Back when I was in high school, my best friend dreamed of becoming a contemplative nun. Her favorite author was Thomas Merton. I learned a great deal about some obscure religious orders (at one point she looked into entering a Camoldolese monastery in Italy) and  read a smattering of Merton myself. Just a smattering, though, [...]

My friend Joan Monahan was a Dominican nun for 20 years. When her order began to institute changes in response to Vatican II, Joan was selected to write a policy paper about the vow of poverty. Joan died in 2009, and I never thought to ask if she still had a copy of that policy [...]

This is the seventh move we’ve made since our marriage in 1973. I’ve become good at it–or so I thought. I plan for a move like Eisenhower preparing for the Normandy Invasion, with everything ready for our first awakening in our new digs. Except it didn’t work this time. Yes, the coffeepot, toothbrushes, soap, and toilet [...]

I’ve always been fascinated by the Amish, so I was delighted last week when PBS broadcast a documentary about Amish life today. As you’d expect from PBS, the program talked about challenges that Amish communities are facing today. Farmland is scarce, so Amish youth are having to find jobs in the “English” world (their name [...]