by Fr. Jim Chern
Of all the things that we hear in this Gospel of Joseph’s Annunciation - one thing that always stands out to me is one very little word. Yet. That’s right - a three-letter word -Yet…
A 19-year-old who was homeless, living in Hawaii describes the night his entire life changed. He was finished working for the night at one of the Bubba Gump-chain restaurants on the island and was waiting…
When is a fight worth having? Nations debate that on the global stage. Children on playgrounds do, too. In a day and age where we see deeply entrenched political divisions and a social-media-age that seems like the…
How quickly, how succinctly a person can convey a message has been a goal long before Twitter ever existed with its 280 character-texts on their social media platform. In fact, it was William Shakespeare, of…
Twice in the last decade, our Newman Catholic Center at Montclair State University has been fortunate to have a Vatican-trained exorcist, Father Vincent Lampert with us to share his experiences in a public lecture. It…
I’ve found myself feeling oddly emotional coming to this day, Ash Wednesday. I’m not going to have an emotional breakdown (well I hope) and I get how weird this might sound. Because of all the…
Just reading that first reading from Leviticus, here in the year 2021 it has a different feel than ever before. We heard spelled out for us a mandate from scripture of how people were quarantined…
I think of the 4,000 emails that currently sit in my inbox, less than a handful have been intentionally saved for over 12 years, like this one: Hey Fr. Jim - So on Friday I…
In my senior year of college, we had what was called a “Values Seminar”. It was a theology course of only seniors. It was different from other classes - there really wasn’t any exams or…
For those of you who are 35 and older, you’re a part of a world that remembers, who experienced life before the internet and those who have grown up with the internet as just a…