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St. Francis of Assisi is remembered on October 4. Many churches have a blessing of the animals and remember the various ways he cared for all who were suffering. St. Francis believed that humans and animals were created by God to be a family and to l…
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A few weeks ago, I was on my way back to Davenport from a wedding in Wisconsin. It was a beautiful drive, but I was too busy mulling over new responsibilities to take much notice. The to-do list that comes with starting a different life was weighing…
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Muslim leader Dalil Boubakeur had an idea for addressing the shortage of mosques for Muslim communities in France – convert some unused churches into mosques. It’s not hard to see why the idea occurred to Boubakeur, a Frenchman. Many of the 45,000 ch…
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It happens nearly every morning. After quite an effort, we are all ready to go and I open the back door for our three-year-old daughter. I hold the door open with my left arm, heavily laden with my work bag and a diaper bag filled with bottles, extra…
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The ticket agent with the neatly tucked-in blue neck scarf never deserved the abusive language thrown her way. It was bad. The guy in front of me chewed her up like a smoothie blender gone haywire. I watched the nastiness unfold from only three feet…
In this era of computer search engines, it doesn’t take much effort to learn what words and phrases do the heavy lifting in our language. The frequency with which certain words get used reveals a great deal about the culture we inhabit. Three psychol…
Albert introduced himself as a homeless man living on the streets of Detroit after a fire in his apartment. He was eager to tell his story of what life was like living on the streets. We were patient listeners until he came to his pitch about donatin…
Who doesn’t like the Fourth of July? Well, dogs clearly don’t. Our soft-coated wheaten terrier, prior to her death last year, used to bark and wail with every firecracker. Her reaction to the vacuum cleaner was warm and cordial, by comparison. No won…
A few months ago, I found myself sitting in an O’Hare airport terminal, waiting several hours for a delayed flight. I’d already exhausted most of my entertainment options—taking several laps up & down the long corridor of numbered gates, finishin…
I understand what it means to dislike someone, or to treat a person with disfavor. I “get” the idea that it is possible to view another human being as distasteful. But I cannot wrap my hands around a hatred that completely devalues the other. How doe…
I have never had anyone call me from a national polling organization and ask my opinion about something important. Makes me feel kind of left out. If I’m an average person, and those survey outfits want a cross sampling of average people, how come th…
These are the weeks when wild-eyed graduates around the country sit in stuffy gymnasiums, or under the great big sun, waiting for the announcement to switch the tassel on their skullcap from one side to the other. Some are surprised. Some are honored…