By Michael Patrick O’Brien– For our 50th birthday gifts, my wife Vicki and I each chose a dream destination trip. For my golden birth anniversary we flew over the Atlantic…
Posts published by “mobrien@joneswaldo.com”
By Gary Topping– Keith Topping, my brother, was three years younger than I, but a generation older. We never got along well as kids, and when the cultural revolution of…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– There was only one place in Utah, perhaps only one in the whole world, where you could sit on an old church bench, drink a beer,…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– In late September 2020, three years after the Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah closed, my family enjoyed an early evening picnic on the old Abbey grounds.…
The BoyMonk’s 3 year anniversary: Remembering the Pope’s Speech to Congress-The Essence of American Catholicism
0 By Michael Patrick O’Brien– (Editor’s note: today marks the three year anniversary of this blog. This was the original post from September 25, 2017.) On a late September morning in…
By Gary Topping– Like Mike O’Brien (oops, I should be calling him “Michael”), I have fond memories of Monsignors Mannion and Mayo. (See Alpha days and Omega times–a Tale of Two…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– One of the advantages of getting old is you get to see how things turn out. So it is with the two Catholic priests I met…
By Gary Topping– Last Sunday’s newspaper carried, for me, a very sad obituary, announcing the death of Melvin T. Smith. In 1978 Melvin, then Director of the Utah State Historical…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Depending on the day, my attitude about our common ephemeral condition ranges from reluctant acquiescence to flat-out denial. As a result, I relish the rare occasion…
By Gary Topping– What I remember most vividly is my wader boots shuffling through the colorful leaves that were already beginning to fall along the river banks. And then there…