Content from NCR special sections, including our July 19-August 1, 2013, Spirituality edition, is not available online. These sections explore topics important to today's Catholics, including Our Environment, Catholic Education, Family Life and Theology.
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Rohr: Off the road and on to the Living School
By Jamie Manson
After 42 years of itinerant ministry, Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr is getting off the road.
“I decided years ago that if I’m going to keep teaching contemplation, then the last years of my life should be contemplative,” Rohr said in an interview at the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC), a program he founded 25 years ago in Albuquerque, N.M.
“It’s not that I’m retiring,” said Rohr, who turned 70 in March. “If God continues to give me health and a sane mind and verbal ability, I want to teach,” but it will only be in and around New Mexico. “A key part of the mission at CAC is social justice, so I’ve also had to look at the carbon footprint I’m creating with all of this traveling,” he explained. ... PRINT ONLY
Baseball’s touch of the ineffable
By Tom Gallagher
Baseball touches the hearts of its fans. But can it bring both fans and players alike closer to God? One person thinks so.
John Sexton, with Thomas Oliphant and Peter Schwartz, wrote the recently published Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game. Sexton argues that baseball enables some to experience the “ineffable.”
As president of New York University, Sexton oversees 40,000 students and a $2.5 billion budget yet he still teaches four classes, including an undergraduate course with the same title as the book. He recently spoke with NCR about his book..... PRINT ONLY
Bishop’s book marries sports and faith
Reviewed by Brian Roewe
In Holy Goals for Body and Soul: 8 Steps to Connect Sports with God and Faith, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., (writing with his brother Joe Paprocki, a noted catechist) brings together the wide world of sports with the wide world of faith. He draws on his experience as a fan as well as his own athletic background — he has played hockey since the ’60s, currently manning the net in an amateur men’s league, and he has run 19 marathons. ... PRINT ONLY
Praying the news to avert despair
By Heidi Schlumpf
My students often tell me they avoid the news because it’s too depressing. Death, destruction, discord — who needs all that negativity?... Read more
A foretaste of heaven in the love of a dog
By Michael Sean Winters
A few months ago, I took my St. Bernard, Ambrose, to the vet. There was little traffic and we arrived early. While we were waiting to be seen, a woman came in to retrieve some medicine for her pet. She took one look at Ambrose and put her face down to his, letting him lick her with his very large tongue. She rubbed his ears. She kept saying, “You are so beautiful.” This went on for several minutes.
Then, the woman stood up and turned to me. “My husband told me last week he wanted a divorce, and I have just come from my first meeting with the divorce lawyer,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much I needed this time with your dog.” Then she left. ... PRINT ONLY