Durham at 5:15 in the morning just after the clocks have been pushed forward is not exactly a time for a sunrise service. It was billed as a bonfire and baptism and confirmation and communion service, all rolled into one and it lived up to its billing. The service lasted a good 1:45, and nobody was eager to leave. The service began in utter darkness in the cloister….then the bonfire was lit and the choir and the clergy processed to... Read more

First novels are make or break kind of things. I know all about it. If the Lazarus Effect hadn’t done reasonably well, we would not have been five novels into the series as of this summer (Roma Aeterna is coming). Whatever trepidation Susan Hill, who lives in a Gloucestershire farm house, might have had about her first mystery, it was entirely unwarranted. People went wild over The Various Haunts of Men, comparing her to P.D. James. High praise indeed. It... Read more

We should see every poor person as an icon of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because what we do to the least of these we do unto HIM. Read more

Durham is one of the few places in the world I know of where it is impossible to be hyperbolic about its beauty and grandeur. It’s a place that needs no hype. And it is also a spectacular place to get an education. But I digress. I first arrived in Durham, or to use it’s old name Dunelm, 35 long years ago, a youngish student of 26. I’ve returned numerous times, this time for two months, and while various things... Read more

Beginning in the late 70s, my wife and I had two favorite PBS shows. No, it was not one of those long running serials like Brideshead Revisited. The first was the wonderful show about the life of James Herriot in Yorkshire as a vet. It was hysterical. The second was Siskel and Ebert at the Movies. Intelligent, even witty, commentary and critique on movies was never made so accessible, and so lacking in the usual irascible spirit of some critics,... Read more

An underwater statue of Jesus sits at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Malta. After being blessed by Pope John Paul II, it was placed underwater as an attraction for divers. Read more

Things have only gotten worse since 1980 when it comes to weapons and violence, including accidental and intentional killings of innocent children. This is a picture of John Lennon’s blood-spattered glasses which he wore the day he was killed. Here’s a little lyrical tribute I’ve written to John, to be sung to the tune of his classic hit— Imagine. “Imagine there’s no weapons It’s easy if you try, Nothing to kill or maim for, And no good reason why Imagine... Read more

By the mid-70s, P.D. James was on a major roll, when it comes to mysteries or crime fiction. One can surmise that her publisher was even allowing her more verbage, because Death of an Expert Witness runs to 352 pages, which is about a hundred more than some of the early novels. But what had prepared James for writing these spine-tingling crime novels? You look at her pictures and say—- oh, that’s ‘Aunt Betty’ or at the later pictures and... Read more