There is an almost pathological aversion to talking about religion or sharing one’s Faith in our contemporary culture. We are cautioned to keep conversations at bars to the topics of sports, television, and the weather, lest we accidentally become too political, or even worse, religious. But this aversion demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of what our Faith is supposed to be in our lives, and reorienting the way we think about our Faith might make us more likely to share it with others in the same way that Andrew brings his brother to Jesus in this week’s Gospel. Click title for full column.

It is so fitting and exciting that we have the pleasure to announce on the Baptism of the Lord that WWPR is having a Safe Haven Sunday on the weekend of February 7. We can only chalk it up to Divine Providence. God always knows best! At our Baptisms, in addition to the incredible gifts of the cleansing of original sin and the conforming of our souls to Christ, we are given the light of Christ. Our parents and godparents promise to protect that light—to keep it burning brightly! Priests, catechists, grandparents, and other family members have the privilege and duty to share in that responsibility. You all do an incredible job protecting them from so many dangers that threaten to dim the light of Christ within them. It is because you love your children and grandchildren. You know them better than anyone else. You use that love to teach how to avoid danger and stay safe. You teach them to come to you when they are in danger. Click on title for full column.

Happy Epiphany to you all! I have a close friend from college who used to celebrate the Epiphany with his extended family that couldn’t gather on Christmas Day, and they would all revel in the gifts brought to them by the mythical Epiphany camel. In other parts of the world this feast day maintains its significance as an integral part of the Christmas season. Here in the states it is largely glossed over by the secular culture, but it is a rich source of meditation for us nonetheless. Click title for full column

The Feast of the Holy Family is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to preaching a column material. Does one talk about the centrality of the family in the discernment of one’s vocation? Does one talk about Jesus’ obedience to Mary, Joseph, and the old law that He Himself had come to fulfill? Perhaps a word about Simeon and Anna,and their anticipation of the Savior’s advent? Some imprudent preachers lean in and give one thirty-minute homily with four subsections, but I strive to avoid such things, as I try not to get booed out of the ambo whenever possible. Click title for full column.

In the department of odd statistics that I track, it probably comes as no surprise that I travel about three times more as a pastor of three parishes than I did as the vicar of one. In an effort to make the most of my time on the road, I have taken to getting in more car rosaries, as well as burning through podcasts and audiobooks. There is almost no limit to great Catholic content out there, and even with all the time in the car, I feel like I am always behind on formation opportunities on the go. Click title for full column.

On this Gaudete Sunday, it is with great joy that we invite you to an incredible Advent opportunity—a candlelit Rorate Caeli Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary on Saturday, December 19 at 6:30 am. On December 1, Fr. McCullough posted an excellent video on our WWPR Facebook page describing the Rorate Caeli Mass and how it will look a little bit different. The video can also be accessed on our parish website. If you’d prefer the written word from the Vicar, then here you go! Click title for full column.

Seven years ago, before my time in Miami learning Spanish, I took a week-long retreat at the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemane, down in Kentucky. It was a wonderful time of silence and prayer, and a chance to do some of my favorite things: pray, read, and not talk to anyone. In fact, just knowing that there is a place out there where no one is permitted to talk brings joy to the cockles of my heart. While I was there, I found myself fascinated by the life of the monks themselves. There are many aspects of their horarium that one might find interesting, but I think the simplest way to explain what captures the modern imagination about hermits and cloistered religious is that they are, in a word, weird. Click title for full column.

It is hard to believe I have been at the Winton Wyoming Pastoral Region for 5 months now. It feels like just yesterday we were preparing for Lent and Easter during this craziness. Now, all of a sudden, Advent is here, and Christmas is around the corner. We can definitely give thanks we are able to prepare and worship together during this Advent season. We just need to be on guard that we do not let Advent become another month that quickly passes us by. Click title for full column.

One of my favorite ministerial things to do as a priest is holding marriage prep meetings. They are time-consuming, and it is sometimes difficult to coordinate three busy schedules to find sufficient time to talk about the work that goes into a successful marriage, but it is also one of the places where it is easiest to see the Holy Spirit at work in people’s vocations. One of my favorite occurrences in these meetings is when we stumble across unknown discrepancies in the couple’s understanding of their relationship. Perhaps the most common is seeing the difference in how much money they feel comfortable spending without telling their future spouse. Ultimately, all of these discrepancies come down to the question of how much control over their lives the spouses are prepared to cede on behalf of the good of the relationship. Click title for full column.

This Sunday’s parable of the servants receiving talents from their master is a beautiful lens by which we can enter more fully in the Eucharistic Prayers at Mass—especially the First Eucharistic Prayer, sometimes referred to as the Roman Canon. The lens is the radical humility and generosity of self that God asks for us. The servants who received 5 and 2 talents were rewarded for being generous in striving to increase what their master had given them. These servants realized they received an unmerited gift, and the only fitting response was to humbly and radically give of themselves and what they had received. The third servant, motivated by self-preservation and fear, buried his talent, to which our Lord says the master called him “You wicked, lazy servant!” Click title for full column.

