Welcome to an Ash Wednesday search for wisdom. We will see what a few writers outside of out Catholic thinking have to say, including a retired Lutheran pastor, that “Ash Wednesday is spiritually the most uncomfortable day of the church year.” Articles include “Politics as pigsty,” a cross-country walk for peace and the odd news that Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon wanted to “take down” Pope Francis.
Blog
Ash Wednesday: A Call to Spiritual Growth
I offer this essay to suggest ways we all might achieve a deeper understanding of the popular feast of Ash Wednesday and find practical ways to implement the call to repentance in our daily lives.
Wisdom Wednesday | February 11th
An NCR headline proclaims, “As Trump shared racist memes, NYC Archbishop Hicks preached Bad Bunny.” Meanwhile, two Catholic bishops are calling on the president to apologize for posting a racist meme. Archbishop John Wester corrects the Speaker of the House. A columnist insists that ICE must be met with non-violence: “What is at stake is the soul of our nation.”
Justice Bulletin Board
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time • February 15, 2026 Black History Month As I am writing this column, Martin Luther King Jr. Day has just concluded and I am addressing the month of February in which the nation observes National Black History Month. I have always loved history and so…
Wisdom Wednesday | February 4th
Perhaps it is time to leave the great ennui of weariness and anxiety. We begin this week with hope and human kindness. A video shows a crying elderly man approaching the altar — prompting the priest to interrupt the Eucharistic Prayer and give him a hug; it went viral in Brazil.