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Posts published by “mobrien@joneswaldo.com”

Two viral college football seasons four decades apart

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Viruses, not victories, define two of my most memorable college football seasons. One is the unusual COVID-19 season of 2020. The other was forty years ago,…

The Overcoat

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– My friends, the retired Utah Trappist monks now all living in Salt Lake City, always have understood that not having much money is only one way…

Remembering the 1960s

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By Gary Topping– None of my readers need to be reminded that our country is beginning to emerge—we hope—from a very difficult period in a variety of ways.  My mind’s…

My Grandfather’s Star and the Rise of the Covidians

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– I admit I was not excited about recent reports that—for the first time in 800 years—Jupiter and Saturn will align this December into what is called…

Bishop Hunt Goes to War

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(Note from Gary Topping: The Boy Monk has a very special guest blogger this week: Bishop Duane G. Hunt, who led the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City from…

The Nick of Time

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Good Saint Nicholas, whose feast day we celebrated on December 6, probably is known as the greatest gift giver of all time. His little known Utah…

An Advent gift: the simple joy of Catholic bookstores

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– For the beginning of Advent 2020, in the midst of a stressful and challenging pandemic year, I sought refuge. I found it in one of the…

Post-prandial Problems

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By Gary Topping– It happens to anyone who spends an appreciable amount of time in front of a classroom.  My wife, Marianna Hopkins, experienced it once during her distinguished career…

Statue of No Limitations

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– We lawyers love to solve mysteries. One that recently vexed my fellow lawyer Bill White (owner of the old Huntsville monastery farm) and me was the…

The Sounds of Monk Silence

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– One day many years ago, when I was much younger and visiting the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, I watched two monks in an unusual animated…