THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #85 Dirt and Sticks In my opinion, the worst day of the liturgical year is Ash Wednesday. I will likely scandalize some by what I am about to write, but let me state for the record that I do not like Ash Wednesday. Why, one asks? …
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #84 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #84
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #84 My Vocation Story (Part lll et finis) One day I was visiting my old high school friend (now at least 10 years a priest) and his pastor in their rectory. The topic of my vocation was raised, and I explained that I was done. The…
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #83 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #83
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #83 My Vocation Story (Part 2) Having begun the practice of the Faith, and having been taken under the wing of the Franciscan Brothers at my parish, I met a young married couple through a mutual friend. She was a stay-at-home mother of several young children…
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #82 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #82
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #82 My Vocation Story (Part I) My readers have heard many stories of my life as a priest, but I have not yet written about how I came to be a priest. How I got from being baptized in the Traditional Rite at the tender age…
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #81 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #81
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #81 My Bed I love my bed. At the end of a long day, especially on a cold night, I find nothing more enticing than my bed. I climb into it, roll myself around like a dog until I find just the right spot (always the…
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #80 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #80
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #80 Speaking Spanish Having been assigned to my first inner-city parish, it was immediately evident that I would need to be able to speak Spanish. It was equally evident to me that I was in no way prepared to do that. I had participated…
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #79 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #79
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #79 Carrying the Cross “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (MT 16:24). When I was a child in the 1960’s every doctor’s and dentist’s office had a table in the waiting room on which was to…
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #78 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #78
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #78 The Professionally Trained Singer I wish to begin this entry by saying that I do not intend to disparage singers or singing, though it may easily come across that way. Rather, I intend to describe an encounter with one singer who caused me some difficulty along…
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #77 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #77
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #77 The Squirrel Hunter Every homeowner knows that from time to time, unexpected problems arise. The solution to some of those problems is not always immediately evident, nor easy. At one point in my life as an inner-city pastor I discovered that squirrels were passing in and…
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THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST #76 / DIARIO DE UN SACERDOTE URBANO #76
THE DIARY OF AN INNER-CITY PRIEST Diary Entry #76 A Pastor’s Dream Shattered, and Not The nature of our modern American society often necessitates that people relocate to pursue job or educational opportunities, maintain (or sever) family ties, as the result of an unexpected financial crisis, or any number of other reasons. When a pastor…
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