Depression, anxiety, frustration: This was my reality as an undocumented young woman living in the United States. For many years the love and support of my family was the only thing that sustained me. In 2012, my life changed with the implementation of the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). A weight was lifted […]

A newspaper editor recently wrote of the difficulty in finding a columnist expressing the constitutional viewpoint. I was impressed that he was making his way through the Federalist Papers and considered it a good read.  Probably not one in twenty today can identify what it is or how it came about.   Today the Federalist Papers […]

Last Friday at midnight, the bank ran dry for the United States government. It was not because of economic trends or foreign manipulation, but because of the current dysfunction characterizing Washington D.C. By any objective analysis of the facts, it is clear that Congressional Democrats are the cause of the mess this time around. Congressional […]

It was strange, Doc thought. All these years. All these people. It still hurts. Old Tom had died around midnight, and Doc didn’t get more than an hour’s sleep since then. Just before he went, Tom reached out and gripped Doc’s hand and thanked him for everything. He was smiling when he went. Somehow that […]

Most people know the 2018 Winter Olympics will soon begin. Few will know the difference between the two men’s 1500-meter speed skating gold medals. Who cares? What’s important is what country wins medals and who wins the most. That’s one number many people will know. They care about the medal count. If the U.S. does […]

Last month I chose to write my column about Medicaid expansion, the costs associated with it and some of the tough decisions that will have to be made to fund it. There has been some movement over the last few weeks on this issue, and I would like to take this opportunity to bring my […]

Local commercials are the best. Specifically, I’m thinking of car and furniture store ads, two twin pillars of sublime goofiness. What makes them great is that they’re unabashedly amateur. You know how some people see a weird-looking pet, like a bulldog, and say, “He’s so ugly, he’s cute?” Well these commercials are so awful, so […]

To stimulate the U.S. economy to “levels you haven’t seen in many years President Trump will cut federal income taxes, for most folks in general, but predominately for really affluent families and mega-corporations. His proposal is so skewed to the wealthy that over the next 10 years, more than half of his multi-trillion dollar tax […]

Last Saturday I dropped off my two oldest sons and their friend at the theatre. I planned to kill a couple of hours at the bookstore, on my laptop, at a coffee shop, whatever. When I got out of the car the balmy two-degree temperature in Pittsburgh prompted second thoughts. Instead, I strolled into the […]

Editor, The Good Shepherd Parish would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the following businesses who helped to make our Christmas Fair a huge success. To all who so give generously that we may carry our many ministries, we say thank you.  We would especially like to thank the following businesses for their […]