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Sam Rocha

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March 2013

March 14, 2013

Pope Francis, Our American Pope

I just arrived in Portland, Oregon. It was a long, beautiful train ride. My pope...

March 11, 2013

Papal Indifference and The Will of God at the Bowling Alley

I don't care who our next pope will be. I find the fanfare understandable and...

February 2013

February 25, 2013

Beyond the Funk: Prayers for Quvenzhane Wallis UPDATED

Last night on Twitter, during the fanfare of the Oscars, the satirical news publication, The...

February 17, 2013

On the Death of Matthew Crawley

There is something about season three of Downton Abbey that I really liked. Something dark....

February 17, 2013

Economics Makes Us Crazy

I have no misgivings about, nor apologies for, my near total ignorance of economics. I...

February 13, 2013

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

My dear friend’s dog, Remus, is dying of cancer. Remus is a beautiful greyhound who...

February 11, 2013

Benedict XVI: A Portrait of Humility

I was a senior at Franciscan University of Steubenville when Pope John Paul II died....

January 2013

January 22, 2013

Guns AND Religion?

During Obama's first go-round in 2008, there was a big flare-up surrounding his comment about...

January 17, 2013

Les Miz Sux: In Defense of Lisa Hendey’s Mom

Lisa Hendey's mother is exactly right: the latest film adaptation of Les Misérables is terribly depressing. It is...

January 16, 2013

Abortion or Religion? A Quandary

When I taught at Wabash College, there was a Protestant non-demoninational congregation down the road...

December 2012

December 31, 2012

Education, The Craft of Desire

There is a universal and inextricable relationship between desire and belief. This relationship contains and...

December 30, 2012

The Holy Family: A Portrait of Humility**

On today's Feast of the Holy Family we hear a story about parents losing their...

December 28, 2012

The Culture Wars Are Over

It began when a mostly intelligent, cheeky, and sometimes rabble-rousing group of students I befriended...

December 26, 2012

The Sacred Excess of Christmas

Dear Fellow Catholics, Merry Christmas! Cristus natus est! It's party time. A time to feast and...

December 19, 2012

Those Immune to Violence Arm and Disarm

My late Tio "Manino" (short for Marcelino) had an bottle of Mexican brandy beside his...

December 18, 2012

A Quiet Joy, I Suppose

The easy excuse is "I've been grading." But it's not true. I write most when...

December 12, 2012

The Politics of Guadalupe

In loving memory of Fr. Sam Homsey C.PP.S. (1910 - 2004) As a teenager, I...

December 06, 2012

A Shepherd Must Be

The man who writes longhand, Pope Benedict XVI, has a Twitter account. Eight of them, to...

December 03, 2012

Haw Wins: Pagan Christianity and the New Apologetics

In my recent reflection on James Wellman's book on Rob Bell, I tried to steer...

November 2012

November 19, 2012

The Beauty and Sufficiency of Catholic Liturgy

Over the past year I've been writing a short book: Liturgy as Mystagogy: An Introduction to...

November 18, 2012

Dear Fellow Catholics, It’s NOT Christmas

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, I can hardly believe I'm writing this. It's embarrassing...

November 15, 2012

The Scandalous Abortion of Savita Halappanavar

(WARNING: I'm pissed and I'm not mincing words or emotions here. I'm not reporting, I'm venting....

November 13, 2012

Bilingual Mass Never Quite Jives For Me: A Note on Translation

Yesterday's Spanish debut was a direct response to posts, on Facebook and Twitter, covering the...

November 12, 2012

Beso, Abrazo y Ternura

(A note to English readers: this begins a series of Spanish-language essays I will post...

November 11, 2012

The Time to Talk is Now

It is hard to have a conversation when politics are at stake. The news makes...

November 07, 2012

What’s Left of the Left? Did the Grand Old Party Get Old?

The election has passed. Obama won the big one and the list goes on and...

November 06, 2012

Thanking the Candidates, All of Them

Those who read and know me understand that my politics tend toward the cynical. Especially...

October 2012

October 31, 2012

Abstention is Still a Choice: The Power of Negative Voting

Atheists go nuts when they stand accused of believing in something, despite their unbelief in...

October 27, 2012

Suffrage as Nihilism: Voting is Dead

I've seen and heard an election dogma that can only be described as pure, unadulterated...

October 25, 2012

Dead White Guys at First Things

Today, I'll refer you to as essay that came out today at First Things: Dead...