Articles, Columnists, In Person

January 1st, 2017

Ask me about my granddoggie

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

Some of the nicest people I know have dogs. Either their number is increasing or they are poised in an ever-tightening circle around me until I shall soon hear nothing but...

December 1st, 2016

A walk through time and history

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to slow down, especially when we travel. And so my wife and I started the morning with breakfast in a park near our London hotel, relaxing...

November 1st, 2016

Traveling with the eyes of faith

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

I thought I knew all the benefits of travel but a recent trip to England introduced me to one I had yet to consider, travel as an act of faith. In its theological meaning,...

October 1st, 2016

Irrepressible soul

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

In a book group discussing the spirituality of caring for people with dementia, it doesn’t take long before we begin to discuss how dementia affects the personhood of the...

August 19th, 2016

The surprising life of Sister Mary

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

At the risk of appearing to be living a cliché of the retired life, I must say that I have been spending more time these days reading obituaries. It could be because I have...

July 1st, 2016

One Perfect Life

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

“There is not a short life or a long life. There is only the life that you have and the life you have is the life you are given, the life you work with. It has its own shape,...

June 1st, 2016

The next best thing to being there

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

Today there are more ways than ever to stay in touch with family and friends and, as I am discovering, each has its own preferred modes of expression, rules of etiquette,...

May 1st, 2016

Pruning our lives

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

It is a warm Friday morning in April and my wife is out to an estate sale. If she sees anything interesting, she will buy it or, if it is something big or expensive, she will...

April 1st, 2016

Stuck

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

He said he didn’t care what happened to him so he didn’t seem to be bothered that he was still in the custody of the court and confined to the hospital. His indifference...

March 1st, 2016

Marking the passage of time

By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.

I have always been conscious of the passage of time and my place in its flow. As a small boy traveling by bus and subway from my suburban New Jersey home to visit my cousins in...