If the Catholic Church is neither a conservative club, nor some liberal bastion, what is it then? If it is not a harbor altogether separated from woke gender ideology, nor a traditionalist war room, what is it? I think most Catholics would say it has to be one or the other.

So how can I love God with my whole heart while also forgiving someone who has offended His creation? How can I offer friendship to an enemy while still remaining a friend to God? Do you see how that would be a problem?

That’s what she said to me. I was a seminarian at the time, studying for the priesthood on pilgrimage to Israel with my classmates. We were visiting the campus of Bethlehem University, run by the De La Salle Christian Brothers.

If you are of the older generation, you might think of the beatniks. They were unconventional. That's what Nirvana was for the 90's. Think of Led Zeppelin or the Doors in the 70's, or the punk rock Ramones of the 80's. In the 90's, we had grunge, which was just as non-conformist.

It is the Rosary that ensures that we remain close to Jesus. When we pray the Rosary, the Blessed Mother gives us her heart with which to love her Son, her eyes with which to look at Him, and her hands with which to hold Him and to serve Him.

The thief on the cross begs for heaven in the evening of life and still gets in. Dismas is his name. He’s Saint Dismas, actually. Saint?! What gives? This criminal cries out to Christ in the final hour of his miserable, displeasing life, and is consoled by the words, “This day, you will be with me in paradise.” But what about all of those people who tried to love God all their life long?

I will always remember the words my sister spoke of me at my Ordination reception. She said to the gathering of my closest friends and family, "My brother has always been surrounded by a lot of friends. He would bring them over to the house while we were growing up together. Knowing that God called him to be a priest now makes sense to me, because I can see that he will continue to be surrounded by a lot of people." She was right.

This past Thursday we read from the Gospel of Saint Luke, 5:1-11. It’s one of my favorite passages, and it happens to be the one that inspired me to use the title petersboat for this column and other things, like the website petersboat.net. Here’s the passage…