January 18, 2026

Dear Parishioners,

Someone recently shared with me an article on obituaries based on a study posted in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from Michigan State University, Boston College, and Arizona State University inserted into an AI processor 38 million obituaries published between 1998 and 2024. There were several observations from the data. I won’t note all of them, just one: world events influenced obituaries. For example, after September 11th, comments about the characteristics of tradition and service in the deceased person increased. That is, more obituaries mentioned how a person was a good citizen, served the country and was patriotic, was generous and sacrificial, etc. After the 2008 financial crisis, comments about achievement and enjoyment declined. Obituaries mentioned less how this person was a successful CEO or how that person traveled the world, and so forth. And after COVID, comments about religion increased, while comments about benevolence declined.

This last observation regarding the effects of COVID on obituaries is quite interesting. Let’s take it in two parts, starting with the increase in comments about religion. Just like September 11th made us more patriotic, such that we wanted to highlight this aspect in a person, so too does it appear that COVID actually made us more religious. Yet, this doesn’t appear to be accurate. Churches were shut down and Mass attendance declined drastically. In many parishes Mass attendance still hasn’t returned to pre-COVID levels. This would lead one to think that COVID made us less religious. So, why then would we mention faith in obituaries if we didn’t find it a virtue?

Because that’s precisely what a virtue is–something that is unique and not easy to achieve. We might have declined in religiosity, but that doesn’t mean our appreciation for faithfulness diminished. This is why we recognize it in an obituary. It’s like we’re saying, “This person’s faith was really special and unique…while everyone else was losing their religion, this person was gaining it, and that’s great.”

This is so interesting, and highlights the paradox in human behavior. We all love trends and embrace them. And yet, inherently, we recognize that trends aren’t that special. Anyone can pick up a trend and start following it, whether it’s something instilled from some TikTok video or whatever. But to follow the tradition, especially that of religion? That is harder and more commendable. It’s a head scratcher why we make it so hard on ourselves. We strive to be cool and relevant, always embracing the latest trend, and yet, at the end of the day, we don’t value that we were cool. When someone is dead and buried, we recognize this person’s beauty in how they loved God, not how they saw all the new Netflix shows or spoke Gen Z lingo.

I see this sense of tradition and religion in Jesus when he presents himself to John the Baptist. Christ was obviously starting something new, yet he conformed to the custom of immersion in the Jordan River. If anyone could have “stayed at home”—to use a COVID analogy—it would have been Jesus. But he did not. He was baptized. It was good for him and good for the others. When we go to Mass and practice our faith, as outdated and unsophisticated and boring as it might be, it is good for us and for others and for society.

On to the second part about the decline in comments about benevolence: that we don’t find kindness in another person a virtue or characteristic worth highlighting. Why? Because we had to exist for months by ourselves and were not allowed to interact with each other. We thus became even more isolated and self-reliant. We couldn’t be with each other, so we learned to live without each other. We learned to meet our own needs. We then developed a belief that we didn’t need each other. We didn’t need each other’s kindness. In fact, others’ kindness was seen as an infraction. Six-feet social distancing! You might kill me! We are conditioned now to quarantine, hence, we’re not struck by someone’s benevolence such that we would mention it in an obituary.

Obviously this is detrimental. But let me make another point. The phenomenon of not lauding kindness, as a result from COVID, shows the power of behavior. Action influences thought. Or, as Aquinas would have put it, the will forms the intellect. Usually we think it’s the opposite. I understand something and believe it, therefore I do it. But, actually, it’s more like I do something and now I ascribe to it. We stopped interacting with each other during COVID and so we came to believe that benevolence is not that important. When we are kind to each other and when we pick ourselves up and go to Mass on Sunday, then we will start believing it. It shows the power of good habits.

“Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will,” says this weekend’s psalm. It’s not, “I will do your will, Lord, once I really understand why I should and what the point of it is.” John is able to say all these things about Jesus–he is the Lamb of God, he ranks ahead of me–after he baptized Jesus. He didn’t baptize Jesus only once he was confirmed of all those things. John baptized with a clouded mind. The belief followed the action. Sometimes we just need to do what we know is right even though we don’t understand why.

At any rate, how would you write your loved one’s obituary? How would you write your own? May we have the grace to live according to what we truly value. And, pray God, may we be religious and kind.

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Our second graders this week will be making their First Reconciliation. Congratulations to the children and families, and a special thank you to the teachers and catechists who have prepared the students.

Many of you have asked over the months how Mother of Mercy Parish in Mobile, Alabama is doing. They were our Lenten Almsgiving project last year and we raised a record amount of money for them, which helped the parishes significantly. If you recall, these are six very poor, mostly African-American parishes in Alabama, along with one Native American parish. We have decided to make Mother of Mercy Parish our regular sharing parish. Over the years our sharing parish was St. Benedict the African in Chicago, but we have found the needs are far greater in Alabama, and our connection a little more personal, hence the change. In fact, Fr. Victor Ingalls, the pastor of Mother of Mercy, will be out here again in early February to speak of the progress they have made thanks to our support. More information will be coming in the upcoming weeks. Thank you for your generosity to the poor.

Due to the MLK Day Holiday this Monday, there will be no 6:25am Mass or 8am Confessions. We will still have the 8:30am Mass. Enjoy the day off from school and work.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James Wallace