Dear Friend, If you’ve recently found your way here through one of my videos, welcome. I’m Father Rich Vitale, an Old Catholic priest, writer, and the person behind Message From the Margins. These longer letters give us room to explore the questions a short video can only introduce. Today’s reflectionRead more

Friends, thank you for the attention you give these letters and for the conversations you continue in the comments and emails. Today we’re spending time with Ecclesiastes, a book whose hard questions lead us somewhere rather surprising: toward a greater capacity to enjoy being alive.Writing and teaching here is myRead more

Hello, friends,First, a warm welcome to the 1,500 new friends who have recently joined us here at Message From the Margins. I’m Father Rich, and I’m glad you’re here. This is a place where we spend time with Scripture, talk honestly about the world we inhabit, and consider what followingRead more

A Roman coin bearing Caesar’s image, before the Temple whose history remembers Herod’s golden eagle.A Word Before the HomilyAs you guys know, I always like to encourage you, if you have access to a safe, welcoming parish, I hope you’ll go to Mass in person today. A Substack can bringRead more

Ignatius of Antioch, imagined at work on a letter during his journey under guard to Rome.My friends,I’m home from Rome, and still thinking about the care people need from the Church. Today’s saint has something to contribute to that conversation, although I suspect he would be astonished to find usRead more

My Dear Reader,Before I left for Rome, you entrusted me with prayers for people you love, for burdens you have been carrying, and for hopes you may not have shared with many others. I carried those intentions with me and prayed with them there. This week’s essay is about whatRead more

My dear friends, I’m writing from Rome, where the news about Pope Leo has brought some very personal memories with it. Thank you for being here, for reading, praying, and caring for one another. Nearly everything at Message From the Margins remains free because I believe the Gospel cannot beRead more

My dear friends, it has been a WILD trip to Rome so far. I do apologize for being quiet on this platform for a bit. I hope you’ve been catching my videos on social media! Every single one has gone viral so far. WHOAH!So, anyway, I got here, and IRead more

Fr Rich ready to depart JFK Airport, couldn’t resist a pre-flight vino.My Dear Friends,Well, we’re on our way. I’m fitting the writing around airport time today, and I wanted to get this reflection to you before we begin our days in Rome. Thank you for the prayers, messages, and encouragementRead more

My Dear Friends,Well, in a little over 24 hours, I’ll be leaving the chapel and heading to JFK for our Rome trip.I’m excited, I’m extremely nervous, and more than anything else, I’m grateful to you.The road up to this point hasn’t been the easiest. My “Plan A” had to beRead more

Good morning, friends.Rome is getting close, and alongside preparing the cameras and planning the work, I’m preparing something that means a great deal to me: the prayer intentions I’ll bring with me. Today I want to explain what I mean when I offer to carry your prayers, especially if askingRead more

Christ meets us in the life we already have.Keep Message From the Margins Going in 2027I feel like I can tell you straight: I want this ministry to continue into 2027, and I need your help to make that happen. We have a lot more work to do together, bringingRead more

Francis of Assisi, whose love for Christ taught him to see the world as family.The Saint We Put in the GardenHow Francis of Assisi learned to call the world his family, and why Christians are still following him eight hundred years later.St Francis of Assisi once took off all hisRead more

Good morning, my dear friends.In Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, the younger son starts home and most of us think we know how the story ends. There will be an embrace, a robe, and a party. We have heard this one. Then Jesus leaves the older brother outside, furious,Read more

Someone to Walk With UsGuardian angels, the care of God, and the people we cannot always be besideWhen I was a teenager, I sometimes babysat my little cousins. As part of their bedtime ritual, they had an angel doll, a sort of Cabbage Patch adjacent heavenly being. We’d press itsRead more