As this rainy day in Rome comes to a close, I want to share a bit of my heart with all of you. While the delegates spent Monday and Tuesday in prayer and reflection, the official opening of the Synod began with Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday, and Read more…
The second session of the Synod on Synodality has begun. After two days of prayer and reflection, the synod delegates gathered Tuesday evening in St. Peter’s Basilica with Pope Francis to pray for forgiveness of the Church’s sins and failures. The prayer service was profound, and a fitting way to Read more…
As I pray night prayer in Rome tonight, I look out my window upon the dome of St. Peter. As stunning an edifice as this is, it is mostly a monument to St. Peter’s confession of faith in Jesus Christ. After St. Peter’s martyrdom very near this location, he Read more…
This entry is written enroute to Rome for the second session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality. Preeminent on my mind are the good people of the Archdiocese of Seattle. I am so grateful to all our Archdiocesan team, priests, deacons, lay leaders and parishioners who are now well Read more…
The Season of Creation runs from September 1 to October 4 and is an ecumenical celebration of the gift of our earth. It is also a time to reflect, pray and take action to care for our common home. Our Catholic social teaching calls us to respond to the urgent Read more…
Happy Sunday everyone! I invite you to listen to today’s homily in the video below, which begins around the 28:20 mark. Please pardon my misquote towards the end of the homily referring to Jeremiah rather than Elijah. The homily begins at the 28:20 mark.
As most of this readership knows, Archbishop Wester of Santa Fe and I made a pilgrimage of peace to Hiroshima and Nagasaki last August. During that visit we had substantial conversations with the Bishop of Hiroshima and the Archbishop and Archbishop Emeritus of Nagasaki about forming a partnership to advocate Read more…
I’ve posted the homily below from today’s Mass. Also below is a slideshow of a selection of photos from today’s commemoration. As always, thanks to Stephen Brashear for his photographs! God bless you, and all you do to promote peace in our world! One year ago today, I celebrated Mass Read more…
Seventy nine years ago, August 6, 1945, an American B-29 dropped the first deployed atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Roughly 80,000 people were killed instantly, while tens of thousands more would die in the months that followed. On August 9 another atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, killing another estimated 40,000 Read more…
In today’s world there is much strife and sin, yes. These many manifestations of strife can at times capture our attention to the point where we begin to think it is the prevailing reality of society or of human nature. However, the truth is that each person is created in Read more…