by Nick Patricca | Apr 5, 2017
The first time I was told I did not ‘fit’ was in third grade. Before nodding off and drooling on her desk, Sr. D. bitterly complained, as she stared me in the eye, about having to teach us Italians and Blacks—unfit to be in her class, fit only for...
by Nick Patricca | Mar 1, 2017
Although I am well-trained in the art and science of hermeneutics ( divining the meaning of texts or the utterances of gods ) and have successfully tackled many obscure but interesting clumps of words, I am stymied by Bannon-speak: “Darkness is good. Dick...
by Nick Patricca | Feb 1, 2017
When I was a youngster, I wanted to be a writer for a newspaper, or a U.S. Senator. I avidly read the papers I delivered to my clients and passionately participated in the politics of the times, reporting on Adlai Stevenson for president rallies for the Kingsley House...
by Nick Patricca | Jan 4, 2017
A funny thing happened to me as I was preparing to write this op-ed. I went looking for this thing called ‘the electoral college’ which everyone wants to abolish or defend or reform but I could not find it. The U.S. Constitution speaks of...
by Nick Patricca | Dec 7, 2016
In the early 1960s, when I was in pastoral training in Oil City and in Elwood City, Pennsylvania, I met a woman who changed my world. My task was to conduct in-depth interviews with families in the area to determine their religious affiliations and their spiritual...
