By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DUBUQUE & CUMBERLAND, Iowa, April 16, 2022 — Nobody told me, when I was starting to teach college kids, that a couple of them might actually turn out to be pastors of churches. Oh, I would occasionally hear more seasoned faculty talk about how satisfying and fulfilling it can be in later years…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER PEOSTA, Iowa, April 10, 2022 – Father Jim O’Connor, the best thinker and writer I’ve ever known, and for nearly 40 years my chief spiritual advisor, died in the wee hours Friday, April 8, at the age of 98. And I feel orphaned. Oh, I’m happy that Father Jim is happy, and…
PEOSTA, Iowa, April 10, 2022 – Following is the text of the sermon/eulogy that Rev. Brendan Freeman, acting abbot of New Melleray Abbey here in northeast Iowa, delivered on Saturday, April 9, at the funeral of Rev. Jim O’Connor, a monk who died very early Friday morning at the age of 98. Father Jim O’Connor…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER CENTERVILLE, Tenn., March 14, 2022 — I’m back in Centerville tonight, staying with my great friends Doug & Molly Bates, on my way home to Iowa after spending the weekend in Atlanta, Ga. Late this afternoon, Doug and I drove out to one of our favorite haunts in his Hickman County, the…
JEFFERSON, Iowa, April 19, 2022 — The Greene County Development Corporation – the economic development agency working for the whole county – will be hosting town hall meetings over the next couple of weeks to introduce its diversity project. The sessions, being held all around the county, are free and the public is encouraged to…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER HANNIBAL, Mo., March 16, 2022 —Old guys with too many stories can be such a pain when they wind up in the front of the line in a busy convenience store, you know? So, here at Casey’s in Hannibal MO this morning, young Vanessa, looked up and said, “Do you need a…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER SHENANDOAH, Iowa, March 23, 2022 — In the 150 years of public education in this southwest Iowa community, our beloved alma mater Shenandoah High School has graduated a whole lot of very high achievers. There’ve been great farmers, very successful business professionals, physicians, engineers, professors & teachers, clergy, All-American athletes, opera singers,…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER CARTERSVILLE, Ga., March 14, 2022 — Oh what a brunch today in this town northwest of Atlanta! I think it was my first Waffle House stop in about a decade. (We don’t have many, if any, back home in Iowa, do we?) I chanced to be served by supreme saleswoman Betty Reagan,…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Nov. 21, 2021 — The big electronic sign at the entrance to the Greene County Fairgrounds last weekend flashed a happy message in Spanish: “Felicidades, Sr. y Sra. Rodriguez!” It was a salute to the wedding of Jacqui Casas and Edgar Rodriguez and their reception for 250 mostly Latino friends and…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Dec. 30, 2021 – In five days around Christmas, I sat down and talked at length with eight members of the tiny Latino community here in Greene County, and those interviews produced one of the best gifts I’ve had in a long time. That gift is hope. It’s what brought them…
