Have you ever been invited to Bill Gates’ house? Neither have I, so I was intrigued by a 2018 article in Business Insider, which gave a glimpse into his digs. The place was valued at $127 million back then. It boasted a 2500 square foot exercise facility, including a trampoline room with 20-foot ceilings, a…
By Effie CaldarolaThe North Star Catholic The Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau will welcome its newest priest when 33-year-old Madison Hayes is ordained at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe on August 6. Although Hayes has family ties to Alaska, he didn’t grow up in the state. Originally from Merced, California, he spent 16 years as…
In 2001, Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. The book did well, maybe in part because of that catchy title, and a new edition is out now. Its point wasn’t the collapse of bowling leagues, however. Instead, it was a broad look at how membership in community groups was…
A few days ago, on May 20, the Ignatian Year began. That date marked the 500th anniversary of a cannonball shattering the right knee of a young man named Inigo Lopez de Loyola. For all of you who, like me, have had knee transplants or surgery, that sentence makes you squirm. For the young man…
By Effie CaldarolaThe North Star Catholic Death, especially a sudden death, can demand decisions that come at a most difficult time. Not everyone has made plans. For the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau, there are resources that can help. The approach of Memorial Day at the end of May is an opportunity to explore avenues available. “We…
Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska, sits on 100 acres near the Missouri River, where the dry, monotonous flat terrain of Nebraska begins to give way to the greener hills of Iowa. Established in 1885, the cemetery is a resting place for many prominent Nebraskans. But it’s also the burial site, in pauper’s field, of…
A friend in our group asked if we thought Mary, Jesus’s mother, had been present at the Last Supper. There’s much we don’t know about the Last Supper. We know that many women, including Mary, had followed Jesus into Jerusalem because Scripture records their presence at the Crucifixion. And let’s face it, someone had to…
How’s your Lent going? About this time of the season, we’re either well into a rhythm of observance, or we feel the time slipping by and think we’re not “doing” enough.
My daughter lives in the old Italian neighborhood of South Philadelphia. Like all urban areas, the demographics are changing, but there’s still a vibrant Italian outdoor market and restaurants and delis which sell the best Italian food this side of Rome. She has a friend who works in a bar and restaurant in the area….
In the summer of 2019, Daughter of Charity Sister Mary Peter Diaz left Anchorage for a new assignment on the vast Navajo Reservation in the Southwestern United States. Like all of us, Sister Mary Peter, who had worked here in both Hispanic and Native ministry, had no idea what was in store in 2020. So,…