CatholicAnchor.org I recall returning to my hometown of New Orleans in 2006, five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August of 2005, and there was a consistent question that locals asked of each other when they met: “How did you fare during the storm?” I found a shared experience and concern for…
Volunteers are the backbone of Catholic Social Services and have been since our beginnings. Active community members and volunteers started Catholic Social Services, and CSS has continued to grow because of them. In some ways, Catholic Social Services is the drawing and is fully realized in color by people in the community who volunteer and…
CatholicAnchor.org “In the worst hour of the worst season of the worst year of a whole people…” Those haunting words are the first two lines of a poem called “Quarantine” by Eavan Boland. Boland, an Irish poet and professor, died in her native Dublin at the end of April. She was 75. Twenty years ago,…
CatholicAnchor.org While the recent COVID-19 phenomenon has impacted all Alaskans, it poses a particular problem for Catholics (and believers of all faiths) who wish to gather for worship but find themselves unable to do so. Each parish community in the archdiocese has worked in the past weeks to provide faith, support, and encouragement to the…
What does it mean to be a “good Catholic,” not only in ordinary times but especially in the extraordinary times in which we now live? The primary duty of the faithful is “to preserve and foster communion with the Church,” (Canon 209 §1). But how does one do that when the ordinary means of grace…
“I don’t think of all the misery, but of all the beauty that remains.”– Anne Frank Right now, this quote speaks to me. As I am writing, we are amid a pandemic. When this article is published, I don’t know if we will be past this pandemic, or if we will be at its worst…
CatholicAnchor.org On April Fool’s Day, a friend discovered empty toilet paper rolls in her bathrooms, the cardboard tubes covered with the words “Ha, Ha, Ha.” She searched for the precious paper while trying to maintain a sense of humor. After all, little kids held hostage to a virus need some fun. As I write this,…
CatholicAnchor.org It is inspiring that so many Catholics are rising to the occasion created by the Coronavirus. Many are using creative techniques for the work of evangelization and ministry, which continue amidst the pandemic. Staying in place, self-quarantining, and social distancing have become real, everyday practices for many of us, but they don’t mean we…
CatholicAnchor.org Let us have a spiritual conversation about hope. What is hope? Where do we find it? What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life. We need to live hope now more than ever. With all the trials we have been through and the trials that are ahead, hope…
“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” – Leo Buscaglia As I write this, we are facing daily news updates about the coronavirus and how to best protect ourselves and those we love. This threat can be intimidating. I am grateful for the people…