News & Articles
Two News Stories Colliding
Two news stories collided recently and the news story that moves our hearts as Americans will decide our future as a society. One news story centers on the bill being proposed by several Indiana Republican legislators to ban discussion of topics such as racism from the classroom because these legislators deem those topics as potentially…
The Fish That Didn’t Get Away
If there is one certainty in fishing, it is that there is no certainty. This past summer, on the Wisconsin lake I know best, I stumbled onto a new fishing strategy. Instead of fishing with everyone else from six in the evening until sunset, I began to venture out later, when the sky was already…
DJ Humility
One of the greatest challenges facing parents in the next decade will be to understand the allure of fanaticism for young people. It wasn’t that long ago that calling someone a fanatic was, if not an insult, at least a warning that such a person was dangerous. For a growing number of people now, to…
America – A Nation Called To Be Better
During the Vietnam War, the slogan “America: love it or leave it” was popular among people who demanded uncritical devotion to the government and to the war. But uncritical devotion to the government has never been a trait of the American spirit. Americans who have moved this country forward have never been satisfied with America…
Merton & The New Year
There are certain people who seem to know us, and we them, even though we never met them in person. One of those people for me is the Trappist monk Thomas Merton. Although I’d heard his name, I didn’t read anything written by him until 1975, seven years after his death. But once I read The…
Christmas 2021
Christmas brings thoughts of St. Francis. The reverse can also be said, St. Francis brings thoughts of Christmas. If you have a crèche set up in your home, you have St. Francis to thank for that. One of the first, if not the first, crèche scenes was set up by St. Francis in the Italian…