Listen to this inspiring talk by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen about the importance of adoration.
It happened on September 5, 1985. That was the day that a jury in one of my criminal cases deliberated for only 20 minutes, before finding my client not guilty. I’ve been a lawyer for more than 35 years. The 20-minute jury verdict is still an all-time record for me.
I’ve written before about how I grew up in a family neighborhood that included seven families. My grandparents, Tom and Effie Williams, lived next door to my parents. The other families in the neighborhood were made up of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.
I first heard the term “cocooning” in 1981, during my first year of law school. The term came from Faith Popcorn, a marketing consultant in New York. Popcorn later described “cocooning” in her book, The Popcorn Report, which was originally published in 1991:
In the marketing world, the phrase “passion brand” refers to a product that has a passionate following among its customers. In addition to being loyal to the product, the customers also personally identify with it. If necessary, they will expend the time and energy to defend the product when someone criticizes it. The ownership of the product becomes a statement in and of itself — a statement that the customer has achieved a special status because of their affiliation with the product.
On Monday, August 20, 2018, a Catholic priest was physically attacked while he was praying in the sacristy of St Michaels Byzantine Catholic Church in Merrillville, Indiana. According to the Merrillville police chief, Joseph Petruch, the attacker grabbed Fr. Basil John Hutsko by the neck and “threw him down on the floor and immediately started slamming his head against the floor, both sides, front and back.”
I want to discuss an emotion that we’re all aware of but try not to think about. It’s an emotion that is present within us from the day we’re born until the day we die. It hinders our ability to do what we know should be done.
During the 1990s, I had a devout Catholic friend who decided that he was going to pray every day that he would go straight to Heaven when he died. He didn’t want his soul to have to endure any suffering in purgatory. He decided that he was going to bypass purgatory and go straight to heaven.
You may have heard of Ben Shapiro. He’s an American conservative political commentator, lawyer, and author. Shapiro has a podcast that I sometimes listen to. A podcast is a digital audio recording that can be listened to after it has been downloaded from the internet onto a computer, iPad, iPhone, or other digital device.
In 1985, I interviewed my grandmother, Cecilia LaHood, for an article I wanted to write about her life. Her children were planning a big 75th birthday party for her — she was born in 1910 — and I wanted to share her life story with everyone who attended the party.
In January of this year, I celebrated the 35th anniversary of opening my law practice. I started my law practice in 1983, when I was 25 years old. I was able to find an office and generate business by following the advice that was given in the book, How To Open Up Your Own Law Practice Without Missing A Meal.