I’m having some problems with music in Catholic America. Part of it is my problem. I spent fifteen years in the Anglican Church with the New English Hymnal–which is probably the finest hymnbook ever published in the English language. Musically and liturgically it was the best that traditional Anglicanism had to offer. Catholic music in [Read More...]

As part of our pro life emphasis for October, today at school mass we had the missionary image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The missionary image is a perfect facsimile of the real image in Mexico. After Mass the students filed forward to venerate the image. It was moving to see them reach out and [Read More...]

I have, from time to time, been critical of Evangelical Protestants and Anglicans. I don’t apologize for this. I think it’s okay to criticize as long as you try honestly to see your own faults, and accept the criticism of others with good humor. However, I also want to record the good stuff I received [Read More...]

The Benedictine monk vows stability, and this means he will stay in one place. He’s not on the move like a friar or a missionary. He can’t be whisked here and there like a diocesan priest. He stays put. That’s why a Benedictine, when asked will not just say, “I’m a Benedictine monk.” but “I’m [Read More...]

Some years ago I was part of a youth weekend at Lancing College in England. Their school chapel is a great neo Gothic church perched on the side of a hill. We wanted the young people to understand the poverty in the developing world, so we set them a project: they had to go into [Read More...]

Summer vacation has arrived and I’ve got loads to do. After tidying up from the loose ends at school, I’m heading for El Salvador on Saturday for a week. I’m leading a school mission trip to help at the CIDECO community. CIDECO is a village built with help from the papal foundation. The poorest of [Read More...]