There are days in each of our lives that leave indelible marks. Our marriages, the births of our children, the loss we feel at the passing of someone we’ve spent our lives loving. Each personality we encounter, each experience we have — whether profoundly joyous or indescribably sorrowful — writes on what philosopher John Locke called the “tabula rasa,” the “blank tablet” of our minds. And some of that writing will never be erased.

For more than 600 people from the Archdiocese of Louisville, the joy of the April 20 Mass in New York City with Pope Benedict XVI is such a moment, as it no doubt was for the thousands who witnessed the events in Yankee Stadium from afar.

 

It’s like finding a gem among a rubble of stones. Buried in the voluminous pages of Supreme Court justices’ opinions in a recent case on the death penalty was a gem in a concurring opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens. 

The Archdiocese of Louisville’s bicentennial celebration moved to the East Coast last Sunday as more than 600 people from Central Kentucky attended a papal Mass in Yankee Stadium at which the archdiocese was honored along with four other U.S. archdioceses. 

In a four-page section on vocations in this week’s edition of The Record, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz writes: “Our growing conviction is both constant and simple: Christ continues to call. ... His call remains fresh and ever new.” 

The letter from the pope to the U.S. president about the war was diplomatically florid, but clear in its message. 

Anniversaries are meant to be a time of celebration for reaching a milestone in life. But they also are occasions for giving thanks to God for blessings bestowed. And they are a time for rededication and renewal. 

People speculating on what Pope Benedict XVI will say in the United States in April would do well to look at what he said in a sermon on Palm Sunday. He touched on several important themes of his pontificate — themes that are likely to form the core of his pastoral message in the United States. 

Easter comes early in spring this year, but not too early. We are always in need of the new life, renewal and hope that Easter brings. For if we look at the world around us, we can find many reasons to be afraid. 

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has taken a positive step on a matter related to restorative justice by making it easier for felony offenders who have completed their sentences to have their voting rights restored. 

One of most memorable events of the church’s Jubilee Year 2000 was a “Forgiveness Day” in which Pope John Paul II publicly apologized for the shortcomings of Christians through the ages. The topics ranged from slavery to the Inquisition. 

Cuba under Fidel Castro’s rule has always been a mysterious thorn in the side of the United States, especially the leadership of the U.S. government. We could never seem to look past Castro to the bigger picture of dealing with the island nation 90 miles off the Florida coast. 

In discussing principles of taxation and revenue allocation, Kentucky’s Catholic bishops said in a 2004 statement that the state of Kentucky “should seek and maintain revenues sufficient to meet the basic needs of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.” 

Years ago Mark Twain said man is the only animal who has taken a thousand useless luxuries, turned them all into necessities and replaced a good night’s rest with a medicated sleep that does not refresh. 

There’s a saying that “it is not so much what you do as how you do it” — or the spirit in which something is done. This has some meaning for Lent, which began this week, and for the season’s traditional practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. 

Several concerns about capital punishment were raised on different fronts about three weeks apart recently. Two developments went to the heart of the death penalty; the other addressed a peripheral issue. 

As crowds gathered in Washington and around the nation this week to protest 35 years of legalized abortion in the United States, there was some encouraging news in a study released last week showing a decline in abortions. 

The immediate future looks a bit grim for those who work on trying to improve the lot of immigrants in the United States. 

Anyone who moves into a new neighborhood knows how important it is to be welcomed by their neighbors. Imagine how important such a welcoming is if you are coming from another culture and trying to make a home in a new land.