The Best Father’s Day Present Last Father’s Day, I got a book I’d wanted for a while– Soldiers of the Cross: The Heroism of Catholic Chaplains and Sisters in the American Civil War, by David Power Conyngham (1825-1883), a Civil War veteran and journalist. For years I had heard of the manuscript, which consisted of postwar interviews with priest chaplains and nursing Sisters. For over a century, it lay in the University of Notre Dame Archives until a Church historian, Father David... Read more
The Sherman Family and the Catholic Church For decades, the University of Notre Dame has featured nationally and internationally renowned speakers at its commencements, ranging from popes and presidents to generals and CEO’s. The first speaker of national renown was Major General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891), a key figure in preserving the Union. Two of Sherman’s sons had attended the school (one would become a Jesuit priest). His wife Eleanor Boyle Ewing Sherman (1824-1888) was a devout Catholic who was... Read more
What’s Catholic Poetry? It’s poetry imbued with what the late Father Andrew Greeley called “the Catholic imagination.” In 1917, Joyce Kilmer, a poet and Catholic convert, aptly wrote: “The poet sees things hidden from other men.” Catholic poetry is propelled by a sacramental outlook that looks beyond the visible for the true, the good, and the beautiful in everyday life. The poem might not always hit the mark, but that’s the goal. I think that hope has to be kept... Read more
Brigadier General James Rowan O’Beirne (1839-1917)– Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, New York. One of the great things about living in New York City is that there’s always some interesting historical nugget waiting to be uncovered. I recently discovered one at my alma mater, Fordham University in the Bronx– a plaque dedicated to a Civil War veteran named James O’Beirne (1839-1917). As I did further research, I realized his story was worth sharing with my readers. Approximately 150,000 Irish Americans, the overwhelming majority... Read more
If you’ve never heard of the Liturgical Movement, you’re missing out on one of the most dynamic components in modern Catholic history. It has its roots in France’s thousand-year-old Solesmes Abbey, which was shut down during the French Revolution. In the 1830’s, a young priest named Prosper Guéranger (1805-1875) restored Solesmes and revived Benedictine monasticism in France. Since childhood Dom Prosper (his monastic title) was enamored with the romance and beauty of the ancient Christian past, and as a monk... Read more
Book sales are dear to my heart. Especially Catholic ones. I can spend hours going through dusty shelves looking for obscure treasures. Back in the spring of 1994, when I was a graduate student at St. John’s University, the library was thinning out its collection of books that hadn’t been checked out in a while. Among them was a small paperback by one E.E.Y. Hales titled The Catholic Church in the Modern World. Hales begins with a sizable block quote... Read more
On a sunny Saturday morning in May 1976, I made my First Holy Communion at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Queens. After the Mass, lots of people came to our house. I was seven years old; I wore a blue blazer with white pants and white shoes. And, let me tell you, I felt pretty important that day. My favorite present was a book from my mother– Our Friends the Saints, by Daniel A. Lord, S.J. I’d always been... Read more
Pascal once said that most of our problems as human beings stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room by ourselves. Never was this more true than now. It certainly has been for me. As I thought about this, it led me to pull off the shelf one of my all time spiritual favorites, Carlo Carretto’s 1964 classic Letters from the Desert. In 1954, at age 44, Carretto, a highly respected Catholic lay activist, left a busy life... Read more
As a human community, we’ve been going through a tough time, to say the least. But as Pope Francis has said in his recent Urbi et Orbi Message, “We are all in the same boat.” And we’ll get through this together. As April 2020 begins, it’s worth pointing out that this is National Poetry Month. Poetry can help us get through this journey in a unique way. It can, I believe, provide spiritual consolation and strength at a time when... Read more
Friends, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything for McNamara’s Blog, so bear with me. My proverbial pen may be a little rusty! Ever since childhood, I’ve been drawn to the saints’s lives. Back in May 1976, for my First Communion, I was given a book titled Our Friends the Saints, a collection of short biographies by Jesuit author Daniel A. Lord. This little book, without exaggeration, got me started on the road to being a Catholic historian. I... Read more
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