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Columnist, educator, and consultant, Richard Griffin has wide experience as a writer and speaker. His articles have appeared in many publications - - New York Times, America, Commonweal - - to cite only a few. He has given talks on retirement and other aging issues in Vancouver, Des Moines, San Francisco, Florida, Oregon, as well as many places in Massachusetts.
As a member of the Jesuit order and a Roman Catholic priest for many years, Richard Griffin served as Catholic chaplain at Harvard University from 1968 to 1975, a period of unprecedented ferment in both church and university. Read more... |
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Selections from Recent Articles |
MANTRA Monday, January 02 2012 To help give meaning to my later life I have created a mantra. This three-word phrase expresses spiritually a response to the events that mark my days. My brief formula for dealing with those... Read more...
GREAT FILM Monday, December 05 2011 One of the special pleasures of later life comes with encountering again the works of art you loved long ago. It is both agreeable and poignant to meet your earlier self through books, songs, and... Read more...
LAST WORDS Tuesday, November 29 2011 OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW. These were the last words spoken by Steve Jobs as he lay on his deathbed. We have this information thanks to his sister, Mona Simpson. She shared it in a memorial service... Read more...
Star Surgeon Hires Coach Wednesday, November 16 2011 What if a surgeon engaged a personal coach to watch him (or her) at work and afterward made suggestions for improvement? That’s what Atul Gawande has done. In case his name does not reverberate... Read more...
Bishops Speak Out Saturday, November 05 2011 Like many other Catholics of my acquaintance, I frequently feel distress at the bishops of our church. As a group and as individuals, they too often take positions that violate my sense of what they... Read more...
You Can Go Home Again Wednesday, October 12 2011 “You can’t go home again.” This saying rates as one of the best-known American proverbs. It served as the title of a novel written by Thomas Wolfe and published in 1940, two years after his... Read more...
Unexpected Pleasures of Growing Older Thursday, September 15 2011 In her new book “Life Gets Better,” Wendy Lustbader, middle-aged, tells of being on a tour bus full of people between eighteen and twenty-four. Stepping up to the driver’s invitation to use... Read more...
Body & Mind Friday, August 19 2011 What is the best way to protect your mind? As you age, how can you best ensure that your mental capacities are in good working order? These issues rarely get raised by doctors during annual... Read more...
NO NEW TAXES? Saturday, July 30 2011 There is one candidate for public office whom I will never vote for. That’s not because the candidate belongs to a party that I do not support. Nor is it a matter of gender or religion or... Read more...
Extreme Century Wednesday, July 20 2011 If anyone deserves to be a pessimist, Robert Jay Lifton would seem ideally equipped. After all, this psychiatrist-scholar, now in his middle 80s, has spent much of his career studying groups of... Read more...
New Year Signs of Hope Monday, December 22 2008 As we enter upon either the last year of the 20th century or the next-to-last (depending on how you count), a new spirit is struggling to break forth among the world’s people. Billions of us are... Read more...
Visiting a Mosque Wednesday, April 23 2008 On the occasion of my first visit ever to a Mosque, two dominant impressions swept over me. First, the strength of the religious piety which I observed during the community prayer and in the talks... Read more...
Dreams and Spirit Sunday, December 09 2007 I was driving across a bridge over Narragansett Bay. The road led high up and gave me a view out over the water. Suddenly, however, and without warning, the roadway came to an end and I was... Read more...
Gay Wedding Friday, October 12 2007 Last Monday I attended the wedding of two gay friends. One of these men I have known for several years, the other only slightly. For both of them I feel affection and wish them happiness in their... Read more...
My Favorite Guru Monday, October 01 2007 “We are the beloved sons and daughters of God.” That was the constant message of my favorite guru, Henri Nouwen.He believed in God’s love for every person and spent his life communicating this... Read more...
Allyn Bradford’s Transformation Friday, August 03 2007 Allyn Bradford, while meditating during a 12-day "vision quest" for deeper spiritual insight, proceeded to talk to a tree. "The tree was quite surprised," he reports, "that I was saying anything to... Read more...
Christmas Birth Monday, December 04 2006 “It’s Christmas time,” writes an old friend in Kalamazoo. “I think of it as a spark of light at the darkest and coldest time of year, at least here where I live. I think of it as a very... Read more...
After Morning Prayers Thursday, November 30 2006 After taking part in morning prayers with a group of friends last Saturday, I talked with one of them over coffee and cake. Though I do not know this man - - a retired banker and current... Read more...
Awe Thursday, November 30 2006 If you are the parent of a college student the way I am, you have become familiar with a special vocabulary used by your daughters or sons and their friends. Even when you overhear only one end of... Read more...
Christmas, Circa 1935 Thursday, November 30 2006 The 1935 Christmas that we see in old magazines and films can seem merely a Norman Rockwell never-never-land, an idealistic presentation of a world that was, in fact, far from ideal. But even in... Read more...
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Written by Richard Griffin
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Monday, May 04 2009 16:35 |
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On the elevator at Symphony Hall: Jack: "I thought that was you." Me: "I thought that was you." Fellow passenger: "You were both right."
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My website is now active and online! Feel free to peruse my archive of past columns at your own leisure. They are organized by category and go back as far as the end of 1998. For my most recent thoughts and writings, take a look at my blog. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send me a message. |
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