People of a certain age remember: those words are the beginning of the theme from ‘WKRP in Cincinnati.’  I’m headed to Cincinnati later today to speak at the National Diaconate Institute for Continuing Education (NDICE) at Xavier University. Looking forward to connecting with some old friends and making some new ones in the diaconal community. Meantime, below is the original, rarely-seen full opening of ‘WKRP in Cincinnati.’ Photo: Wikipedia Read more

A fitting recessional this Sunday, for a day when the scripture focuses on seeds and planting. There’s a well-known version by John Rutter that is popular with choirs. This version, using more familiar music by William Chatterton Dix, predates it. Wikipedia notes: “For the Beauty of the Earth” is a Christianhymn by Folliott S. Pierpoint (1835-1917). Pierpoint was 29 at the time he wrote this hymn; he was mesmerised by the beauty of the countryside that surrounded him. It first... Read more

From the Archdiocese of Dubuque’s Facebook page: “The power of the community is here and I could feel the Holy Spirit working through the prayers,” said Deacon Mark Dolash after being ordained to the diaconate this morning. He was one of 11 men that became permanent deacons today at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Hiawatha. Family, friends, religious, priests and fellow deacons packed into the church for the occasion. In his homily, Archbishop Jackels said that the deacons must... Read more

“A sower went out to sow…” Those simple words begin one of the most compelling parables in the Gospel— a story that has much to teach us not only about gardening and growing, but also about listening.  Listening to the Word of God.  Being receptive to it.  Being open to it. That can be hard to do, when there is so much noise in the world distracting us from God and trying to drown out his Word. But there is... Read more

I preached about today’s saint, Kateri Tekakwitha when she was canonized five years ago, and noted her connection to my parish in Queens: If you look at the reredos, the wall behind our altar, you see the large painted panels. There’s Jesus in the center of course, surrounded by four saints: St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi on the top, and St. Patrick and St. Boniface on the bottom.  Framing all the saints, surrounding them, are carved statues of... Read more

Here’s something you don’t see (or hear) every day, via The Guardian:   Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou only really trusted me after I had sung to her. “Something from your country,” she instructed. So I found myself in the tiny bedroom of this 93-year-old Ethiopian composer-pianist-nun, croaking my way through the verses of a Robert Burns song. Given she does not agree to most interviews, I felt I should do what I was told. The room, at the Ethiopian Orthodox church... Read more

My old colleagues at CBS News last night remembered one of the greats, Douglas Edwards. Today would have been his 100th birthday. He was CBS News’s first television “anchor”—and at one time had an audience of some 30 million people watching his newscast every night.   (For comparison: according to AdWeek, fewer than 6 million watched the CBS Evening News last week.) A long time ago, in a very different world, when radio producers still recorded things on reel-to-reel tape... Read more

This short video shows the First Lady visiting the most famous in cathedral in Paris on Thursday  to light a candle and pray. [read_also art1=”216771″ /] Read more

From Pew:  More Christian than Muslim refugees have been admitted to the United States in the first months of the Trump administration, reversing a trend that had seen Muslims outnumber Christians in the final fiscal year under President Barack Obama, a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department refugee data has found. From Donald Trump’s first full day in office on Jan. 21 through June 30, 9,598 Christian refugees arrived in the U.S., compared with 7,250 Muslim refugees. Christians made... Read more

From UPI:  The Adorers of the Blood of Christ, a St. Louis, Mo.-based organization, own a strip of land in Pennsylvania where the pipeline is planned to go through. But the nuns said the $3 billion pipeline violates their beliefs and values regarding the environment and oppose it construction. “The Adorers have a Land Ethic, approved by their congregation in October 2005, that: Honors the sacredness of creation; Reverences Earth as a sanctuary where all life is protected; [and] treasures... Read more