Fr Tom Gardner

Let me tell you a story about Bob and Tony. They were brothers who decided to order a kit car and build it together. They both were car enthusiasts and thought it would be a great way to bond with each other. So they put in the order and waited. Initially, the company they ordered […]

Over the last several weeks of school I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to our 6th and 7th graders. If you haven’t read that book, you are missing out, big time. Pick up a copy today and read it!  C.S. Lewis is one of the finest Christian fiction writers of the 20th

When I was a Boy Scout, I came to understand firemaking pretty well. In fact, for a brief time at Camp Falling Rock one summer, I worked at the station where the campers were challenged to build a fire with just a single match or even just a flint and steel. Fire is something that

One of my favorite movie musicals is “The Sound of Music.” It is the perfect combination of a great story, great characters and great music. Ever since I first saw it as a kid, I couldn’t help but get wrapped up in the story of the Von Trapp children as they came to know and

When I was a child, my friends and I always loved the playground at Montrose Elementary, where we all went to school. We would climb trees, swing on the swings, play tag, do the monkey bars, slide down the slides. It was a great place to have fun. But one day that place didn’t seem

Over the years, many people have asked me who my dog, Benny, is named after. Some may think I named him after Pope Benedict XVI, but I didn’t. As much as I love Papa Benny, my Benny is named after someone else. He isn’t named after the song by Elton John, as catchy as it

I will never forget the bizarre experience of living through the Spring of 2020, as I’m sure you won’t either. When news of drastic responses to the pandemic started coming in the waning days of February 2020, I was on vacation in San Diego. During the later part of that trip, I got word that

At the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies, there is a moment that always moves me. It is at the coronation of Aragorn as king of the humans. Huge crowds surround King Aragorn, and right beside him are his hobbit friends with whom he fought side by side. When the hobbits,

It is such a blessing to be with you all tonight. Truly, this is a night to celebrate God’s abundant love. As we heard in that beautiful reading from St. John’s Gospel, Jesus “loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.” Tonight I am happy to gather with you as

One of my favorite Saints is St. Teresa of Calcutta, known more commonly as Mother Teresa. I love her because she was a woman unafraid to proclaim challenging truths. In the midst of her acceptance speech for the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa had this to say:  And I feel one thing I want