This past Thursday was, of course, Veteran’s Day, marking the conclusion of military action in Western Europe at the end of WW I. Coincidentally, in the liturgical calendar, it is also the commemoration of St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of soldiers. Martin was originally from what we now know as Hungary; he served […]

Richard Lederer is a prolific and popular writer, speaker, and educator. For twenty-seven years he was a teacher at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Concord, New Hampshire. I had the pleasure of meeting him back in the late 80’s when he visited St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton where I was on the staff. He’s […]

Charlie was a regular visitor at the racetrack. One afternoon he noticed an unusual sight. Right before the first race, a Catholic priest visited one of the horses in the paddock area and gave it a blessing. Charlie watched the horse race very carefully, and sure enough the blessed horse came in 1st! Charlie followed […]

I began my ministry as an acolyte when I was ten years old, in my local parish church in suburban Northern Kentucky, but when I was in my teens, I was also a regularly scheduled server at the Convent of the Transfiguration in Glendale Ohio, just north of Cincinnati. The nuns “imported” boys from local […]

Paddy Kerrigan was going through Irish customs after his trip to France. Among his suitcases stood a brown gallon container. “And what might this be?” asked the customs officer. “Sure, that is holy water from Lourdes I’m bringing back to my loved ones.” The customs officer unscrewed the top, sniffed, blinked, raised the bottle, and […]