Author name: Nancy Sylvester

I always liked the feast of Pentecost. Chapter 2 of Acts describes it so well. I can hear “what sounded like a violent, rushing wind from heaven; the noise filling the entire house” where the people were gathered. I can see that tongue of fire first appearing “then separating and coming to rest on the

When I heard of Pope Francis’ death, I teared up, and as I read his Easter message, I thought, “Here was a holy person.” As I said that, I remembered a paper I wrote for a theology class as a postulant, the first year of entering religious life, that focused on what holy meant. The word holy derives from

On April 21, Pope Francis experienced the Easter joy of resurrection.  In his Easter message he wrote:  Today at last, the singing of the “alleluia” is heard passing from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, and this makes the people of God throughout the world shed tears of joy. … Jesus is not in the

“Waste, fraud and abuse” is now a slogan and a smokescreen to justify any and all cuts to federal programs. Those words resonate with most of us because we want our tax dollars to go to efficient, transparent and useful programs. However, what we are witnessing are major cuts to international aid programs and increasing rhetoric about

 I suspect you’ve had the experience of feeling you were dreaming while sensing you were awake. It often takes a moment to figure out which it is, yet something emerges in your brain to tell you to hold onto it — whatever the “it” is. This happened to me not too long ago. As I

An arctic blast froze the landscape in a good part of the United States this mid-January.  Coupled with the darkness of the morning here in the Midwest, it invited hibernation. Stay asleep and wake up when spring thaws the frozen ground.  In the flurry of all the executive orders and the constant refrain of the

My two longest ministries were the 15 years I spent in Washington, D.C., with Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby, and the years with the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue, which I founded in 2002. Faith and politics — for some, an oxymoron; for me, entangled realities needing each other. This brings me

When one engages in contemplation, one begins to “see” things anew. I have experienced this reality in different ways throughout the years, but recently I have physically experienced it quite dramatically. I had cataract surgery. As I came out of recovery, I was startled by the vividness and the clarity with which I could see

Mitch Albom’s column in the Detroit Free Press on June 2 caught my attention. Writing after the jury convicted former President Donald Trump on all 34 felony counts, Albom commented that many feel that this verdict will further divide the country. However, he states “I’m not sure. It seems that with each passing day, we

ometimes it’s hard to gain perspective. The situation in our world just doesn’t seem to let up. The war in Ukraine continues. The devastation in Gaza is still being revealed. The dysfunction in Congress seems unending, The political season promises more polarization.  I reflect on all the years that so many of us have been