We have arrived at a perfect storm of sorts, friends. The pandemic and its isolation, seasonal affective disorder, daylight savings time- induced depression because it’s pitch black at about 6:00 pm now, Zoom meetings, you name it. Add in political ads and all the partisan turmoil raging around us, and it’s amazing that people are as happy and balanced as they are. But the fact remains that the end of the year does not have the same easy optimism and hope as spring or summer. Perhaps it is for all these reasons that the end of each liturgical year focuses our minds on the end of days and the four last things: death, judgement, heaven, and hell. Click title for full column.

It is difficult, in a world in which the news cycle rolls over seemingly every twenty minutes, to comment on all the significant things that happen in the world and in the Church before they become old news. But as we have the opportunity to celebrate All Saint’s Day on a Sunday this year, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the recent news story on Pope Francis and his comments on civil unions and place it within the context of the entire history of the Church, because, to a certain degree, that’s what All Saint’s Day is about. Click title for full column.

There’s an old adage that Cincinnati is the only place where when people ask you “Where did you go to school?” they mean high school, not college. I have found this to be true, and unfortunately it frequently runs me headlong into an uncomfortable catch-22 surrounding my educational background. Many people ask me if I went to LaSalle because I’m always wearing their gear. Others assume I am a Roger Bacon man because of my St. Bernard origins. In reality, I am a proud son of Covington Latin, having thoroughly inconvenienced my parents by going to school not just across town, but out of state. When people discover this, the response is, almost inevitably, something along the lines of “Oh, so you’re a super-genius then?” Click on title for full column.

Because of the numerous times I have mentioned the FOCUS Mission (www.focus.org) going down to Mexico City that I was blessed to serve as chaplain on, I figured I’d be kind and share some pictures and give some more context. With a gaggle of university students and three FOCUS missionaries, we all flew down to Mexico City and met Craig, the founder of Hope of the Poor (www.hopeofthepoor.org). I still message him often to check in, and we can give thanks that he was able to return to the poor in in September. Click title for full column.

There are a number of people in the scriptures who, by all accounts, get a pretty raw deal. Job is the first name that comes to mind. Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, certainly deserved better. Some people sympathize with the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. But the wedding guest in today’s Gospel who unexpectedly gets invited to the party and is then unceremoniously thrown out into the outer darkness might take the cake. Sure, it’s just a parable, but how can you drag someone into a party at the eleventh hour and then get angry at him for being underdressed? Click title for full column.

The coaches, teachers, and leaders who have made the biggest difference in my life are, without exception, the ones who have communicated clear expectations and held me to a high standard. I will never forget the extra running I had to do because I refused to practice fundamentals in the exchange between glove and throwing hand. I loathed my high school English teachers for both the number of papers and the stringency with which they were graded at the time, but there is no doubt that it made my college career easier. (If you’re reading this, Mr. Krebs, Mr. Langlitz, Dr. Carroll, or Mr. Goldfuss, no hard feelings.) Even my seminary formation was enriched by the priests and professors who really pushed me. All of it speaks to the importance of calling one another to great heights, even if it seems unnecessary or harsh at the time. Click title for full column.

When I was discerning seminary, there was a platitude that I heard from almost every priest and seminarian I had the chance to talk to that I didn’t believe even for a second. Whenever I asked about the challenges and sacrifices in the life of a priest, the vast majority of them said that it isn’t celibacy that proves to be the biggest challenge; it’s obedience. I wrote it off as nonsense. Sure, it must be tough to not always have the final say in where you go or what you do, but that can’t possibly compare to giving up having a wife and kids, right? Click title for full column.

After my talk about voting as Catholics during the Faith Formation Friday on September 4, I thought a more extended, organized, and precise written exhortation may be a helpful conscience formation aid for November. This article provides a two-fold approach—first, general Catholic conscience formation principles and, second, a resource guide for references to Church documents on key issues for diving deeper into the research. Click title for full column.

I consider myself the world’s foremost authority on my own bad habits. To name a few, I enjoy cigars, I definitely don’t get as much sleep as I should, I loathe all non-competitive exercise (so I don’t get any), and left to my own devices, I would probably eat enough nutty bars to put me into a coma. But perhaps worse than any of these is my propensity to hold onto grudges. My exaggerated sense of justice has caused me to not so silently log away every injustice over the course of my life and hold onto it for the sake of proving how everyone has wronged me in every way imaginable. From the time my brother threw my lucky buffalo nickel out the car window to every skirmish with various downtown offices, I sometimes think that the most prominent drive in my life is for vengeance masquerading as justice. Truth be told, I sometimes watch YouTube videos of umpires blowing calls just to get myself fired up, and if that’s not a sickness, I don’t know what is. Click title for full column.

I have said it before and will no doubt say it again, if someone were to personally design a purgatory (or worse) suited specifically to me, it would no doubt be centered around reading internet comment boxes all day. A few weeks ago I wrote about a new Vatican instruction concerning parish life and leadership. I found much of it to be a necessary call to review the way we have always done things and put our resources towards evangelizing an ever-changing world. But this week I read a myriad of comments from folks around the country who saw the document differently, and my heart sank. Click title for full column.