Bringing the Passion Play to Augusta 1968 was a tumultuous year in our country, with protests over the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War, and demonstrations and even riots following the shooting death of Dr. Martin Luther King, and presidential candidate, Senator Robert Kennedy. I recall our seminary Rector, Fr. William Coleman, being so upset about the […]
“Now it takes a good son to be a good priest, as Jesus was. You are longing to be one day “another Christ,” to be to those around you, as a priest, what Jesus was to those who followed Him. But Jesus spent thirty long years in just being a good son to Mary and […]
“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13 All of us have a conscience, formed out of our sense of right from wrong, guiding our actions and decisions. When we violate our conscience, it can put us ill at ease, even resulting in guilty feelings, which can make us feel inadequate, […]
Letters to Home I was fortunate that my mother saved many of the letters I wrote, and those my parents wrote back to me during my three years away at St. John’s. Dad wrote to me regularly about what was going on back in Augusta, while my writings mostly focused on my needs, which always […]
Bishop Emeritus Kevin Boland of the Savannah Diocese told me a few years back that the concept of a minor seminary, designed for high school aged boys, was essentially a “hot house”, for young men, to grow their potential vocation to the priesthood. This method was in full swing in the Fall of 1965, when […]
Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28: 19-20 Almost four years ago, I came out […]
(Context is important. The writer was born Catholic and attended Catholic school in the pre-Vatican II, Baltimore Catechism world, where right from wrong was made very clear, as were the consequences and remedies to sin.) “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, […]
I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance. Luke 5:32 We know we have done wrong. The pangs of a guilty conscience are there as a constant reminder. Joel Osteen tells us to say a prayer, asking for divine forgiveness, and then we are born again, ready to bask in […]
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.” Psalm 92: 12-14 I remember when growing up, hearing about Grandma Moses, […]
Whether we are talking about the church or the secular world, at the core of any successful enterprise is effective leadership. In my earlier years working in hospitals, the idea of supervising others was more of an exercise in holding all accountable, which I understood then as mostly catching employees when they we not doing […]
A cradle Catholic, growing up in the deep south in the 1950’s and 60’s, Joe Herzberg has been a lifelong student of his faith, which included three of his teen years at St. John Vianney Seminary in Savannah, Georgia…
Bringing the Passion Play to Augusta 1968 was a tumultuous year in our country, with protests over the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War, and demonstrations and even riots following the shooting death of Dr. Martin Luther King, and presidential candidate, Senator Robert Kennedy. I recall our seminary Rector, Fr. William Coleman, being so upset about the […]