By Paul McKibben Fr. George “Chip” Hines has experienced the power of Christ’s healing from the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick as both a priest and a recipient of it. “This is a grace that I’m receiving, and we cooperate with grace,”…

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. (Psalm 23:4) In 2004, a controversy arose in the Indiana community I covered as a newspaper reporter…

My first experience with cancer occurred more than 30 years ago when my paternal grandfather died. I remember seeing how frail he became and how my grandparents’ dining room became his new bedroom to accommodate his care. I also recall…

My daughter was baptized 10 years ago on this very feast. Wearing a flowing white baptismal gown that goes back several generations in my wife’s family, she was quite the fussy baby, and she cried during the entire rite. Except,…

There’s a lot we can learn from St. Joseph — humility, patience, obedience to God, the importance of silence, and devotion to family. This Sunday, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In Year A, the…

One of my favorite cartoons from my childhood was the Super Friends — Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, and others.  The Super Friends were “created from the cosmic legends of the universe … their mission to fight injustice, to right…

Thirty years ago this November, the Berlin Wall tumbled down and thousands of East Germans celebrated their new freedom.  Back home, a local grocery chain later sold fragments of the wall, and my dad purchased one of them for me as a…

One of my fondest memories of the last few years of my maternal grandmother’s life involves sacred art and our shared Catholic faith.  Three years before she died, the Cincinnati Museum Center in 2004 hosted a special traveling exhibit…

As the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary this summer, Catholic Digest recommends a pilgrimage to a remarkable basilica. Just a few miles across the Ohio River from Cincinnati in Covington,…

Summer offers us the extra time to appreciate God’s creation and presence — in nature, in the universe, and within our churches.  Recently, my family and I traveled to rural southeastern Ohio, far away from the bright city lights where we…