It was my good fortune, at the end of June, to enjoy a performance by a group which has been in operation for 44 years in our area, but of which until then I had never heard. Encounter, with its headquarters at Main Street United Methodist Church in Alton, presented the musical The Story, a quick overview of salvation history from the time of Abraham and Sarah to the Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

I have been meeting at the seven deaneries continuing our focus on “creating intentional discipleship” in our laity, and in our parishes. At one of our deanery meetings a couple shared their journey. I asked permission to use their story in my Catholic Times column as a means of showing successful witness to living this “way of life” which is “intentional discipleship.”

When I was a kid I had mixed emotions about “going fishing” with the family. My dad and mom loved to fish. Dad was a “fly-fisherman” and so he was always actively engaged with that type of fishing and didn’t give much time to just “being” or teaching us kids how. My mom was that person. She always sat, and would patiently wait for the fish to bite. The concoctions she made by hand which she called her live bait were enough to make one gag. But it worked.

In my capacity as regional bishop of the Santa Barbara pastoral region, which covers two counties north of Los Angeles, I am obliged to spend a good deal of time in the car. To make the long trips a bit easier, I have gotten back into the habit of listening to audio books. Just recently, I followed, with rapt attention, a book that I had read many years ago but which I had, I confess, largely forgotten: C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce. The inspiration for this theological fantasy is the medieval idea of the refrigerium, the refreshment or vacation from Hell granted to some of the souls abiding there. So Lewis’ narrator leaves the dreary streets of the underworld and, with a coterie of other ghosts, journeys by flying bus to a lovely land that he comes to realize is the forecourt of Heaven. In that enchanted place, the ghosts meet a number of denizens from the heavenly world, who attempt to lure the poor souls out of their misery.

In recent days, we have read and heard plenty of commentary about the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. We also contemplate the killing of a member of the British Parliament prior to a referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain part of the European Union.

Swirling around these devastating events are a series of questions about how human beings identify other human beings, and about how we self-identify.

Each year since 2012, Catholics in the United States have observed the Fortnight for Freedom in preparation for Independence Day on July 4th. The theme set by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for this year’s Fortnight is “Witnesses to Freedom.”

Fourteen men and women who bear witness to freedom in Christ — one for each day — have been proposed for our reflection during these two weeks. Thirteen of these figures have already passed from this world into heaven and the majority of them are martyrs. The lone “person” who is still alive? The Little Sisters of the Poor!

May 15 has been an important day for all of my 57 years of life. My parents were married on this day in 1954. I will offer Mass for their souls. When Easter comes early, like this year, the day also can be the day the church celebrates Pentecost.

At times, as you read this column, which focuses upon our relationships with people of every religion and no religion, it may seem as if these relationships are “easy.” All we need to do, it seems, is strike up a conversation and discover all the things we have in common with different groups of people, and life is sunny and friendly.

A recent issue of Time features a fascinating and deeply troubling article on the prevalence of pornography in our culture. The focus of the piece is on the generation of young men now coming of age, the first generation who grew up with unlimited access to hardcore pornography on the Internet. The statistics on this score are absolutely startling. Most young men commence their pornography use at the age of 11; there are approximately 107 million monthly visitors to adult websites in this country; 12 million hours a day are spent watching porn globally on the adult-video site Pornhub; 40 percent of boys in Great Britain say that they regularly consume pornography — and on and on.

For the past 45 years Quincy University has been the host site of a profound Catholic renewal called Cursillo, which means a short course in Christianity. This renewal program is a lay church outreach that invites adult men and women to share in a three-and-a-half-day gathering to renew folks in their Catholic faith.

Over the Easter holiday weekend I watched a wonderful television feature about a man who heard Billy Graham preach in his country of China. This Chinese man, probably in his early 30s, eventually converted to Christianity, but the journey of his conversion started in “the preaching of the Good News” by an evangelist named Billy Graham.

As I’m writing this column, on the evening of Easter Sunday, reports are coming in of a suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan. Those claiming responsibility for the bombing have confirmed their timing it to coincide with the most important solemnity of the Christian year.

All throughout the diocese we hear the Alleluia sung with joy at the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate this joy for 50 days up to the great feast of Pentecost. Christ brought back hope as he stood in the midst of the Disciples in their locked room. Can you imagine what that glorious moment must have been like for the Disciples?

We Little Sisters spend our lives caring for the elderly, but I try to keep up with young people as much as I can. Last week I read a blog for young women about the impact of our throw-away culture on the quality of personal relationships. The more we move around, according to a recent study, the more likely we are to develop attitudes of disposability toward our material possessions — and we also come to perceive relationships in the same way.

