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Summer’s almost over, about to give way to fall. I mourn the passing of summer. For lots of reasons it’s my favorite season. I enjoy the longer, brighter days, the warm, even hot and humid weather, the opportunity to be outside more often, the casual clothes and the relaxed schedule. Summer . . . what’s there not to like?
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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9/19/12
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Perhaps you’ve noticed the devotional prayers that appear frequently in the Catholic press, in this newspaper and others, prayers addressed to Jesus, our Blessed Mother or one of the saints.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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8/10/12
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Last August, I wrote about a six-hour sail that gave new perspectives on life, faith, and the Catholic understanding of ecology. A few weeks ago, another outing on the Able—the sturdy sloop owned …
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BY WILLIAM PATENAUDE
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7/25/12
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So I was driving around one day recently, taking care of some errands, when I decided to stop in the local convenience store and buy a PowerBall ticket.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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7/25/12
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A long, long time ago I heard a story about a devout little boy named Jimmy who walked past his parish church everyday on his way to school.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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7/16/12
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Recently I had the distinct privilege of returning to my home parish, St. Teresa of Avila Parish in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, to celebrate and preach the Eighth Grade Graduation Mass of the parish school.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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6/15/12
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I was going to entitle this article “The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Priests,” but you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what’s happening to the number of priests in the Diocese of Providence.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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5/25/12
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Spring is a beautiful time of the year, filled with significant social and religious events – graduations and weddings, ordinations and First Masses, jubilees and anniversaries, Confirmations and First Holy Communions.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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5/12/12
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According to my dictionary, the word “relevant” means “closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand,” and it’s certainly an apt description of the new Catholic radio station now broadcasting in Rhode Island – WSJW 550 AM.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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4/29/12
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A lot of people know that I’m an avid Steelers fan, but on occasion someone will ask me if I also cheer for the baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. There’s always an awkward pause before I answer that question.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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4/13/12
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The 2012 Presidential election is still a long way off and there will be plenty of opportunities for candidates of both parties to explain their positions on a variety of important issues.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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12/7/11
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By now you know that I, along with the other bishops of New England, recently traveled to Rome to participate in the official Ad Limina Visit to the Vatican, and from previous articles you’re probably familiar with the structure and purpose of our visit. Here I’d like to mention a few personal experiences and reflections from our time there.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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11/27/11
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I have a friend who’s fond of saying that I have a profound grasp of the obvious. You might agree with that observation when I suggest that our nation and our state are sorely divided these days.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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11/13/11
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The homosexual agenda is relentless; almost daily it forces itself into the public discourse. Consider the following, gleaned from headlines in just the last few weeks:
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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10/26/11
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So, this past summer I got an iPhone. Not a big deal, you say, but in fact it was a big deal, a huge deal for me. As you know I’ve been and continue to be very wary of all the new technology.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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10/15/11
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Television evangelist Pat Robertson has made some controversial comments in the past, and he’s done it again with his recent discussion about the legitimacy of divorce when a spouse has Alzheimer’s disease.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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9/29/11
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As you know, last weekend I granted a diocesan-wide dispensation from the obligation to attend Holy Mass on Sunday. The dispensation was approved in light of the predicted arrival of Hurricane Irene and the dangers associated with that storm.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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9/5/11
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A few weeks ago, during the acrimonious debate over the debt limit and deficit reduction, a number of religious leaders met with President Obama to ask him not to forget the poor as our nation struggles with its financial crisis.
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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8/19/11
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It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone. It is in us that their history becomes a future. (Charles and Ann Morse)
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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8/5/11
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You probably didn’t realize that natives of Pittsburgh speak their own language, usually called “Pittsburghese.” Google the word “Pittsburghese” and you’ll get a wealth of information about this language – well known to residents of Western Pennsylvania but absolutely foreign to outsiders, or in Pittsburghese, “ahtsiders.”
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BY BISHOP THOMAS J. TOBIN
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6/24/11
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