Year for Priests: Saying goodbye

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series There are few joys that rival the beginning of the end to a school year.  Exuberant celebrations of paper tossing and book shelving give witness to the freedom students and teachers feel as they walk (or run) out of school, not to return until August. Of [...]

Year for Priests: The “cool” church

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series . . . and to this the student responded, “You can’t do that.  You don’t ask questions like that . . . you just don’t.” (The written word doesn’t capture his emphasis and shock, but believe me it was there). You would have thought he was [...]

Year for Priests: One year ago …

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series One year ago, on May 9, 2009, I was ordained a priest.  Of course all the usual reflections have flashed in my mind over the past few days:  What have I learned?  Is it what I thought it would be?  Does it feel like a year?  [...]

Year for Priests: Asking students what they want from life

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series Over the past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time talking with students about life after high school.  College is a given for my students, but few really know what they want to do with their education.  Their imagination conjures lofty ideas of success, [...]

Year for Priests: Gracious living

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series Once a month, the boys of Catholic Central gather for an all-school Mass, often celebrating one of our many patrons.  Being that the school mascot is the shamrock, St. Patrick was a significant day of celebration, and so I was surprised that our local superior chose [...]

A bit of ‘how-to’ on priests, ministry and ‘new media’

By Basilian Father Chris Valka In response to my previous post, “Responding to the pope’s challenge on ‘new media’,” I have been asked to share a little more about my own efforts in the “new media.” My hope is to provide a few practical applications and reasons for using blogs and podcasts, in addition to [...]

Year for Priests: Responding to the pope’s challenge on ‘new media’

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series Five days a week, I stand before six classes of teenage boys in 45-minute intervals.  After attendance and the usual exchange of assignments and questions and answers, I have 40 minutes to convey a lesson, allow for in-class practice or discussion, assign the evening’s work, and [...]

Year for Priests: Praying outside the box

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series Over the past couple of weeks, I have met with a number of people about prayer, and since Lent is around the corner it seems fitting to pass along a few fruits from the conversations. For most of the people with whom I speak, prayer is [...]

Year for Priests: Thoughts on vocations

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series As a young priest, I am often asked to speak on the topic of vocations to the priesthood.  As a result, I spend a fair amount of energy thinking and conversing about the issue, and was recently encouraged to put a few ideas in writing.  There [...]

Year for Priests: Transcending the classroom

By Basilian Father Chris Valka One in a series A new year brings a new semester at Catholic Central High School, and while no one is entirely thrilled about the daily addition of snow that plagues the roadways, winter seems to promote a little more stillness, reflection and purity in the mind of my students.  [...]