Today has been another busy day of touring and walking and looking and thinking in the Holy Land. Our destination was Bethlehem – we were driven to the check point by our tour guide to meet with representatives of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, who then drove us from the security point into the ...read more

It has been another beautiful day here in the Holy Land. Today began early – our tour guide, Rivka (who is an extensive textbook of all historical matters) said a sunrise over the Sea of Galilee is not to be missed. What luck – my hotel room faces east. And so I awoke at 5:30 ...read more

Hope many of you had a chance to watch the Catholic Focus episode on the permanent diaconate the other night (if you missed it, it’s on Saturday, March 3rd at 7pm E-T). Can I say that it was a real pleasure to host that episode? Perhaps I need to explain myself. When I was growing ...read more

This morning I went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. I like saying that. What average morning starts like that? But after a full day of traveling to the Holy Land Wednesday, the dive into the water was refreshing, welcome, and very, very salty. I arrived safely in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and touring began Thursday ...read more

Some of you may have seen the Fifth Estate Wednesday night which profiled a sexually abusive priest in the Diocese of London, Ontario. I’m sure all of you will agree that the abuse committed by this priest is horrendous: it should be neither covered up nor ignored. If you’re like me, you’ll also find it ...read more

My Catholic Focus – Once Upon a Blog – airs tonight, March 1st at 7pm ET (with a Sunday 7pm ET repeat as well). I’ve had the sincerest pleasure of seeing a Catholic Focus that includes Rocco Palmo (author of Whispers in the Loggia), Cardinal Sean O’Malley (one of the premier blogging US Cardinals in ...read more

By now most of you have probably heard about the ‘discovery’ of the so-called “Jesus Tomb.” You’ve probably also noticed that the announcement accompanied the release of a book, a website, and an upcoming TV program. Interesting how that works. Unfortunately it would seem that those involved in this fiasco are more interested in grabbing ...read more

Timely words contained in the psalm at today’s Mass: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Ps 19) I usually have to struggle with my pride when it comes to fasting or other sacrifices. So often I want to ...read more

After weeks of being inspired by my colleagues and their thoughtful entries on the Salt + Light blog, I am finally joining them with my own musings. Well, perhaps these aren’t so much “musings” as they are words written together to form coherent sentences. At any rate, this opportunity to write and share our ideas, ...read more

Back in 1996 The Dallas Cowboys became the first team to win 3 Super Bowls in a span of 4 seasons, Mother Teresa received honorary U.S. citizenship, Democrat incumbent Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole to win his second term, Fr. Thomas Rosica was working as Executive Director of the Newman Centre and with the Faculty ...read more