I'm jacked for the Pope's visit, but...

Get this meme ready to use, and use, and use again with your Catholic friends who "go to Church every now and then" and the people who get their diet of all things Catholic from Yahoo News

Everything you need to know about Communism...

Can be summed up in the gifts their leaders give

Pope Francis: "Wow, this is offensive AND ugly AND useless
all at the same time!"

Fidel: "It's a book about me.  It is FASCINATING!"
Pope Benedict: "WOW...I can't wait to read it on the flight home."

Fidel: "I'm sure Pope Benedict told you about the book I wrote about myself,
but here's a copy for you...for FREE!"

“It is one thing to impoverish oneself; it is quite another responsibility to impoverish a whole cultural system of its culture."

GK Chesterton

The Well and the Shallows

Gosnell Documentary Trailer Released

Pope Francis on the Eucharist

A Song for Sunday Afternoons - Blue Water Waltz

Sneaking into prisons

Homily for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

Helpful Video - I hope this guy keeps putting these together!

Do Catholics Work Their Way Into Heaven?

No...but through our works, and through the Sacraments, Heaven works its way into us

Homily: Prayer isn't just petitions

A Good Song for Your Labor Day

I have been enjoying this song a lot lately.  "State of the Art" by Jim James

It has a great sound, and an important message at the same time.

I found these lyrics particularly spot on:

I use the state of the art

Tech-no-log-gy

Supposed to make for better living

But are we better human beings?

We’ve got our wires all crossed

Our tubes are all tied

And I’m straining to remember

Just what it means to be alive

On Top of the World

I've been on a lot of mountaineering trips over the years, but this one was really special, and I'm not totally sure why, I'm just really thankful to God for the chance to do this kind of thing.

Part of the gratitude and uniqueness of this particular trip was the fact that my brother Nate was not able to be there.  On my backpack I had my St. Pergrine medal and so every time I stopped for a break or needed to get something out of my pack, I was reminded of his suffering and I was reminded that I wasn't just climbing for myself but was also climbing to offer up my suffering for him.

Part of the beauty of the trip for me personally was also the realization that I won't be able to do this forever.  Past mountaineering trips felt more like business - get the kids up safely and back home - but turning 36 a few days prior to our summit attempt, and also climbing for my brother Nate helped me realize that I'm getting older and life is fragile and these opportunities don't just happen all the time.


The students were great, the staff was great, and so many people helped us get to the point where we could even make this climb.  It was a great trip, and a very spiritual adventure as well.

Jesus went off to the mountains a lot and the mountains are mentioned in Scripture all over the place.  I know why.

50 Years On: Music in the Post Vatican II Liturgy

Thanks to Andy Motyka, our director of archdiocesan and cathedral liturgical music gave a WONDERFUL talk on sacred music and the Second Vatican Council.

I encourage you to share this with anyone involved in Catholic liturgical music

50 Years On: Music in the Post-Vatican II Liturgy from John Hollowell on Vimeo.

I think I found myself a cheerleader

We need more priests like this!

"Some men you just can't reach"

Thanks to Mike Brummond for sharing this


Quick background - some sins are "reserved to Rome" meaning a priest can not simply absolve those particular sins in the confessional right away.  In cases were these "reserved sins" are confessed, I am to write a letter to Rome (leaving the person's name out of the letter) asking for permission to absolve a particular sin.  Rome then writes a letter back granting me that permission, and then the person comes back to the confessional and I can then absolve that sin for that person.  

Abortion is a sin that isn't reserved all the way to Rome, but it IS reserved to the local bishop, although the bishop CAN just give his priests the ability to forgive the sin of abortion immediately in the confessional.

This is MSNBC's headline today when news broke that the Pope has extended to ALL priests the ability to absolve the sin of abortion directly, WITHOUT having to write to their bishop each time.  

In the Archdiocese of Indianapolis we have always had that ability delegated to us priests, so this announcement doesn't affect us anyways, but there are dioceses where priests did not have the ability to absolve the sin of abortion.

Long story short, the headline should say something like "Pope permits priests to absolve the sin of abortion"

but according to MSNBC the Pope and priest "allow abortion", and abortion is also a "Catholic sin"????

CONFERENCE: In the World, Not of the World

Why do we owe anyone anything?

"One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord!"

A Song for Sunday - Ray Charles and Bonnie Raitt

Nate Update: "the CHAMP is here"

When my brother Nate was diagnosed with cancer, the thing I kept hearing from people over and over again - "It is important to have something to look forward to!"

I asked Nate, early on, if there was anything he was looking forward to.  A trip to Rome to visit my brother Deacon Tony Hollowell?  Climb a mountain somewhere?  Disney World?


Nate said the thing he was looking forward to the most was starting back up at school.


Not too long before he was diagnosed with cancer, Nate had switched his major to pre-med.  He was in pre-pharmacy, and was tearing it up (he had the highest score in his organic chemistry class, a class that is used to weed out pre-med students, pre-pharmacy students, etc.).

As a cancer patient, Nate said one good thing was that he got to see all the different types of doctors at work, and he was able to rule some types out, and he has become more interested in possibly being other types of doctor.  the jury is still out, but I have no doubt that whatever type of doctor he becomes, he will do an unbelievable job!


Because Nate was looking forward to school, a friend of mine (Missy Scarlett) worked up a poster for him that he hung in his room.  The poster was a small reminder, during the tough times, that the road of chemo and cancer would eventually come to an end.

The poster was real simple - it had the first day of classes at IUPUI on it and a quote about doctors from Pope Francis.


The date of the start of school: 8-24-2015.  Today.

Because of having to have his chemo delayed one week because of a low blood count a few months ago, he now actually has one more round of chemo that starts tomorrow.  He has 48 hours of chemo left, and he plans to attend classes with his chemo pump Tuesday and Wednesday.   He jokingly noted that it might get him a few bonus points with some of the teachers!

But this morning Nate goes back to college, infinitely happier to be there than most other students, and it has been inspiring and humbling to see him carry this cross with such dignity.


Nate, 8-24 is here.  We're all proud of you and we love you!

Christ was a pretty bad fisherman...