Brad Bursa

  • Tattoo the Soul

    I’m one of those rare millennials without a tattoo. Okay, maybe not. A quick Google search tells me that 41-47% of my generation is tatted. I’m in the majority. Still, tattoos ride on the bodies of something like 32% of Gen X and only 13% of Baby Boomers. So, there’s a huge uptick in ink…

    Brad Bursa

  • To the Desert

    Why I left Substack Much of the little we know about the life of St. Benedict comes from The Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great. St. Benedict’s story begins with his departure from a decadent and decaying Rome and his pursuit of the Lord in the solitude of Subiaco. Pope Benedict XVI describes this time in…

    Brad Bursa

  • Seven Keys for Sustainable (Youth) Ministry

    I have been asked to present about “sustainable” youth ministry to youth ministers in my archdiocese. I will present the following (or something like it). What is the goal of parish youth ministry? To make disciples (of every teen in the parish). It’s not “having pizza with teens,” “trying to make faith fun,” “giving kids…

    Brad Bursa

  • Crossing the Bar

    Remembering my grandparents My high school literature teacher was obsessed with Tennyson, and for good reason. I remember explicating “Crossing the Bar,” and thinking about death, though it was too distant from my 14-year-old brain to get far. Years later, death became real to me as I held my grandfather’s hand while he breathed his…

    Brad Bursa

  • The Saint as a Window

    On the Solemnity of All Saints The following is an excerpt from my book Surviving Catholic Ministry, pgs. 10-11. I often reflect on Joseph Ratzinger’s teaching about sainthood. By “sainthood,” Ratzinger means something like St. Paul’s reference to the Christians of the early church. For Paul, the word did not denote only those canonized, or…

    Brad Bursa