Articles
The Internet Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon
Chris Meadows Comments Off on The Internet Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon
Since its establishment in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi (for Pius XI), Vatican Radio has been broadcasting Mass from the Vatican on a daily basis, which included Pope Francis’ Mass at Santa Marta through the COVID-19 pandemic. As radio and television outlets multiplied over the subsequent decades since the early days of broadcasting, so, too, did Read More
Facing Our Shortcomings
Chris Meadows Comments Off on Facing Our Shortcomings
When I was a public school teacher, I used to enjoy the stories in the faculty lounge shared by seasoned veterans. My favorite came from a math teacher who told me that a student, who did not want to take an exam, absconded by jumping out of a second-floor window. When the student realized that Read More
Ongoing Priestly Formation for a Synodal Church
Chris Meadows Comments Off on Ongoing Priestly Formation for a Synodal Church
A synodal Church is a way of being Church that integrates communion, participation and mission. This means that all the baptized journey together (syn plus odos) in the Holy Spirit and under the Word of God: (1) as we try to live more deliberately communion with God and with each other, (2) as we seek Read More
Encounters that Tug at the Heart
Chris Meadows Comments Off on Encounters that Tug at the Heart
Have you ever considered just how many encounters you have in one day? Whether in person, on the phone, on Zoom, through text or email, our life is filled with conversations. Many of these moments are benign and mundane, centering on the weather or what might be next on our calendar. But then there are Read More
Leading Christologically
Chris Meadows Comments Off on Leading Christologically
Several of the ordination invitations that I have received over the last few years have been very clear to say the man was being ordained a priest of Jesus Christ. And this really needs to be the focus — that is, a Christocentric focus, a Christological focus. We share in his mission. We share in Read More
How to Energize Our Own Ongoing Human Formation
Chris Meadows Comments Off on How to Energize Our Own Ongoing Human Formation
I asked a seminarian recently what advice he would give a priest regarding human formation. He told me that every priest should have a priest mentor or accountability partner to check in with from time to time, someone outside of confession or spiritual direction, who knows him well, with whom he doesn’t necessarily hang out, Read More
Improv Leadership
Chris Meadows Comments Off on Improv Leadership
There are many leadership styles. Depending on which best-seller textbook you might read, the top 10 styles range from the democratic to the autocratic, from inspirational to results-oriented, etc. Then, leaders nuance their preferred style depending on the situation at hand, but their own basic style pervades their modus operandi. When a priest is thrown Read More
Sunday, Saturday and the Vigil Mass
Chris Meadows Comments Off on Sunday, Saturday and the Vigil Mass
Differentiating between a Mass on Sunday, one on Saturday night and a vigil Mass is, for me, not unlike trying to describe the baseball infield fly rule or the dropped third strike rule — it’s challenging. First, despite what thousands of Catholics may think, and parish bulletins proclaim, a vigil Mass is not the Mass Read More