In his 1986 memoir, Confessions of a Parish Priest, Father Andrew M. Greeley wrote, “I’m a priest. Not a priest-sociologist or a priest-journalist, or a priest-novelist, or any multiple variation of those hyphenates. I’m a priest, a parish priest. The other things I do in life: sociological research, journalistic writing, storytelling, are merely my way of being a priest.” But no...

One is the loneliest number… …especially when you happen to be in a voting majority with your political colleagues, but those same colleagues are too timid to pull their extremist members back in line. Senator John McCain took to the floor of the Senate last Thursday (May 23) to give some of his “colleagues” a much needed civics lesson. Tea Party Senators...

Lucky Leo’s is back! The boardwalks are back, and so are many of the beaches in Seaside Heights. After being devastated by Hurricane Sandy last October, this “Jersey shore is open for the summer and ready to receive our customers,” Governor Chris Christie said during a reopening ceremony. “This is going to be a really good week.” They’re cleaning up in Granbury,...

With baseball season underway, it’s time once again, to consult with the fact checkers to see who stretches the truth and who knocks it out of the park. While the White House certainly has enough of its own questions to answer between Benghazi, the IRS and the AP phone records issue, some members of Congress like to pile onin spite...

Whenever we get fussed-up by the trials, tribulations, wants, needs, hopes, dreams, frustrations, tragedies, challenges, the President, Congress, Fox News, MSNBC, (fill in your own blank), not to mention our own egos, we should all take a moment to step back and get a little perspective. The following poem comes from my own ethics teacher, Michael Josephson, who offers some...

America’s young adults are dealing with a lackluster job market, political gridlock in Washington and uncertainty about their country’s role on the global stage. Despite these challenges, veteran pollster John Zogby argues that America’s “First Global” generation has an outward-looking perspective that may be its best asset in a rapidly changing world. This commentary first appeared in The Financialist (May 14). What...

Lots to discuss, so let’s get to it. The Straight Dope – Years ago, I was given a book with that title by a close friend. It offered straight-forward answers to straight-forward questions. Based on the recent release of e-mails between the White House, CIA and State Department, it’s abundantly clear that we need that straight dope more than ever....

Last January, Megan, one of my New Hampshire students, responded to the question, “who is the most ethical person you know?” with this essay about a neighborhood mom named Pat. When most people think of an ethical person they think of Mother Teresa, Mohandas Gandhi or Jimmy Carter. They all did great things in their lifetime, which is why people...

It’s been ten years since New York Times reporter Jayson Blair was caught having “lied and faked and cheated his way through story after story — scores of them, for years,” The Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan writes (May 4). It was the first, and hopefully, last time I ever saw a newspaper list story after story by Blair for four, full...

“Hey you! “That’s right, you on the couch with the bag of potato chips. Wanna be an actor? Want to star in a hit TV series, but don’t want all the fuss and expense of enrolling in The Actor’s Studio, then spend years studying “the method” honing your craft? Well, you’ve come to the right place, because Bravo-TV has a...