This past Thursday, April 25, the entire country of Italy celebrated la Festa della Liberazione, or the Anniversary of the Liberation. It was quite festive.
A little more than a year ago, Pope Francis finished a series of fourteen Wednesday audiences dedicated to the theme of discernment. The series seems
Recently I was called to visit a sick person to give them The Anointing of the Sick. It was a strange visit. (More on this
I celebrated my fifth Christmas in Italy this past December. It was certainly the most normal one after COVID. Still, I was struck by several
There is an interesting linguistic phenomenon called “false friends.” They are a bane of middle school foreign language learners – and often even those beyond.
I was recently able to reconnect with a friend of mine and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had grown a great deal in
I always enjoy coming back to the parish after time away. Whether it’s for a weekend retreat, a month of break, or six weeks in
As regular readers of Catholic Stand may have noticed, although I live and work in Italy, I frequently spend time in the Middle East. The
“Ugh! That road isn’t very safe at all! You know what they used to call it? The road of death!” This is how a parishioner
Many people taking vacations leave hearth and home for other locales. But my recent vacation took me home. I recently returned to the parish I
Last month, I offered some thoughts on forgiveness. The subject seems to have resonated with quite a few people. It also gave rise to a
As typically happens when I sit down to write, I began thinking about which experiences and events over the last few weeks would make for
Italy is a country full of history. And this history is accompanied by some beautiful traditions. For instance, Divine Mercy Sunday marked the “51st Official
A short time ago, I travelled from Italy to Holland to give a couple of conferences regarding Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint John Paul II, and
Throughout the world, there are many things that are poorly named. In other words, there are objects, places, or even people that have names that
There are 30 different dialects of American English, but there are 34 different dialects in Italy. This is rather curious. I began thinking about dialects
Some readers may recall that I live in a rather large community of priests and brothers, with a convent of sisters nearby. Since many are
A few weeks ago (the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time), the Gospel presented us with the parable of the poor man, Lazarus, and the rich
In December of 1964, the Beatles made the UK release of the song that would become their 7th number one hit in the US: “Eight
As mentioned in an earlier article, I recently returned to Italy after serving as spiritual director for a ten-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Understandably,
I recently returned to Italy after serving as spiritual director for a ten-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Saints and theologians have called the land
On April 21st, 2021, Pope Francis declared a son of our city, Pietro Marcellino Cardinal Corradini, venerable; so last Sunday, my parish celebrated an event
