Our Guest Columnists Columns
The Georgia Bulletin features guest columns and spiritual reflections from laypeople and clergy from the archdiocesan community.
Our Guest Columnists
“Prayer, Perseverance Take Local Family To Pope”
BY CINDY CONNELL PALMER, CommentaryEnglish
A professor in college once told me, you are only eight people away from anything you want to accomplish in life. I took that lesson to heart recently when there was a mix-up while my pastor was out of town caring for his ill brother, and I did not receive tickets from our archdiocese to […] English
Previous Columns by Our Guest Columnists
Confounding Compasses And Malignant Myths
Published: November 29, 2007 I was in second grade when I first explored the marvelous world of Narnia. And, partly as a result of C. S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia” I came to love the fictional tales that we now call fantasy, but which Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien referred to as mythopoeic. Mythopoeic […] English
By JEF MURRAY, CommentaryPublished: November 29, 2007
Carrying The Torch: Second Wave Of AIDS Pandemic
As of Aug. 31, the National Catholic AIDS Network ceased its staffing and office operations. For nearly 20 years, this network helped make spirituality and faith a powerful resource for all of us living with or affected by HIV and AIDS. The network helped the Catholic Church respond with understanding and compassion to the pain […] English
By IRENE MIRANDA, CommentaryPublished: November 22, 2007
Using Our Lives, Possessions For God’s Glory
Each Sunday, we begin the Creed by saying, “We believe in one God … the creator of heaven and earth.” This might be the most basic thing that we can say about God—He is the creator—He is the one that brought the whole world into being from nothing. For many of us, this is also […] English
By FATHER THEODORE BOOK, CommentaryPublished: September 13, 2007
Body Language: Lessons From ‘Spider-Man 3’
I took my two older boys to see “Spider-Man 3” this past weekend. Watching all that jam-packed action had the same effect on them as would a 2-liter bottle of Coke. After their “sugar high” subsided and they could actually speak, we had some great father-son chats about the movie’s many moral lessons. I’ve been […] English
By Body Language: Lessons From ‘Spider-Man 3’Published: May 17, 2007
Monk’s Writings Invite Readers To Encounter God
ANGELS: Our Guides to Contemplation for the Third Millennium: Trinitarian and Cosmic by Thomas Francis Smith, OCSO, (Monastery of the Holy Spirit, Conyers, 2006), 68 pp., $5.95. This compact book by a Cistercian monk at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers challenges Christians to be more open to the presence of our cosmic […] English
By VICTOR A. KRAMER, CommentaryPublished: March 29, 2007
Will Easter Happen This Year?
Don’t be surprised if there is no Easter this year. The very idea scares me, but it’s not farfetched. In our world there are millions who have not had and will not have an Easter experience—that experience of journeying through a dying that leads us into new life, that experience of “yes” triumphing over “no” […] English
By FATHER EUGENE BARRETTE, MS, CommentaryPublished: March 22, 2007
The Lord’s Day Is A Gift Overlooked
In America, we like to complain about how busy we are. We trade stories about our respective obligations, about how little free time we have, about the demands of our schedule. Sometimes, though, the complaints may bear an undertone of pride: See how important I am, how much I am in demand, how full and […] English
By FATHER THEODORE BOOK, CommentaryPublished: March 15, 2007
The Question Of Priestly Celibacy
I was recently asked to answer a number of questions on the practice of priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church, and I began to realize that this way of life, which is so dear to me, is often unknown and misunderstood, even by people who have practiced the Catholic faith all of their lives. It […] English
By FATHER THEODORE BOOK, CommentaryPublished: March 1, 2007
Let’s Be Catholic
Published: February 1, 2007 Let’s be Catholic. You and me. Let’s do what Catholics do. Or are supposed to do. Let’s see Jesus in other people—even that person who sometimes annoys the devil out of us. Let’s be joyful, and let’s fill others with joy, too. Let’s go to Mass every week. Let’s care for […] English
By BOB ZYSKOWSKI, CommentaryPublished: February 1, 2007
