Twenty Something It was a Monday afternoon in November when Debbie Champeau got the call. The 17-year-old, a senior at Pius XI Catholic High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, left school immediately, taking two buses to get home. There, she found her mother and grandmother parked by the telephone, distraught. They feared the worst: that Debbie’s […]
Christina Capecchi: Hardship helps us build resilience and compassion
Twenty Something There’s something about pumpkins. Lumpy and bumpy, impossibly orange, harbinger of harvest. Instant cheer on a front porch with a hint of moonlit mystery. An invitation to trick-or-treat treaters that later nods to the pilgrims — centerpiece for a table of plenty, symbol of gathering and gratitude. When we moved to the country earlier […]
Christina Capecchi: Life, anchored in music and faith
Twenty Something It began as a low hum on the horizon, barely perceptible. Then a pulsing rhythm rose from the river — the brass and beat of a live band drifting through the humid summer air. The Capitol was coming. The steamboat curved along the Mississippi like a grand dame entering a ballroom — confident, […]
Christina Capecchi: Evangelizing with beauty
Twenty Something When the chaos rises — the living room buzzing with four kids, piano pounding, guitar strumming, high-speed chases underway — Katie Murray’s eyes land on the “Annunciation” print framed above the couch. It is a pivotal scene in salvation history, summed up in Mary’s upturned wrist and bowed head. “Every time I look […]