By Jean Welch Hill– The normally lackluster midterm elections have been uncharacteristically exciting this year. While the choices for voters have included numerous important initiatives and races, the increasing rise…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Last Sunday at church I prayed for comfort from what seemed like the affliction of current events. Our parish priest responded to my plea with onions…Dostoevsky’s…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– In about a dozen subterranean tunnels, far beneath the congested urban streets of Sicily’s largest city, reside some 2,000 citizens from all walks of Palermo life.…

By Gary Topping– “Have you been saved”? Growing up, as I did, on the southern Oregon coast in an environment heavily dominated by fundamentalist and evangelical Protestants, I have heard…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien With All Saints Day arriving later this week, I can timely note that it would be unusual for a Catholic to call herself or a colleague…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– (Editor note: this article originally was published October 16, 2017 in The Boy Monk.) Life is a repeating pattern of crucifixion and resurrection. A recent visit…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– When it came to middle school playground sports, especially our regular touch football games at recess, I was a puny chihuahua with delusions of bulldog or…

By Gary Topping– I always try to remember October 19.  It is the Memorial of the eight Jesuits martyred in Canada at the hands of the Iroquois Indians in the…

By Gary Topping– Through the generosity of architect Mike Stransky, the Diocese of Salt Lake City Archives has received a privately published edition of letters of Maud Fitch, a young…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– The century-old New York Times headline- “Marry in Haste in War”- jolted me out of the daze of a late night online genealogy research session. The…