Increasingly, in social settings like dinner parties, the person I am talking to will take a serious tone and say something along the lines of: “This homelessness seems to be getting out of hand.”  Then, with a manner that is genuine in both concern and resignation, they will ask: “What can possibly be done about it?”

I have found over the years that my answer to that question takes far too long. After a while, there is a glance at a watch or scan the room for other conversations. The reasons for homelessness, and the poverty that causes it, make for bad dinner- party conversation.  

COLORADO SPRINGS. The Catholic Center at The Citadel will celebrate Saturday Mass at 12:10 p.m. effective Nov. 5 in order to allow for more confessions before Mass. The Saturday Mass is not a vigil Mass and does not fulfill the Sunday obligation. For more information, visit catholiccitadel.org.

NEW YORK. While the mostly agreeable comedy “Ticket to Paradise” (PG-13, Universal) won’t necessarily transport viewers to cinematic heaven, it will take them to a good place, both visually and thematically. Set in Indonesia (though filmed in Australia), the film showcases enchanting island landscapes as well as ethical ideas generally in keeping with Gospel-based morality.

As parents, your life can feel like a staged performance — days and nights spent in front of the same sets over weeks and months:  Act 1:  home. Act 2: office. Act 3: school event. Act 4: sports.  Act 5: Church. Like a play, you perform alongside mostly the same characters:  spouse, children, co-worker, teacher, pastor. It is a wonderful performance, and it is true that it goes by too fast, but like every good play, it is good to have a break in the midst of the action.  Over the past six years, as our three children have grown up, Legatus has been the welcome intermission. 

COLORADO SPRINGS. On a cool autumn night last month, current and alumni Pirates of St. Mary’s High School celebrated 137 years of tradition with a week of homecoming events, culminating in the school’s first homecoming football game in three years. Warriors dressed in Pirate green are once again moving the pigskin up and down the gridiron.