Effie Caldarola Archives - Page 9 of 10

Effie Caldarola: Evicted: The housing crisis in the U.S.

06/01/2017 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

FOR THE JOURNEY My husband and I are sitting on our front porch on a gentle spring evening, reading. I hold up my book and show Jim Chapter 6: “Rat Hole.” “This pretty much sums up this book,” I say, and silently thank God for my house, my neighborhood, my life. Simultaneously, I grieve for […]

Effie Caldarola: A moral duty to serve refugees

05/18/2017 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

FOR THE JOURNEY Imagine that you are languishing in a foreign jail alone. You don’t know a soul in this strange country. If you return to the homeland from which you have escaped, your life is in immediate danger. Your wife and children have fled to yet another foreign country, and you wonder when or […]

Effie Caldarola: Mystagogy calls all Christians

05/04/2017 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

FOR THE JOURNEY At the conclusion of the Mass I attended on Easter while visiting in New Jersey, the pastor repeated what appeared to be his annual Easter joke. Many people applauded when he asked if they wanted to hear it, and many smiled knowingly, already in on the punchline. So, the Easter Bunny is […]

Effie Caldarola: A volunteer’s experience

04/20/2017 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

ON THE JOURNEY The Jesuit Volunteer Corps was young — and so was I — when I first arrived at a remote Alaskan village to teach school at a Jesuit boarding school for Native Alaskan students as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. There were no cellphones yet, and the internet did not exist. […]

Effie Caldarola: To be in God’s hands

03/23/2017 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

FOR THE JOURNEY Like most Catholics, I planned for Lent. I had my list of suggested “give ups,” “to dos,” goals. I like to be in control. There are aspects of this personality trait that are positive, but essentially wanting control is often a futile endeavor. So on the morning of “Shrove Tuesday” or Mardi […]

Effie Caldarola: Our refugee family

02/23/2017 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

ON THE JOURNEY On a recent Sunday, I delivered fresh produce to the Syrian refugee family my Catholic community sponsored this year. As I parked outside the apartment building, eager little faces were watching for me from the second-floor window, and soon the three oldest children of the family dashed from the door below to […]

Effie Caldarola: Need and gift matched

11/03/2016 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

FOR THE JOURNEY Not too long ago, a 15-year-old refugee from Eritrea was found walking along the side of a road in Hampton, England. Just another statistic, perhaps, representing a microcosm of an enormous problem, a worldwide conundrum encompassing millions and millions of people who have been displaced by war, famine, tyranny. It’s a refugee […]

Effie Caldarola: Are outward signs of faith offensive?

10/20/2016 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

FOR THE JOURNEY I am settling into my cramped seat in a small aircraft when I smell it: the nauseating odor of fried food in close quarters. I turn, ready to glare, when I see that the culprit, a middle-aged man, is bowed in prayer over his meal, hands folded, eyes closed. All is forgiven. […]

Effie Caldarola: Resolutions that extend beyond the new year

01/28/2016 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

FOR THE JOURNEY By now, many people have given up their resolutions. A couple of articles I saw in January confirmed this. In one, a local writer who exercises regularly and writes for a fitness blog reports that she dreads the gym in January. Finding a parking spot is frustrating, and the gym is so […]

Effie Caldarola: The Year of Mercy: an opportunity

01/14/2016 by Hawaii Catholic Herald

FOR THE JOURNEY January can be a drag, a real letdown. The remaining Christmas cookies are stale crumbs and the tree, once so respected, has been ingloriously dragged out of the house to be recycled into mulch. One by one, the Christmas lights in the neighborhood have gone out, as if some festive power grid […]