May 14, 2026 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia Recently, I got the ominous “heads up” that my work computer is scheduled to be replaced this summer. For most, this should be the most welcome of news. A new computer is faster, unclogged with old files, updated with the latest and greatest...
Apr 30, 2026 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia As April exploded into the exuberance of a long-awaited spring, many welcomed her arrival with great joy. Truly, the glory of Easter, buds bursting from their hiding places, ever brighter evenings, and the return of birds and butterflies are all...
Apr 2, 2026 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia A number of springs ago, I came to the Easter Vigil Mass with the joyous anticipation of Easter muted a bit. That year, my Dad was journeying through what I knew — but did not want to believe — were the final months of his earthly life. I came to...
Mar 19, 2026 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia Not long ago, I was sorting through some of my Dad’s old papers and came across a candy wrapper and a Father’s Day card tucked into an envelope bearing a March 2001 postmark from Rome. As soon as I saw it, it brought back happy memories of a...
Mar 5, 2026 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia Anyone who has ever had the misfortune to drive me to an airport, meet me at a train station, or share the trunk of a car with me on a road trip can tell you one thing: I do not travel lightly. Whether a journey is two days, two weeks, or two...
Feb 19, 2026 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia Two days in early February, one beautiful and one tragic, forced me to think deeply on the meaning and nature of compassion. First, the beautiful. February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, was also the 34th World Day of the Sick. For the...
Feb 5, 2026 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia These past weeks, along with millions of others, my days have been lived in the grip of a cold and icy northeast with no sign of warmth coming soon. At the cold spell began and the icy snow first fell, I found myself in my hometown in New York,...
Jan 22, 2026 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia Recently, my neighbor died. When I was at the funeral home and when I arrived at work late after his funeral, I was asked how I knew the gentleman who passed away. It was almost sheepishly, or with a note of apology, that I said he was “a...
Jan 8, 2026 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia On the Feast of the Epiphany, the 2025 Jubilee Year came to a close as the Holy Doors in Rome were sealed once again. I am sorry to see the Jubilee Year come to an end. I did not visit Rome this year. I did not attend any special Jubilee events....
Dec 23, 2025 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia As the familiar strains of Christmas hymns fill the air these days, it occurs to me that, in the canon of our most popular Christmas songs, St. Joseph is inexplicably missing. As these songs describe the earliest witnesses to the Nativity, we...
Dec 11, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia If there is ever a time when the difference in perspective between children and adults is stunningly clear, it is during the four weeks of Advent. As Advent begins and its weeks stretch ahead, children will say, with a sigh of impatience, “Four...
Nov 26, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia Several years ago, I was standing in a checkout line behind two women deep in conversation. I couldn’t help overhearing that one was recently widowed and struggling to adjust to this new season of her life. Most of their conversation, however,...
Nov 13, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia If most people were asked to describe a “typical” or aspirational Thanksgiving celebration, they would likely describe a scene like that portrayed in Norman Rockwell’s iconic 1943 painting, “Freedom From Want.” This painting is frequently...
Oct 30, 2025 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia For better or worse, my childhood days were lived before the age of the digital camera. So, the stories of my early life are preserved in shelves full of photo albums. As is likely the case for many, Halloween photographs are plentiful. While...
Oct 16, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia Pope Leo XIV recently released the first extensive document of his papacy, Dilexi te, an Apostolic Exhortation on love for the poor. Almost immediately, pundits responded, some thoughtfully and others with partisan “hot takes” that pulled a mere...
Oct 2, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia After many years spent in Catholic higher education, I have been pleasantly surprised to learn more each year about beautiful traditions and celebrations previously unknown to me. Thus, I was recently delighted to receive an invitation to a...
Sep 18, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia As September dawned, eyes turned to Rome with joy to celebrate the canonizations of two young men — Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. In a particular way, many hoped that the holy lives of these two new saints would have a special...
Sep 4, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia The start of every new semester is packed with activities that always manage to take me by surprise, even though they happen every term. These are the days to fine-tune my syllabus, adjust to a new class schedule, study new editions of my...
Aug 21, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia Happy Labor Day! Whenever someone asks how I am, one of my most frequent replies is “Good, but busy.” That is rarely more true than it is in September. Autumn always seems to burst into our lives with a rapid increase in the events, activities,...
Aug 7, 2025 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia Unbeknownst to me, when I changed my calendar to August, I entered “National Back to School Month.” As fond as I am of new school supplies and the scent of new books, not even I knew that this is celebrated for an entire month. Yet it is....
Jul 24, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia It happened again. An important email never made its way to me because, en route to my cluttered inbox, it took an unexpected detour to my spam folder. This likely happened because the sender was not someone with whom I am usually in contact, and...
Jul 10, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia The petals were dusty yellow and flecked with white. They emerged with timid strength from a nearly invisible crack in the blacktop of a nondescript driveway. In the midst of the dark pavement, a spunky petunia bloomed. The contrast between the...
Jun 30, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia Independence is on my mind as we celebrate Independence Day, recalling that time when our founders deemed it “necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.” The blessing of independence is well...
Jun 26, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia Years ago, a baby elephant was born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Since I lived within walking distance of this newborn neighbor, I grew surprisingly attached to him. His antics were recorded on camera to the delight of a cynical city that...
Jun 12, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia If it is graduation season, then it is graduation speech season too. High schools, colleges, and now even elementary schools seek out high-profile speakers to impart their wisdom to graduates — or, at least, they aim to. I am a bit dubious about...
May 29, 2025 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia “White smoke” was all that my friend’s text said. That was, of course, all that I needed to hear to know that the quiet afternoon I had planned in my office at Catholic University would no longer be so quiet. That text was followed by an...
May 15, 2025 | Local, Lucia A. Silecchia
By Lucia A. Silecchia Since Easter Monday when, in the glow of Easter hope, Pope Francis passed from this life, commentators, columnists, scholars and sages have spent many words answering a frequently asked question: What is Pope Francis’ legacy? It seems to be human...
May 1, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia In the candle-lit glory of the Easter Vigil Mass, new sisters and brothers around the world were welcomed to the Church through the waters of Baptism. To my new sisters and brothers, the warmest of welcomes! I hope that on Easter eve, you saw...
Apr 17, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia It was one of those meandering conversations that old friends have, with random questions and accidental insights. As happens more frequently of late, we talked more about the ever-accelerating passage of time and asked each other when in our...
Mar 6, 2025 | Lucia A. Silecchia, Uncategorized
By Lucia A. Silecchia Anyone who has ever had the misfortune to drive me to an airport, meet me at a train station or share the trunk of a car with me on a road trip can tell you one thing: I do not travel lightly. Whether a journey is two days, two weeks or two...
