Guest column Archives - The Bishop's Bulletin

God asks us: Whom are you looking for?

April 2021, Guest column

01Apr 2021 by rkranz

By Father James Zimmer When you “come up empty,” pay attention. You may bump into someone so real, they could be divine—in fact, the Risen Christ. On the day of resurrection, Mary Magdalene came up empty. Peter, John, Thomas—the guards, chief priests and elders, for that matter—came up empty. That emptiness ushered some into a new, unimaginably beautiful life. Others missed the chance and went on with the “same old, same old.” This is what I mean by “coming up empty”: What you wanted didn’t happen. Better, what you thought you wanted didn’t happen. You wanted something good; it didn’t happen. You wanted something virtuous, holy; it didn’t happen. Maybe you wanted something unvirtuous, unholy, downright evil; it still didn’t happen. In fact, you can’t make it happen. Or, you…

Stations of the Cross immerses us in Jesus’ sacrifice

Guest column, March 2021

01Mar 2021 by rkranz

By Deacon Joseph Graves [caption id="attachment_5652" align="alignright" width="249"] Deacon Joseph Graves[/caption] A number of years ago, while hunting for something to read in a second-hand book shop, I came upon a title I couldn’t resist, “I Like Being Catholic.” The tome served up a smattering of reasons, big and small, consistent with the book’s title, as well as scads of essays by American Catholics on their reasons for liking Catholicism. Parts of the book were enjoyable, other parts disappointing. Completing it left me in the mood to make a list of my own. It is a monumental task; the list goes on and on. I like being Catholic because it is a vehicle for salvation. Hard to beat that one. But there are so many other facets to what it…

Young people can make Lent full of joyful hope

February 2021, Guest column

01Feb 2021 by rkranz

By Eric Gallagher [caption id="attachment_5543" align="alignright" width="300"] Eric Gallagher[/caption] I’m sitting down to write this column shortly after attending the funeral of Bailey Lauret, a 24-year-old son of our diocese who was serving as a FOCUS missionary in Memphis, Tennessee. He died suddenly as a result of a pulmonary embolism. The funeral was a profound moment for me as I prayed with hundreds of others, many of whom traveled from around the country to be there, in order to enter into, or rather celebrate, the death of Bailey. Many reading this may have encountered Bailey through his service at D-Camps in the summer, as he served around the diocese as a Totus Tuus missionary, or maybe as he discerned the priesthood as a seminarian. Anyone who met Bailey would be…