Besides showing off Pikes Peak, the city of Manitou Springs, Colorado, has some quirky attractions to draw in tourists. One is the Emma Crawford coffin race/festival, which includes a Halloween parade. For the race, about 50 teams–four pallbearers each–push coffins on wheels that carry ghostly Emmas. The real Emma Crawford, a spiritualist, died in 1891 in Manitou…
It was a gift to experience a 44-hour prayer fast recently on Praise Mountain in the Rockies. No, this isn’t a blog entry to make you feel guilty about not fasting. Trust me, I am a lowly white belt in the spiritual discipline. And some of you know that Jesus instructs us to fast in secret….
Thanks to Pope Francis this past week, Junípero Serra (1713-1784) has been canonized as a Patron Saint of Vocations and Callings. Indeed, the Franciscan priest worked hard as a professor in Spain, an administrator in Mexico, and an evangelist in California. He was very dedicated to bringing Catholicism and agriculture to the indigenous California population. Serra…