Category: Uncategorized

This morning, I walked to the church in a little bit of rain. Chicago is delivering up an autumn that is more vibrant and alive than any of the recent past in NYC. The yellow leaves are turning a burnt russet rather than brown, the ivy is turning scarlet, maroon and golden. The trees lining…

Leisure is not the basis of Christian culture, but rather, prayer. And leisure is not the aim of work, rather it is our work that gives meaning. Leisure is rest from meaningful creation (a la Genesis) The Great Resignation shows a dissatisfaction with the culture of work. We do not need more rest, we need…

They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper and they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord Jeremiah 5: 28-29 By the McDonald’s on the corner, I saw a…

I wrote an essay during grad school about how learning the art of asking questions and the discipline of curiosity as a journalist helped me be a better person-in-relationship. Addendum: the craft of accuracy and praxis of fact-checking does not necessarily help relationships. You can grill a source on what exact date it was and…

I am exiting my credit card years—the years of my late twenties: that is, 2018 to 2022, in which I acquired an impressive collection of credit cards, and have slowly begun to dismantle the collection. I think it’s funny that I am doing so, because to enter into the system of credit cards is sort…

I have been at St. Francis House Catholic Worker for 24 hours, and I have realized that unless we see the people we live with and serve as quite literally Christ than there is no point in doing what we are doing. I have also realized that the person I am most ready willing and…

Saying goodbye to New York is saying goodbye to ducklings, pattering up the side of the tidal bay bank. The mother strands over them, on a little metal grate, watching them find their footing on the rocks on the shore. The small mallard ducklings are impossibly sweet. What is it in our brains, I wonder,…

People loved to tell me love is choice.  And sure, it is, the way that choice is  the way a human moves through the world, one foot, then another— because choosing—to eat Wheaties, wear white, read Whitman—is acting. But no one told me that love is most like praise. Love is gratitude, To offer, over…

A searcher for modern sainthood, at least here in Davenport, would be disappointed after about five minutes experience in our house. We’re generally rude to the guys, suspicious of newcomers, reluctant (on the rare occasions we’re willing at all) to share what we falsely consider “our” time with our guests. The occurrence of the kind…

“In the Middle Ages, it was an obligation of the bishops to provide houses of hospitality or hospices for the wayfarer,” quoth Peter Maurin. At the beginning of this month, we stayed in a hotel, which, I have come to believe is a scandal to the Catholic Church. In March, we published a report on…