In the afterglow of a happy Semiquincentennial weekend, independence is still very much on my mind. The blessing of independence has been well worth celebrating and treasuring with a grateful heart.

When she was growing up, Sr. Ave Clark’s father told her to befriend the workers who were a regular part of her life: the sanitation men, the mail carrier, the bank tellers, etc.

Who are we really? Who are we when we are stripped naked in soul: stripped of ego, stripped of the image we have of ourselves, stripped of the hype, fads and ideologies that we unconsciously inhale and which color our thinking, stripped of the trauma we carry from our wounds, and stripped of our habitual unconscious posturing?

In recent years, the arrival of artificial intelligence has exploded as a topic of discussion, question, excitement and fears.

Jeannie Conant was immediately surrounded by dozens of religious images, including a bulletin board I prepared by pulling out written notes from church children, with crayon drawings along with a classic laughing Jesus and baby lamb, somehow appropriate even though she would miss her favorite service, the Easter Vigil.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as pope. 

As April exploded into the exuberance of a long-awaited spring, many welcomed her arrival with great joy.