When a reviewer recently suggested starring a book of columns from a chaplain at Notre Dame, I began flipping through to see if the writing merited the distinction and immediately became captivated. Compiled from columns published in Notre Dame Magazine between 1972 and 1994, Griffin's short essays show a range of talents and interests as he swings across topics and characters. Many of the early essays concerning evolving Catholic attitudes toward marriage and sex feel very immediate still 40 years later and unveil the heartfelt workings of a modern mind trying to make room for beloved traditions in a secularizing world. Reading the columns back-to-back in book form brings to the forefront Griffin's obsessive concern for community and cultivating healthy relationships. Written for the Notre Dame community, the book entrances you into thinking you too are somehow part of that community. He offers advice to students, commentary on the Second Vatican Council, his impressions of football coach Gerry Faust, and then personal stories collected over the years of service. He spent summers ministering to the downtrodden of Times Square (pre-Giuliani) and his character portraits alone are worth the read.