nbsp As they rsquo re wont to do a recent conversation with my Mother moved from Christmas current to Christmases past We were discussing the visits of Santa Claus to our childhood home and Mom remarked ldquo We have plenty of pictures of your sister crying rather than sitting on Santa rsquo

In an interview with Newsday Hugh McGowan described his daughter Anne Marie Murphy fifty-two the married mother of four children as ldquo witty rdquo and ldquo hardworking rdquo an artistic and fun-loving painter The world would know nothing of this special education teacher were it not

He saw a world suffused with goodness he loved it unreservedly and he called forth the best in us Though he came to live among us his was a foreign provenance He came unto his own and they knew him not And of course he walked the whole way mdash as he would often say mdash ldquo first th

nbsp As children we pass a good portion of each year waiting for Christmas nbsp As adults we spend most of our lives remembering Christmases long lost nbsp When I ponder Christmases past I can rsquo t help but to wonder how my parents did it nbsp They both worked forty hours a week in a gr

nbsp No theologian should have the temerity to rewrite revelation It can rsquo t be edited for two reasons First because we confess that revelation is divine in origin The creature cannot correct the creator Secondly revelation can rsquo t be redrafted because revelation is more than a text

No one who preached this Sunday could ignore the tragedy at Newtown Here is a revision of my homily for Gaudete Sunday The original was posted on Thursday of last week They were a middle class family with middle-sized dreams and cares And of course their own holiday traditions One Christmas cu