Home

RSS Syndication

Subscribe to my RSS Feed!
feed image

Sponsors

About Me
 

 

Columnist, educator, and consultant, Richard Griffin has wide experience as a writer and speaker. His articles have appeared in many publications - - New York Times, America, Commonweal - - to cite only a few. He has given talks on retirement and other aging issues in Vancouver, Des Moines, San Francisco, Florida, Oregon, as well as many places in Massachusetts.

As a member of the Jesuit order and a Roman Catholic priest for many years, Richard Griffin served as Catholic chaplain at Harvard University from 1968 to 1975, a period of unprecedented ferment in both church and university.

Read more...

 
Unmistaken Identity PDF Print E-mail
Written by Richard Griffin   
Monday, May 04 2009 16:35

On the elevator at Symphony Hall:

 Jack: "I thought that was you."

 Me: "I thought that was you."

Fellow passenger: "You were both right."

LAST_UPDATED2
 
Latest News and Announcements
 

My website is now active and online!

Feel free to peruse my archive of past columns at your own leisure. They are organized by category and go back as far as the end of 1998.

For my most recent thoughts and writings, take a look at my blog.

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send me a message.

 
Selections from Recent Articles
Fighting the Passive Noun
Wednesday, September 01 2010
  “Search for Escapee Continues.” This newspaper headline led into the story of a convict from Arizona who had fled prison and, as of this writing, has not yet been found. Driving with a woman... Read more...
Digital Gadgetry
Monday, August 16 2010
William Powers, author of the new book Hamlet’s Blackberry, is a journalist who lives and works on Cape Cod. He and his wife, both writers, are used to working at home. Powers values his computer... Read more...
Vulnerability
Monday, August 09 2010
  For decades, this woman had personified New York style and philanthropy. Her late husband’s name belonged to the city’s earliest history. At 105 years of age, she might have been expected to... Read more...
Twenty-First Century Challenge
Thursday, July 22 2010
“Unfortunately, the most effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease today is counseling the caregiver.” This sober conclusion comes from Mary Mittleman, a leading researcher at NYU’s... Read more...
Living Long
Thursday, July 15 2010
If you ask for preferences, most people will tell you they want to live as long as possible. Many, however, will add a proviso: only if they do not have to suffer Alzheimer’s or some other... Read more...
Godwits and Wonder
Saturday, June 19 2010
“My heart in hiding stirred for a bird.” These words come from Gerard Manley Hopkins, the celebrated Jesuit poet of the 19th century. He was so far ahead of his poetic time, however, that he... Read more...
Movie Remedy
Monday, May 24 2010
Forget for a moment, if you can, Big Papi’s fall from batting grace; the balancing act facing David Cameron, the new British prime minister; the pope’s problems with sin and scandal; or the... Read more...
Pope's Troubles
Friday, May 14 2010
“It doesn’t make much sense to base your faith on the quality of the management.” That’s the view of a Catholic woman close to me in response to the current crisis in Rome and elsewhere. By... Read more...
Virtues and Vices in Later Life
Friday, May 07 2010
Are there virtues and vices characteristic of later life?   Even to ask the question can seem terribly old fashioned. It smacks of the 19th century rather than our 21st. But moral theologian... Read more...
Health Care Breakthroughs
Wednesday, April 21 2010
  This March, the American Society on Aging and the National Council on Aging held their annual conference., Jim Firman, the CEO of the National Council, asked an audience of some 2,000... Read more...
New Year Signs of Hope
Monday, December 22 2008
As we enter upon either the last year of the 20th century or the next-to-last (depending on how you count), a new spirit is struggling to break forth among the world’s people. Billions of us are... Read more...
Visiting a Mosque
Wednesday, April 23 2008
On the occasion of my first visit ever to a Mosque, two dominant impressions swept over me. First, the strength of the religious piety which I observed during the community prayer and in the talks... Read more...
Dreams and Spirit
Sunday, December 09 2007
I was driving across a bridge over Narragansett Bay. The road led high up and gave me a view out over the water. Suddenly, however, and without warning, the roadway came to an end and I was... Read more...
Gay Wedding
Friday, October 12 2007
Last Monday I attended the wedding of two gay friends. One of these men I have known for several years, the other only slightly. For both of them I feel affection and wish them happiness in their... Read more...
My Favorite Guru
Monday, October 01 2007
“We are the beloved sons and daughters of God.” That was the constant message of my favorite guru, Henri Nouwen.He believed in God’s love for every person and spent his life communicating this... Read more...
Allyn Bradford’s Transformation
Friday, August 03 2007
Allyn Bradford, while meditating during a 12-day "vision quest" for deeper spiritual insight, proceeded to talk to a tree. "The tree was quite surprised," he reports, "that I was saying anything to... Read more...
Christmas Birth
Monday, December 04 2006
“It’s Christmas time,” writes an old friend in Kalamazoo. “I think of it as a spark of light at the darkest and coldest time of year, at least here where I live. I think of it as a very... Read more...
After Morning Prayers
Thursday, November 30 2006
After taking part in morning prayers with a group of friends last Saturday, I talked with one of them over coffee and cake. Though I do not know this man -  - a retired banker and current... Read more...
Awe
Thursday, November 30 2006
If you are the parent of a college student the way I am, you have become familiar with a special vocabulary used by your daughters or sons and their friends. Even when you overhear only one end of... Read more...
Christmas, Circa 1935
Thursday, November 30 2006
The 1935 Christmas that we see in old magazines and films can seem merely a Norman Rockwell never-never-land, an idealistic presentation of a world that was, in fact, far from ideal. But even in... Read more...