Living Our Faith with Bishop Reed

My mother had a love for things that were simply beautiful. Our family home had touches of Japanese artwork, and the backyard was laid out more like an Asian garden than a typical New England landscape. Reflecting back, I think my mom had a…

My parents were both raised in Boston. My mom was of Irish Catholic descent, and my dad was a Scottish Presbyterian. Both were hard workers and great dancers who loved a good party. In the late 1950s they built a house in a new development…

We who have been Catholic most of our lives tend to not expect any surprises during the week that begins with Palm Sunday. We know we’re going to do a lot of standing and kneeling, a bit of fasting, and then a lot of feasting. We know the…

When I was a kid, the Reed family’s “Christmas season” began right after our Thanksgiving dinner. After our second helpings, we’d head over to the North Shore Shopping Center in Peabody, Massachusetts. This was not a Black Friday scramble!…

I love the saints. The saints are close to me, often in my mind and with me in my prayers. In some ways it’s tempting to think of the saints as the spiritual “superheroes” of the Church — think Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Captain America. We…

Sometimes I wonder how I made it through six different academic institutions and ended up with numerous degrees. I say that simply because each September I dreaded returning to the classroom. Perhaps I needed a more positive attitude, but I…

In recent years, there have been more and more ways to sell personal items online and make a little spare cash. While we used to have to pay for classified ads in the local newspaper or tack an index card on the bulletin board in the local…

by Bishop Robert Reed Rich man & the beggar Year after year, we pass through the penitential season called Lent, and on Easter we bring back our ‘Glorias’ and ‘Alleluias’, and we feast again. We might hear that we are “Easter people.”…

We all know how the “newness” and fresh feeling of a new calendar year can quickly be forgotten. That new year enthusiasm, manifested in resolutions to do better in this or that area of one’s life, soon gives way to the doldrums of this…

by Bishop Robert Reed The news last August that growing numbers of Catholics no longer believe that the Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ naturally led many commentators to wonder how we can reignite people’s faith in this profound mystery…