On Baltimore
April 28, 2015At home, we have a small TV on the counter next to the fridge. Most of the time I watch it to catch up on the day’s news, Sports Center, or re-runs of Top Gear while I am doing the...
View ArticleOn paying attention
June 1, 2015The following is excerpted and adapted from my graduation address to the Class of 2015 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on May 29, 2015Graduates, Class of...
View ArticleOn Charleston
June 23, 2015It has been almost a week now since the shootings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC.Each of us processes news of such horror in his or her own way. For me, I...
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On the passing of Frances Higgins
July 7, 2015Frances Litton Higgins passed on to eternal life on July 1, just over a year after having retired from 25 years of service as a teacher of English and Latin at Our Lady of Good Counsel High...
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On SIMPLICITY
Speech by President Paul Barker to student body at Opening of School LiturgyAs I drove to school this morning, the news carried the story of yet another police officer shot, this time in Illinois, a...
View ArticleOn taking Mom to see Pope Francis
My son got married two weekends ago. We were all thrilled when my mother made the long trip from New Zealand for the wedding of her only grandson.Mom was excited when she learned that Pope Francis was...
View ArticleOn the Year of Mercy
November 30, 2015Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of what Pope Francis has proclaimed as a special Year of Mercy.As we look around our world, the daily news tells of...
View ArticleOn family at Christmas
December 16, 2015When students sit down to take their English exam on Thursday morning, I will, I hope, be fast asleep, seven miles up in the air above the Pacific Ocean, about six hours out from...
View ArticleOn putting on a global lens
January 7, 2016My alarm comes on to the sounds of the 5:00 a.m. news from National Public Radio on WAMU 88.5. The day-after-day leading stories have me wondering whether I ought to change the...
View ArticleOn resilience
February 9, 2016The blizzard of January 2016 turned out much as the forecasters had predicted.It was an odd sort of blessing to be marooned at home for several days. My own street did not have a way...
View ArticleOn Keeping It Simple
This is my first blog post as President of Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. My hope is to post at least weekly so I can stay in touch with the greater Good Counsel community and those who wish can...
View ArticleOn being better
The following post is an adaptation of remarks I shared with the student body during Large Community on Friday, August 26, 2011.September 2, 2011During our opening meetings, I shared a few thoughts...
View ArticleOn remembering 9-11
September 12, 2011The following posting is an abridged version of remarks to students at a prayer service on September 9, 2011:Ten years ago, the Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001, presented one of...
View ArticleOn golfing
September 20, 2011 I played in my first Steve Dean Golf Tournament last Thursday. It was the 29th tournament and remarkably, the two men who got it all started are still involved. I met Danny Boyle...
View ArticleOn hanging out with the Class of 1962
September 28, 2011The plan for last Friday was for a reception to be followed by a victory over the Gonzaga Eagles in the Homecoming Football game. Not for the first time this year, the weather...
View ArticleOn being an accomplished athlete
October 6, 2011In the course of a career as an English teacher that began in 1980, I assigned F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby many times. It was even part of the curriculum for students in my...
View ArticleOn preparing for Open House
October 13, 2011Open House is this Sunday.It's hard to overstate the importance of Open House to our school. In the course of just three hours we expect around 2,000 prospective students and their...
View ArticleOn attending the Alumni Memorial Mass
October 25, 2011Since the start of the school year, it has become part of my routine to make it to the morning Mass here at school.We are fortunate to have Father Barry Gross—chaplain and faculty...
View ArticleOn the fall drama production
November 7, 2011My wife and I attended the matinee of Ken Ludwig's farce Leading Ladies yesterday. When you are head of a school, there are many occasions when you feel like the proverbial "proud...
View ArticleOn religious liberty in Maryland
November 21, 2011Catholics settled in Southern Maryland 377 years ago seeking a place where they could practice their faith in peace. Fifteen years after the arrival of the Ark and the Dove, Maryland...
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