Father Carmen Mele
‘Turning, Turning’
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In Matthew’s Gospel, after Jesus preaches by the sea and feeds the multitude, a telling encounter occurs. Walking on water, he meets his disciples who are in a boat. Jesus is buoyed up by faith, which allowed him to perform the priestly services of preaching and feeding. Faith in the Scriptures means solidity, a firm Read More
Priestly Charity
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By the 1970s, when I began studies for the priesthood at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., Father Horace McKenna, SJ, had reached a saintly status in the area. He ministered to the poor, especially the homeless, from St. Aloysius Church on North Capitol Street where he served as vicar. Friends who worked Read More
An Answer to Loneliness and Solitude
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In a Christmas homily a few years ago, Archbishop Joseph DiNoia assuaged the fear that Christ is being left out of Christmas. He mentioned the oft-noted markers like the very name “Christmas” but indicated the surest sign is something other. He said the world is filled with longing. At Christmas, whether religious or not, people Read More
How to Grow in Holiness
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One summer during priestly formation, I was traveling in West Virginia with the Dominican preaching team there. Somehow I learned that my best friend’s father had died. The man had been very solicitous of me, a kind of surrogate for my own dead father. I wanted to attend his funeral in Chicago but, at the Read More