Rosemary Bogdan

The First Feast of Blessed Solanus Casey-- July 30, 2018

On November 18, 2017, more than 66,000 people gathered at Detroit’s Ford Field, a multi-purpose indoor stadium and home of the Detroit Lions. It was a rainy, blustery day, yet as the thousands peacefully lined up at security there was not a face without a smile.

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Spiritual Lessons From a Cold Climate...

When you live in Michigan it's very difficult to know exactly when Spring has started. We are always on our guard to not get too excited lest our enthusiasm be dashed by yet another frost...or even snow. This particular Spring has been long in coming.

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Is The Force With You? Is It?

A common new age idea these days is to think of God as a force-- Star Wars style, not a personal God, not a Supreme Being…in fact not a being at all. Just a force. I do not think that this construct stands the test of reason.

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You Can't Be Pro-Life and Also Pro-Choice

The personally-opposed-but-pro-choice position is logically inconsistent or an example of barbarism. It must be one or the other.

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The Tax Collector, Saint Matthew

Saint Matthew was an apostle of Jesus and the author of the first Gospel. He was a tax collector, an occupation despised by many because it allowed for great profit at the expense of others through extortion.

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Transplanted For Our Own Good

Some years ago I planted a dwarf hibiscus (Actually Hibiscus X Ruby Dot, I believe), also called Rosemallow, along my front sidewalk. Dwarf should mean small, right? I thought it might grow to be a foot or two. Well. It became a good three feet tall and probably had a diameter of about the same. It sprawled over the walkway, blocking a good portion of it.

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Justice for Harambe??

Harambe, a silver-backed gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo was killed recently to protect the lif of a three-year-old boy who had fallen into the gorilla's enclosure. Thankfully, the little boy is all right, despite having fallen 15 feet into a moat and having been dragged repeatedly around by a 450 pound agitated gorilla.

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Review and Book Giveaway of "Learning to Love with the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir" by Jean Heimann

Jean Heimann's latest book, Learning to Love with the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir was published by Mercy Press on May 13, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, 2016. (If you would like to win a free copy of this book, enter the drawing by leaving your name in the Comments section of this post. Winner will be drawn five days after this post. If your comment does not link to a way to contact you, please

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Bernie Sanders at the Vatican

Much has been made of Bernie Sander’s visit to the Vatican to speak at a conference of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Members of both sides of the political spectrum fretted over the question of exactly from where the invitation originated.

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The Good Samaritan Keeps Coming to Mind....

Recent discussions of Syrians seeking refugee status in the United States raise serious questions for the Christian. We are called to welcome the stranger in our midst.

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The Beauty of Motherhood, A Review of "Momnipotent: The-Not-So-Perfect Woman's Guide to Catholic Motherhood," by Danielle Bean

Author and editor Danielle Bean, herself a mother of eight, offers in her book Momnipotent a heartfelt encouragement to all mothers. Momnipotence, she explains, is “the kind of strength and power that belongs uniquely to women. When we deny our call to motherhood and fail to recognize its intrinsic dignity and worth, we deny the very gifts that make us uniquely female.”

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Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner--What Are We To Make of All This?

I have to say that the entire transgender issue has been quite a mystery to me for a long time. I've done a lot of reading about it lately. My heart does go out to those people who are suffering in this way. It seems to me that this issue is most likely a psychological issue, rather than biological, but in either case, these are people who are hurting and very distressed. I pray that they can fin

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Thank You, Lord, For Putting Up With Me...

I acquired an iPhone last Fall. I confess that I really did not like it in the beginning. In fact, I declared that I hated it. Yes. I claimed to hate it. Pretty strong words, even from someone as opinionated as I am. Then I lost it.

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The Grace of Ordinary Time!

The Easter season has ended and here we are back in Ordinary Time. It's not Advent or Christmas. It is not Lent or the joyous season of Easter. It's ordinary. It is the normal rhythm of our daily lives. There is a great grace that lies on the days that are high feasts in the Church. But may we never forget that there is grace in the ordinary as well.

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Who Is Responsible for the Development of Character?

Psychiatrist Peter C. Whybrow recently wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal ("This IsYour Brain on Easy Credit"), adapted from his upcoming book The Well TunedBrain: Neuroscience and the LifeWell Lived.

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