Articles

Expect Conversion

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Expect Conversion
I was recently working with a room full of priests regarding plans for outreach and evangelization in their diocese. As we looked at maps and statistics that the chancery had prepared, I approached one table, where a few of the priests questioned why we were planning to evangelize that part of the diocese. “There are Read More

Spiritual Riches

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Spiritual Riches
The year 2024 was amazing: a year of great gratitude for me, theologically, liturgically and pastorally. Including the second year of the Synod on Synodality, the beatification and canonization of some amazing blesseds and saints, several papal letters and encyclicals, the National Eucharistic Revival in our country, as well as the great National Eucharistic Congress Read More

Ears to Hear

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Ears to Hear
When I was a young, newly ordained priest, I remember spending hours upon hours preparing homilies, weighing every thought and word. While I still am committed to sound homily-preparation practices, I have found over the years that this process goes more smoothly when I intentionally and patiently focus not on my words but on the Read More

Liturgy in the Time of Easter

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Liturgy in the Time of Easter
Sunday is to the week what Easter is to the year. That aphorism condenses the platform from which springs the Catholic Church’s complete understanding of time, according to the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and Calendar (No. 1). You can find these near the front of the Roman Missal. They serve as a signpost Read More

Class of 1962

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Class of 1962
It was springtime. It was anticipation time. It was ordination time on the cusp of the Second Vatican Council. It was 1962, and we young seminarians at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary outside Cincinnati were desirous and ready to be ordained by our respective bishops in our home dioceses in the closing week of May. There Read More

Persistence in Prayer

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Persistence in Prayer
When a priest stops praying, his priesthood withers. When a priest stops praying, his ministry cannot bear fruit. When a priest stops praying, both he and his people suffer. One of the most challenging dimensions of priestly life and ministry is sustaining an interior life. The burdens of administration and the management of a parish Read More

Palms of Victory

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Palms of Victory
As Jesus journeyed from Bethany to the Passover feast in Jerusalem, he was joined by his followers and other Passover pilgrims, all jubilantly proclaiming him the Messiah. Only days earlier he had raised Lazarus from the dead, called him out of the tomb, performing a miracle of his power over death. News of this miracle, Read More

Hope Eternal

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Hope Eternal
Grace, reconciliation, mercy and hope stand apart among the many virtues, as they have the honor of being the themes of the last four quarter-century jubilee years. Pope Pius XII called for a Year of Grace in 1950, Pope St. Paul VI proclaimed a Year of Reconciliation and Renewal in 1975, Pope St. John Paul Read More

Somewhere to Lay His Head

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Somewhere to Lay His Head
Recently I said to my mother, who is in her late 90s, “It’s time for me to go home.” She responded, “This is your home, but I know you have to go to your other home.” I’ve had this same conversation outwardly and inwardly now for more than 38 years. Where is home? With every Read More

Priesthood Revisited

Gigi Duncan Comments Off on Priesthood Revisited
In my 12 years as a seminary formator I have given and received countless talks on the identity and mission of the diocesan priest. Over those years I have found that, more than information, it is moments of shared experience as a presbyterate, especially during liturgical celebrations like the Chrism Mass, that provide the greatest Read More