Of the vast array of saints in the Catholic Church, one of the most fascinating, brilliant, and complex has to be St. Augustine. He lived in the fourth century, so it was still relatively early…
“GAME ON” (or in other words REPENT)
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…
ASH WEDNESDAY REVISITED
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…
WHAT JESUS WILLS
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…
THE POINT OF THE MIRACLE
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…
CALLING (& CASTING) THE DEVIL OUT
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…
NO ORDINARY DAY
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…
NEED TO MAKE SOME CHANGES
It’s hard to believe that Seinfeld remains as popular a show now as it was when it debuted over 25 years ago. How old does that make everyone feel. The self-described “show about nothing” living…
THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE?
People were rightly horrified to see dramatic and frightening images from the nation’s capital this past week. The assault on “the People’s House”, the intimidation of elected officials, the deaths that occurred is devastating and…