Life - simple but, always complicated!!

My godmother was Jean Garvey,  the older sister of my father. Aunt Jean was the only girl in a family of three boys, a sister Claire died at the age of two. Of course Aunt Jean was very religious,  full of faith. Her mother , my grandmother was.  She was a bit worried about me after my father died and I was struggling with depression. 2012 was the year of death in the Schmitt family, Aunt Jean's husband, Frank Garvey died at the end of January. Her brother, my father died in the beginning of April. Then, the youngest brother Roger died in the beginning of November.  She felt like she was abandoned.   But, I now know what sustained her. She received the Christopher News Notes (www.christophers.org ) on a regular basis. As a gift to her godson Aunt Jean signed me up to receive the newsletter.  Here is the latest;  My top three tha...

GIVING THANKS  🔗🔗 GOD BLESS AMERICA 🇺🇲 🎶   Living Faith June 3, 2026 St. Charles Lwanga and Companions Facing Hardships? …bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God…and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus… 2 Timothy 1:8, 9 St. Paul, the prisoner, knows of hardship. We may face physical and emotional hardships due to our choices for Christ and the teachings of his Church. Standing up or standing out from among our peers or families when it comes to this faith, we may naturally fear facing scorn, being ostracized or worse. I can’t pretend it hasn’t happened to me, and the short list of my losses includes friends,...

Editorial: Trump's threats force Catholics to decide if they will be complicit Opinion Editorial Activists protest near the White House in Washington April 7. Earlier in the day President Donald Trump had doubled down on threats to annihilate Iran. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite) by NCR Editorial Staff April 10, 2026 They will go down as three of the most reckless and defining days in the history of the U.S. presid ency, an anti-Triduum that began on Easter Sunday morning. Announcing to the world that we were willing to annihilate a civilization, Donald Trump led our descent into corporate evil. Those days and those words, fashioning an America we had not previously known, may also hold the potential for some long-term consequences that Trump could never have anticipated. Those days and words have brought us to yet another point in which we confront who we are as Americans and, more important for the Catholic community, who we are as believers. Some indications of the answers to those que...