Diaconal Formation—Atlanta Style
I was once asked, “What was the greatest gift you have received?” My first inclination was to say my wife and family, but after some thought my answer came out, “Being ordained a deacon.” You may ask why? The answer is simple. Ordination has strengthened my love for my wife; it has strengthened my relationship […] English
By DEACON LORIS SINANIAN, CommentaryPublished: January 18, 2007
Considering The Eternal Value Of Life
I have always felt sympathy for those in the medical profession: they face an impossible task. We have charged doctors with preserving life, but every patient a doctor sees will invariably die—the best he or she can hope for is to extend the life of the patient, making it more pleasant or full of greater […] English
By FATHER THEODORE BOOK, CommentaryPublished: November 2, 2006
The Beauty Of Following The Lord
For the last few months, I have had the privilege of serving as the chaplain at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home, just south of Turner Field, in the Summerhill neighborhood of Atlanta. I’ve found a great grace in serving here—it is beautiful to see the hope and joy brought to the terminal cancer […] English
By FATHER THEODORE BOOK, CommentaryPublished: October 5, 2006
Book Of Revelation Consoles In Time Of War
This sermon was delivered at the Mass of Remembrance, Sept. 11, 2006, at St. Peter Chanel Church, Roswell. My Dear Friends in Christ: We recall this evening one of those moments in our lives about which we can remember every detail: where we were, what we were doing, who was with us, what our reaction […] English
By MSGR. DANIEL O’CONNOR, CommentaryPublished: September 21, 2006
Immigration Field Hearings Elicit Strong Response
Georgia now has the seventh largest population of undocumented immigrants in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Gwinnett County, where I have lived for more than 10 years, has been dubbed “Georgia’s largest immigrant hub.” My neighbors are from Bosnia, China, India, Korea, Mexico and Vietnam (not to mention Ohio, Indiana, […] English
By Susan Stevenot SullivanPublished: September 7, 2006
‘Red Mass’ Offers Chance To Pray For Peace, Justice
Imagine the scene: a grand choir chanting the Veni Creator Spiritus and a great procession, including numerous dignitaries, magistrate judges, public officials—all garbed in their academic robes, with flowing red garments. The clergy, together with the archbishop, all dressed in scarlet red vestments. Together, they enter into the church to pray. It is a grand […] English
By FATHER TIMOTHY A. GADZIALA, J.C.L., CommentaryPublished: September 7, 2006
Church’s Concern Over Misrepresentations Is Pastoral
Causing people to see something they never saw before in a 500-year-old work of art which is among the most famous and reproduced of all time is an accomplishment of genius, if that “something” is a valid new insight. If it is not, then this kind of achievement usually goes by other names. “The Da […] English
By MSGR. FRANCIS J. MANISCALCO, CommentaryPublished: May 18, 2006
Making A Pilgrimage Of Peace To Taizé
In looking back at the 20th century, we remember a century of much bloodshed: not one but two world wars, not to mention the countless conflicts throughout the world. In looking to the future, our beloved Holy Father Pope John Paul the Great made an earnest plea to humanity, “No more war!” We have now […] English
By FATHER PAUL A. BURKE, CommentaryPublished: April 6, 2006
Sacred Images A Shared Blessing Between Churches
Some weeks before beginning the holy season of Lent, we put away the tender Nativity scenes, centered on the lovely images of the Holy Family, the newborn Infant, Joseph, Mary, the shepherds, and the Magi. As the beautiful preface of the Christmas Mass marvelously proclaims, “In the wonder of the Incarnation … a new and […] English
By FATHER JOSEPH A. FAHY, CP, CommentaryPublished: March 23, 2006
Movie Programs Provide Eye-Opening Look At Life
It’s been two years since we at St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Smyrna began our film series, “Holy Hollywood.” I believe some thought that the movies in the series would be explicitly about “religious” subjects—stories dealing with biblical events or personages, saints or holy people or films with “Catholic” issues or settings like the Vatican, popes […] English
By FATHER EUGENE BARRETTE, MS-CommentaryPublished: January 19, 2006