Written reflections on various topics
This past weekend’s funeral Mass for Sen. Edward Kennedy has been the cause of scandal for many people, but not necessarily for the right reasons. Many question whether or not Sen. Kennedy should have been given the …
This weekend I spoke in my homily about the famous Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano that occurred in 750 in Italy. Many people have asked for more information. You can certainly …
I first started a blog in 2005 and have been a faithful user of the Xanga platform since then. Over the years I’ve noticed that Xanga seems to have fallen …
As many of you are aware, this past week has marked the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I confess that I do tend to fit the category …
One of the most famous lines from the Declaration of Independence includes the following familiar words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they …
Yesterday my parents came to visit me at the parish. We decided to devote the day to Kansas history by going to the Kansas Museum of History here in Topeka. …
It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog and many people have been asking what I’m up to. Well, being a priest has been keeping me busy…but I love …
I have finally moved into my new home at Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Topeka, KS. I have been assigned here as the Associate Pastor (Parochial Vicar in …
Do this in memory of me.Luke 22:19 With praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas joyfully announces the ordination of Deacon Shawn …
Obviously I haven’t been updating my blog much recently, and that’s for a fairly good reason. I’ve been very busy trying to prepare to be a good and holy priest. …
With this weekend’s celebration of the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Christmas season comes to its official liturgical end. I’ve been doing my best to live in …
Over Thanksgiving break I had much to be thankful for. Most important of all was the fact that on November 17th Archbishop Joseph Naumann ordained me a transitional deacon. It …
Yesterday was a day of great excitement here at the seminary as 17 of my classmates were ordained deacons. Most of these are from the Archdiocese of Chicago. The count …
The questions and answers posed to a deacon candidate during the rite of ordination to the diaconate in the Catholic Church.
I have been meaning to write some posts on the topic of my upcoming ordination as a deacon. I thought maybe I could explain a little bit about what a …
In the over 20 years that I have been playing trumpet, I have on many occasions had the opportunity to perform selections from some of the more famous operas. I …
If you’ve been following my blog for very long, you probably noticed that I recently redesigned it. I was debating switching to another blogging service, but decided I would see what …
Beginning with the Scripture, Philip proclaimed Jesus to him.Acts 8:26-40 With praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God,the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansasjoyfully announces the ordination of Shawn Philip Tunink …
We had the great forture of having no classes this past Friday and that meant it was time to finally get away on that weekend backpacking trip I had been …
So, it’s been a while since I updated my blog…4 months actually. Well, I got kind of busy and updating my blog really had to take a back seat for …
Things have been so busy lately that I realize my blog has suffered. I have to admit that the blog is pretty low on the priority list, but I have …
This quarter I am in a class called “A Narrative Approach to Preaching”. For our final project, the teacher asked us to read the resurrection stories in the Gospels and then write …
People are often curious about the program of studies that we go through here at the seminary on our way to becoming priests. I often get asked, “What degree will …
I’ve received a number of inquiries lately asking my opinion about the recent documentary on the Discovery Channel in which director James Cameron claims that there is probable cause to …
I’m back. I apologize for the long absence from my blog, but I’ve kind of been enjoying just relaxing and doing nothing for the past few weeks. I guess I …
Well, today was the day that I guess had to come…our last day in the Holy Land. After attending Mass here at Notre Dame I went into the Old City …
View from Dominus Flevit Today we had a day of reflection to review our entire pilgrimage. We are leaving after tomorrow, so we wanted to take a day just to …
Last night we got a tip from our travel agent that we should probably stay out of the Old City today. The tensions that I mentioned earlier over the new …
After having class all morning we had the afternoon free and I finally got to make the hike through Hezekiah’s tunnel in the City of David. As I mentioned earlier, …
We are starting to wind things down here and prepare to leave. We’ve got three final days of class, with finals and papers coming due. We had class all morning …
Today was an incredibly full day. We began by getting up before daybreak so as to walk the Via Dolorosa or Stations of the Cross before the streets got busy. …
Super Bowl Monday This will probably be the only Super Bowl Monday that I will ever experience. We spent most of Sunday evening trying to sleep a little bit because …