About the photo: Crucifix in San Damiano Church, courtesy of Dan Frachey. Have you ever been embarrassed by needing to ask this question? Yeah, me too. That’s the phrase that tumbled through my head recently as I looked up from contemplation and saw the crucifix on my wall. Excuse me? How do I know you? …
This essay first appeared in the Springfield State Journal-Register, Sunday, August 9, 2020. Everyone is thinking about John Lewis. You could write about him.” As I was mulling over what to write for this column, a friend crossed my path with this timely suggestion. I’d not thought of that. St. Dominic was on my mind, …
This first appeared in the June 16, 2019, issue of the State Journal-Register, where I write regularly for the Beliefs column. Yes, that’s my dad, John C. Murphy, Sr., on furlough in 1943, and in 1971, sporting new Providence High School gear in support of his daughter’s high school pick. Add your Dad Share a …
Did you hear about the people who decided, in the midst of this extraordinary COVID19 crisis, that they needed to haul down from the attic, up from the basement, or out of the garage rafters—Christmas? Perhaps we aren’t feeling as brave now as we were early in the days of shelter-in-place, before the magnitude of …
Where God closes a door, a window opens. Sometimes, almost literally. Cor Unum House, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, is meant to be a house of hospitality, where guests are welcome into the sisters’ lives in tangible ways. Except, not now. While the Coronavirus lockdown has closed the sisters’ front door for …
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Oh! I thought to myself as I read kind, reasoned words, cautioning against alienating our immigrant neighbors who contribute so much to our community. O Wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach us the path of knowledge! Oh, I groaned, at the latest news of unethical and …
It’s balm for my soul to feast on today’s scripture texts, though in many Catholic parishes the readings will not be these. (They are different if the parish is preparing to receive candidates into full communion with the church at the Easter Vigil.) To follow along, find Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15 and Luke 13:1-9. Lately I’m …
This story, co-written by Sister Beth Murphy and Mr. Leroy Jordan, first appeared in the February 10, 2019 issue of the Springfield State-Journal Register. The Governing magazine report that discusses income disparity and segregation in Springfield was all the talk at a recent meeting of the Springfield Dominican Antiracism Team (SDART). What a discouraging message …
This essay was originally published on Sunday December 30, 2018, in the Springfield State Journal-Register Beliefs column for which Sister Beth Murphy writes regularly. For many of us, January 1 has become unmoored from the faith context of Christmas. It’s New Year’s Day, of course, and holds a sense of promise and fresh start that …
This essay was first published on November 18, 2018 in the Springfield State Journal-Register Beliefs column for which Sister Beth Murphy writes regularly. There is a certain way of reading Jewish and Christian apocalyptic texts that makes excellent B movie material. I believe we are living in an apocalypse—but not that kind! The word apocalypse …
This essay first appeared in the October 7, 2018 edition of the Springfield State Journal-Register’s Beliefs column, to which Sister Beth Murphy is a frequent contributor. “This is a chapel built for the ages!” So exclaimed an awe-struck teenage visitor to Sacred Heart Convent Chapel last spring. It’s true. The chapel where we Dominican Sisters …
This essay was first published in the August 26, 2018 edition of the Springfield State Journal-Register, in the Beliefs column, for which Sister Beth Murphy writes regularly. How many tears have been spilled over the latest scandal in the Catholic Church? It is deeply disturbing, painful beyond imagining, to think of the thousands of children …
How did we get here? Power, Shame—and at Long Last, Mercy Read More »
This essay first appeared in the July 15 edition of the Springfield State Journal-Register in the Beliefs Column, to which Sister Beth Murphy is a regular contributor. Two years ago, Pope Francis acknowledged the privileged place Mary of Magdala holds for Catholics by elevating the liturgical celebration of her life from a memorial to a …
This essay first appeared in the June 3, 2018, edition of the Springfield State Journal-Register, in the Beliefs column, to which Sister Beth Murphy is a frequent contributor. Tu eres mi otro yo. You are my other self. It was Msgr. Arturo Bañuelas speaking, the pastor of St. Mark’s in El Paso, Texas, who last …
