Thank you for joining me here. The following articles will share with you how I got to where I am in this spiritual journey. I have observed and talked with many people who either told me they were spiritual, but not religious, or people who regularly attend a church of their choice, but who feel lost and somehow empty of purpose and meaning.
The first group was trying to become spiritual all by themselves, but they felt there was no roadmap to guide them. The second group was trying to practice the particular teachings and policies of their church, but they also felt it was like walking on a treadmill that was taking them no place in particular. In either case, people were feeling hopeless and rather helpless.
A life journey without a mentor, guide, coach, or advisor often gets us walking in circles, mumbling to ourselves. I have been there several times in my life’s journey, but I became spiritually grounded with a little help from people who were themselves spiritually grounded.
Over time, I will share my journey with you, and I will respond to your questions, as well.
St. Vincent de Paul & Me
My wife and I are long-time members of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, an international group of men and women who help FINs (friends in need). Last Friday (January 30th, 2026), my wife and I met a man who was in his 40s. He was disabled and had a heart...
Sometimes It Takes Two
Sometimes It Takes Two To Accomplish What One Man Cannot Do I grew up on a sixty-acre farm. My chores were to feed the chickens, geese, and ducks. Besides those chores, I had to milk our Guernsey cow twice a day for a quarter of a pail of rich milk, and one experience...
Writing a Christmas Carol
Have you ever thought of writing a Christmas carol? Every year, the radio begins playing Christmas carols earlier and earlier. Whatever music idiom you listen to, along with the classical carols, people write lyrics and melodies that might be sacred, simple, clever,...
Happiness in a Song
Back in about 1990, I was visiting an elderly lady who was in Hospice. I was a Hospice Chaplain at that time. She lived about twenty miles north of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in a little village called Dykesville. She was dying of cancer. As we sat in her living room...
My First Emergency Call
I remember one evening in 1966, a couple of months after I was ordained a priest. The phone rang where I was living in Little Chute, and a call came in for a priest to respond to a car/train accident, about one mile away. None of the other priests were around, so I...
Singing at Funerals
Singing at Funerals and a Different Slant on Christianity In recent years, I've sung at dozens of funerals in various Catholic churches. Sometimes in a funeral choir, but most often as a cantor (soloist). The family often picks the songs to be sung and in what order...
Why Write The Book?
WHY WRITE THE BOOK? Since High School, some seventy years ago, I have watched many people, especially youth, stop attending church. Listening to hundreds of sermons over the years, I have wondered why so much emphasis was placed on...
This Is How It All Began
n 1954, I entered Sacred Heart Seminary at Oneida, just west of Green Bay, the fall after I graduated from 8th grade. I had worked that summer and the following summer at Leyse Aluminum Company in Kewaunee, mostly washing windows and sweeping floors.
Progress in the Priesthood
After spending ten years in the seminary, I decided to go forward with my vows into the diocesan priesthood. I had seen four or five of my classmates suddenly drop out of this quest when the time came to receive the Subdiaconate, one year before receiving the...
Leaving the priesthood…
In 1976, after being a Catholic priest for ten years - including being a regional chaplain for the Knights of Columbus, a six-year teacher of religion in three diocesan Catholic High Schools, a three-year member of the Green Bay Diocesan Board of Education, a two-year...
Life Changes
In 1976, I married my first wife Sue on St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) in Brown County Court House and adopted her daughter Lana. When the Judge suggested a six-month waiting period, I responded, "The little girl needs a father now." He allowed it. A year...