Serving the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as superintendent of Catholic schools, I could never have imagined the effects a global pandemic would have on our nation, state and Catholic schools. On Mar. 12, when Governor Mike DeWine announced statewide school closures, I was stunned, taking a very deep breath and instantly

Why did Jesus need to be baptized? If Jesus is God, wouldn’t baptism be unnecessary? Many have considered this question throughout history, so it is a good one. When Jesus approached John the Baptist to be baptized, John replied, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are

As we prepare for the celebration of the bicentennial of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati later this year, National Catholic Schools Week – Jan. 31 through Feb. 6 – offers an opportunity to reflect with gratitude upon the importance and success of Catholic education in the 19 counties of our local

I write this column each month with the help of prayer and discernment, usually in my office, while the kids are asleep or at school. I always marvel at how God, in the midst of the quiet, provides inspiration as words fill the blank page. But writing this month was

Mientras nos preparamos para la celebración del bicentenario de la Arquidiócesis de Cincinnati más tarde este año, la Semana Nacional de las Escuelas Católicas – del 31 de enero al 6 de febrero – ofrece la oportunidad de reflexionar con gratitud sobre la importancia y el éxito de la educación

by JD Flynn Denver, Colo., Dec 21, 2018 / 01:22 pm MT (CNA).- After communion at Mass this morning, our parish school choir began one of my favorite hymns. The first line filled my heart. “Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand.” It was darling

Caroling. Festive parties. Charming decorations. Cookies. Gift-exchanges. The message is all around us: We should be happy because it’s Christmas. Indeed, to be anything other than effusively joyful means running the risk of being labeled a scrooge. So, no matter what is going on in our lives – or in

I recently made the decision to sell a series of books by Hans Urs von Balthasar. They had always been treasures of mine but, at 16 volumes, I knew I would never get around to reading them. It’s impossible to buy them as a set anymore, and their rarity tempted

Much of this difficult year has been spent in uneasy, uncertain waiting – waiting for businesses and schools to reopen, waiting for the development of a vaccine, waiting for life to return to normal and, for some, waiting for COVID test results. Perhaps most of all, we have spent many

This year has been one packed with a cacophony of sound. There’s the bigger-picture noise: the dire warnings and subsequent mourning related to the ongoing global pandemic; the presidential election and ever-increasing polarization and ugliness we hurl at one another on social media; the ripping sounds of hurricanes tearing through