On Spirituality Archives - Page 23 of 32

The Exercises are ending, and panic has ensued
- Apr 29, 2015
Talking about faith is not unlike talking about sex. It’s awkward, and the feelings evoked can be impossible to describe. Yet for nearly nine months now, I’ve spent two hours a week talking about big and little faith experiences. Every second Sunday I’m with a group of Catholics going through

By margeryeagan
Boston’s top cop, shaped by his Catholic faith, is torn on the death penalty
- Apr 22, 2015
He’s a serious Catholic and a serious cop. Only Boston Police Commissioner Bill Evans knows which comes first. On Monday, Evans spent a rainy day with his officers patrolling the legendary Boston Marathon route where, two years ago, the Tsarnaev brothers set off their deadly bombs. The next day, jurors

By margeryeagan
Looking for silence with Bill Sheehan
- Apr 15, 2015
If Father Bill Sheehan were your parish priest, the pews would be packed for every Mass he said. As it is, he’s in huge demand all over the country to lead retreats where everyone sits for hours a day, eyes closed, in a silent meditation known as Centering Prayer. And

By margeryeagan

This week, wrenching sorrow to genuine joy

Apr 1, 2015

This is, for me, a schizophrenic week. From Palm Sunday to Easter, Holy Week offers a feast of solemn services. There’s Tenebrae, when each of 15 candles set high on an altar stand is gradually extinguished, symbolizing Christ’s death. Each candle goes dark as a psalm is read. Finally, the

Visiting the hauntingly peaceful Omaha Beach

Mar 25, 2015

OMAHA BEACH, Normandy — I’d seen “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Longest Day” and read in history books, like everyone else, about the great Normandy invasion. On its 50th anniversary, June 6, 1994, I learned, stunned, that my best childhood friend’s father was among the first soldiers to land on