Top Twenty Best Catholic Communities That Have Been a Blessing

Grateful for:

20. Catholic/Evangelical Alliance in the Culture War, including the Prolife Movement

19. Camino of Santiago

18. World Youth Days

17.  Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

16. Sisters of Charity, Convent Station, NJ

15. Jesuit priests who taught me at Woodstock NYC, taught my children in Jersey City, and with whom I worked at Xavier HS, NYC.

14. Maryknoll priests, staff and my classmates at Maryknoll College Seminary, Glen Ellyn, Ill 1965-9.

13. Catholic colleges: Mount St. Mary's, Md; University of Notre Dame; St. Peter's, Jersey City; Seton Hall University; DeSales University, Pa; Fordham; Franciscan University of Steubenville; Institute of Psychological Studies; John Paul Institute for Study of the Family. 12.  

12. Communion and Liberation

11. Neocatechumenal Way 

10. Our Lady's Missionaries of the Eucharist (OLME)

9. Cursillo

8. Communio school of theology at Washington DC.

7. Charismatic Renewal.

6. Magnificat Home residence for women which our family and friends support.

5. The CCD, confirmation and religion classes I have taught for over 60 years.

4. Many Catholic elementary and high schools which educated our family and in which we have worked.

3. Our current parish and every parish in which Christ has nurtured us with his Word and Sacrament.

2. My origin family: Father/Mother, brothers/sisters, grandparents, uncles/aunts, cousins.

1. Our own marriage and family as it expands and extends outwards.

Honorable Mention:   Christian Brothers; Dominican Sisters of Hope and of Caldwell; Felician Sisters; Marriage Encounter; NET retreats;  Ivan Illich's Cuernavaca Institute in Summer 1968; Regnum Christi;   Volunteer chaplaincy at Jersey Shore University Hospital; Catholic Communion service at Ocean County Jail; EWTN; Knights of Columbus; Weston and Mt. Savior Benedictine Abbeys; Bethlehem Hermitage in Chester, NJ; Service Immersion Trips Overseas; Catholic Worker; First Things; Jewish-Catholic Dialogue; so many retreats, conferences, pilgrimages, men's support groups, bible sharing sessions, (anonymously Catholic) 12-step meetings.  

 Counting schools and parishes, our list goes into the hundreds. Italian in my neighborhood (NY/NJ) might say that our family is "connected."

You might, dear Reader, make your own list. It is a salutary exercise in memory and gratitude. 

Thank God for our Catholic Church in all her marvelous expressions!