LORD GRANTHAM I rsquo ve called you all together family and servants because I have just been handed a telegram by Carson It seems there has been a papal election and a Jesuit has been chosen DAISY Ooh I lsquo ope it rsquo s Father James Martin lsquo E rsquo s such a nice smile MRS PATMOR

We live in an age of online dating Having done most of my own courting before the French Revolution mdash I gave it up when pantaloons went out of style Why pursue romance without panache mdash I rsquo m reluctant to opine on the surety of this new approach but I would note one novelty of we

Jesus preached by way of parable I reckon that if it worked for the master the disciple can ply the same craft which is why I often begin sermons with a story something that hopefully has a emotional hook to draw in the hearer But the Parable of the Prodigal Son is already so emotionally evoc

Had he made the wrong choice of schools His courses were demanding quot We have tremendous long and hard lessons to get through in both French and Algebra quot The discipline was dogged quot They give a man one of these black marks for almost nothing If he gets two hundred a year they dismis

Billy Wilder rsquo s movie The Last Weekend about the suicide of an alcoholic author won the 1946 Academy Award for Best Picture Wilder also garnered that year rsquo s Oscar for Best Director and Ray Milland won Best Actor portraying the final days of a binging alcoholic The film gained a four

Sometimes the way to understand one story is by way of another The story which we rsquo d all like to understand more fully is the resignation of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI The story the Church sets before us this First Sunday of Lent is that of Christ rsquo s Temptation Perhaps a story

nbsp Sometimes class discussions veer in a direction I don rsquo t intend For example I don rsquo t remember what aspect of the Incarnation I was trying to present in a class of freshman college students when a young man suddenly asked quot Where does Holy Water come from quot I was still t

Some of the best theology penned has been produced by novelists Take for example the figure of Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo rsquo s Les Mis rables If you haven rsquo t read the novel perhaps you rsquo ve seen the musical or recently taken in its film version In 19th century France Jean Valjea

Knowing that his election had precipitated the secession of the southern states but that as yet no shots had been fired Abraham Lincoln ended his first inaugural address on March 4 1861 with this appeal I am loath to close We are not enemies but friends We must not be enemies Though passio

The challenge of regularly visiting a group of shut-ins, or those confined to bed, is that each expects you to arrive at the same time each week, and yet each also pleads that you stay a little longer than you did the week before.