told us to do. In fact, it’s the last thing he told us to do before he died. The series also anticipates the new Roman Missal (if you need to […]
I returned to the office this week and, gradually, to my usual schedule. I still won’t be speaking this weekend though. As it turned out, Tom ended up doing the entire series we are currently in (on the Old Testament) and will be wrapping up this weekend. I am very grateful to him for an […]
Regular readers of this blog will remember my promise to finish the book this summer (the book Tom and I have been working on for about a year, and talking about for a lot longer than that). I even vowed to stay here in Avalon until the project was complete. One anonymous commentator to the […]
It’s hot in Avalon. Too hot for the beach, or for much of anything else. Fortunately, the heat provides even more incentive for me to sit tight, in a cool spot, and continue to plow away at “the book.” Our working title, by the way, is called “Beyond Retail Religion.” This past week I rewrote […]
Today is Saturday and that means I have to go to church again. I could go tomorrow, but that is just prolonging the pain. I’ll go to the 5pm Saturday Mass today and get it over with. That’s what people do, don’t they? They go to get it over with. Why? Obligation, guilt, habit, concern […]
I began my annual vacation on Friday here in Avalon, New Jersey, joining a large group of extended family members. There were, on and off, about 25 to 30 of us. Interestingly on Sunday morning, this group of Italian-American, parochial school Catholics mostly all stayed away from the local church. What did they do instead? […]
As noted in the previous post, the number one project this summer is getting “the book” done, a project my associate Tom Corcoran and I have been working on for the last year. It will be only a little book (about 60,000 words) but one that tells our story and what happened to us and […]
