America its citizens boast has always been a religious nation New York Times columnist Ross Douthat would agree noting that even now interest in Christianity is far from dormant in America not with people like Joel Osteen Glen Beck and Oprah Winfrey growing rich preaching their respective go

One early summer evening shortly after the end of the school term my Dad rather solemnly mdash so it seemed to me mdash took the training wheels off my bike Then while he mowed the lawn my Mom and I slowly walked my two-wheeled test to the school playground at the end of our block I was go

Twenty-eight years of preaching Mother rsquo s Day sermons will seriously deplete one rsquo s supply of stories This year not having recently read anything useful that featured a mother I did what I always do when desperate nbsp I called home nbsp nbsp nbsp ldquo Hello rdquo my mom said

For 30 years I have been on college campuses during exam week I know there are students in this congregation who are preparing for exams mdash over preparing or under preparing There are graduating seniors and folks who may not becoming back to Fordham and I know the emotions that accompany that

Robert Bolt rsquo s play about the martyrdom of Saint Thomas More A Man for All Seasons has seen a lot of them come and go since its premiere in 1960 perhaps because so much of its dialogue is worth the remembering Consider this scene Richard Rich the man who will betray him has just left Mor

In the last movement of Austrian composer Gustav Mahler rsquo s 2nd symphany is found this solo ldquo O believe you were not born in vain you have not lived in vain you have not suffered in vain what has come into being that must perish what has perished must rise again cease from trembling