Columns

“If you’re afraid, don’t do it. If you do it, don’t be afraid.” -Genghis KhanI’m sure this past week has been a long one for most of you, because you had to wait so long to learn more about the…

At one time or other in our lives we feel that we have been afraid and betrayed. In those times it is hard to think that God would allow such a thing. Yet, our faith tells us that even if…

   Just for the sheer fun of it, about a year ago I decided to take French lessons online. Madame, my instructor explained that we would learn something every visitor to France needs to know. My eyes widened when she…

Every Election Day, millions of Americans walk into their local polling place, show their identification, receive a ballot, make their choices and go about their day.For most of us, the entire process takes only a few minutes.What we don’t often…

“There is nothing impossible for him who tries.” -Alexander the GreatThere is a tribe in St. Joe County that is not Native American. This tribe is made up seven women. There are two men and me who are “Tribe Associates.”…

Next month, September 19th, Bishop Gruss of the Diocese of Saginaw will be having Catholics at mass, at the White Barn on Leaton Rd. at 11:00 am. How strange to be celebrating mass at a wedding venue in the countryside?…

Civilization as we know it has always been coming to an end, just in different ways. We all have our own ideas about it and when it happened. I claim it started when domestic architects decided to get rid of…

Public safety is important. Police officers should have modern tools to find stolen vehicles, locate dangerous suspects and respond quickly when a serious crime has been committed. But public safety should not become a blank check allowing the government—or a…

The St. Joe County Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) would like to have all the county’s canines show up at the Family Farm & Home store, just off Broadway in Three Rivers, on Saturday, August 1. This fundraiser will make Fido…

Summertime is for family reunions. The ones I go to have so many people in attendance that sometimes you don’t know everyone. There is an old joke that a wife told her husband about how inappropriate his Uncle Dan was.…

When most people think about homelessness, they picture the sidewalks of Detroit, Chicago or Los Angeles. But homelessness is no longer confined to America’s largest cities. It is increasingly visible in smaller Michigan communities, including Three Rivers and Jackson.The problem…

“It is the love of country that has lighted and that keeps glowing the holy fire of Patriotism.” -J. Horace McFarlandThe St. Joe County Animal Rescue Fund (ARF) will be conducting a fundraiser Saturday, August 1, from 9 a.m. until…

I was expecting the heat we’ve been recently experiencing, but I was taken by surprise on Wednesday when I saw the haze. Sometimes we get hazy skies in the early morning or late evening and my guess is that it…

“If wrinkles must be written on our brow, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.” -James A. GarfieldFastening your seat belt before driving off has become an automatic thing to just about everyone…

St, Catherine of Siena is a fourteenth century mystic, Doctor of the Church, Dominican, papal counselor, and stigmatist. I read a meditation by her in the Magnificat and have wanted to comment on this meditation, but it is so eloquently…

    As the late Yogi Berra once observed on several occasions, “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.” He is right, and perhaps nothing makes that quite as clear as when we celebrate a significant date or event. Right now,…

Americans worry about inflation. They worry about the cost of groceries, gasoline, mortgages, and whether Social Security will be there when they retire. Yet the greatest financial threat facing our nation is one that receives surprisingly little attention: the staggering…

“The sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on.” -Charles DickensThanks to all of you who came out and supported the Hice-Shutes American Legion Post #170 this past Fourth of…

I confess. I have never been a great believer in asking the saints to pray on the behalf of others for favors of healing, finding jobs, finding lost items, selling houses, or any other issue. It seemed to me to…

   The headline caught my attention: “Mike Rowe says there is a lack of hunger in America.” I am sure I was not the only person who thought he was writing about a lack of food and physical hunger. He…