By Michael Patrick O’Brien– My recent Disneyland trip probably was not my final visit there. As my hair grays and my wrinkles multiply, however, it may have been one of…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– During a flight to Rome in mid-September 2024, a journalist asked Pope Francis what advice he had about the upcoming United States presidential election. The reporter…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– One of the strangest parts of aging is going back to the places of your youth. Take, for example, my recent visit to my alma mater,…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– When I had to do some field research for my current writing project, I turned to Anne Holman and asked if I could visit with her…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– A colorful painting of a bald man with large ears and a mischievous smile hung on an otherwise unadorned wall at the Trappist monastery in Huntsville,…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Monastery films are divine. The last four I’ve watched are especially memorable.  Three of those films are about Holy Trinity Abbey, the now closed Trappist monastery…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Does art change us?  Does its effect linger and sink into our DNA beyond the mere moment of initial existential enjoyment? I don’t have scientific proof,…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– A pair of initials carved into a wooden bar at a historic Chicago hotel have taught me about the myriad ways people express their love. During…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– The first time I took my family, including a grandchild, to my favorite Northern Utah pumpkin patch, I suspected the youngest among us would enjoy it.…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– In the Fall of 2021, I published a book about growing up at a now-closed Trappist monastery in rural Northern Utah. Telling that wonderful story has…