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

A little behind the scenesFirst, thank you to everyone who joined us for Tuesday’s live Bible Study. I’m calling it a resounding success, despite the tech gremlins coming for us. I distinctly remember asking you to pray against those, but apparently a few slipped through.The emails so many of youRead more

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Hey friends,Today is the day!Tonight at 7:30 PM Eastern, I’d love for you to join me live on Substack for The Prodigal Son Like You’ve Never Heard Before.Here’s the link for tonight.We know the broad strokes. A son leaves home, makes a spectacular mess of things, and comes back toRead more

Hi friends,I’ve been working on something new, and I’m finally ready to bring you into it.On November 29, the First Sunday of Advent, I’m launching A Walk With Jesus of Nazareth.For thirty days, we’re going to pay closer attention to Jesus.I keep coming back to that phrase because it describesRead more

A Word Before the HomilyGood morning, my friends.Before we start today, I want to give you my usual encouragement. If there is a parish where you can worship safely and be welcomed, go lend your voice to the prayers today. Receive the Eucharist, see your people, let them see you.Read more

Good morning, my dear friends.Some of you read this week’s reflection about exhausted caregivers and immediately thought of somebody who needed it. You may even have sent it along while rearranging your own afternoon to take someone to an appointment. Then, when somebody asked how you were doing, you said,Read more

Dear Friends,I’ve always had a particular affection for the Good Shepherd. You may think Father is getting a little carried away, but that image has helped me understand what I hope my own ministry might become, even when I’m painfully aware of how much I still have to learn.In aRead more

Dear friends,I wanted to give our supporting members something special for Padre Pio’s feast, and the more I read, the more stories I wanted to tell you. At one point he is reprimanding his guardian angel. At another, he is discovering that the visitor beside him has been dead forRead more