On behalf of the Dominican Family in the United States, I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the U.S. Catholic Bishops for their clear defense of and advocacy for some of the world’s most vulnerable children, women, and men: the millions of Iraqis and Syrians displaced by war and internal strife.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki has shared about how many folks he has met on his pastoral visits have become concerned and often ask him, “Are you going to close our parish?” His second pastoral letter recently given to us, Ars crescendi in Dei gratia, has focused on growth in the diocese. We have set out to help all our parishes truly become “Total Stewardship Parishes,” parishes filled with many “intentional disciples.” How do you see your parish today? Is there a vibrant faith that truly is alive in Christ?

It was a pleasure to participate, on Saturday, Feb. 13, in some of the education and formation of our diocesan permanent-diaconate class of 2020. This class consists of seven men from around the diocese. The wives of several of them were also present as we took a day, at Villa Maria on Lake Springfield, to survey the challenges of ecumenical and interreligious activity within our diocese.

If you drive by the rectory/office of St. Augustine Parish in Ashland, you will see a sign in the pastor's office window that says, "It's Gonna Happen." That parish office is mine and I have it there while I am joining with all Cub fans who believe and hope that this year will be "the year" the Cubs can go all the way. (I know we have been hoping since 1908 — don't send a note or call to remind us.)

Lent has begun and we, like Jesus, are invited to enter into the desert of this season of conversion. Time well spent in prayer and introspection will encourage us to focus on where it is that God is calling me to experience growth and/or to a metanoia (change of heart).

I'm sure by now you've heard about the absurd reaction of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) to the lighthearted Super Bowl commercial produced to advertise Doritos. In the 30-second clip, a pregnant mother, undergoing an ultrasound, is annoyed by her husband who is absent-mindedly munching Doritos while their baby's image is displayed on the screen. But as the father moves the corn chip, the baby in the womb moves with it; and when the mother throws the bag across the room, the child reacts so keenly and purposively that he decides this is the moment to be born.

I have received some comments about my allusion, in the January column, to my personal conversion to Jesus. It seems to me that it is necessary to develop this theme further. The development of the "discipleship and stewardship" way of life certainly demands that we be able to articulate our personal faith.

Pope Francis has a "burning desire" during this special Jubilee year. He wants us to reflect on and practice the corporal and spiritual works of mercy so that we may "enter more deeply into the heart of the Gospel where the poor have a special experience of God's mercy."

Our local church of Springfield in Illinois is giving a great gift to the larger Catholic Church in the United States, as Father Peter Harman assumes the post of rector of the Pontifical North American College, Rome, on Feb. 1.

Msgr. Paul Heinen was pastor of my home parish, Ss. Simon and Jude in Gillespie for more than 10 years. He came to our diocese from Germany. He was pastor in Taylorville, Jerseyville and Fieldon, and in Gillespie. He was such a well-loved priest in our diocese. In my first years of priesthood in the late '80s and early '90s every year the priests of our diocese always asked for Msgr. Heinen to speak to us at our annual Priests' Jubilee. He was such a great speaker, had a great sense of humor, and was an inspiration to all of us as a happy, joy-filled priest.

As of Wednesday, Dec. 9, Catholics worldwide have entered the second half-century since the close of the Second Vatican Council. Vatican II gave us a vision of the church, the People of God, in its role of transforming humanity in accord with the gift of Jesus Christ.

Each year British retailer John Lewis creates a seasonal buzz with its creative, emotionally charged Christmas advertisements. This year the department store chain has teamed with Age UK, Great Britain's largest charity for senior citizens, to raise funds and awareness of the scourge of loneliness among the elderly today. The heart-wrenching commercial depicts a young girl reaching out to an elderly "man on the Moon" and ends with a simple yet haunting slogan: "No one should have no one at Christmas."

Just after I was named auxiliary bishop, Archbishop Gomez, my new boss, told me to get the Waze app for my iPhone. He explained that it was a splendid way to navigate the often impossible LA traffic. I followed his instructions and have indeed used the app on practically a daily basis since my arrival on the West Coast. Waze not only gives directions, but it also provides very accurate information regarding time to your destination, obstacles on the road, the presence of police, etc. Most importantly, it routes you around traffic jams, which positively abound in the "city of Angels."

"So, are all the religions going to merge?" This was the gist of a couple of questions I have received concerning the Parliament of the World's Religions, held last month in Salt Lake City.

I imagine that such unrealistic expectations are spurred by that word, "parliament," which was first used in 1893. We tend to think of a parliament as a legislative body; therefore, we might imagine delegates of various religions deliberating resolutions which might be adopted by all religions.

Huge billows of dust floating across the fields, like storms clouds clearly disclosed where the farmers were working late into the night to harvest their crops.

Driving along the fields, and watching the gigantic machines consume the crops, I was once again reminded of the amount of refuse discharged back into the fields, while only a small amount of grain was funneled into the hopper to be transported to the storage bins.