Mark Piper, a Packers fan in an unholy land, works in the nonprofit sector. He resides in Chicago with his family and holds a master's in public policy from DePaul University and a bachelor's from St. Xavier University; he is an alumus of Amate House, an AmeriCorps-approved year of service organization sponsored by the Chicago Archdiocese.
He writes for NCR's Young Voices blog.
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Mark Piper
Column
A prayer of thanksgiving for Sr. Fintan
A few months ago, a priest asked me very seriously, "What keeps you in church?" I had an instantaneous flashback to a memory of Sr. Fintan in the school gym, telling the bishop that I knew my prayers and that she was proud of me.
Column
I made a mixtape for the church I love
Young Voices: As a sign of my love for the Catholic Church — a church that has provided me with hope, beauty and truth, as well as anguish, anger and frustration — I wish to create and share a mixtape.
Column
Habemus papam to me! Tiara in place, I'll have a busy daylong reign
Young Voices: It was not a literal cheap plastic princess tiara my 4-year-old placed on my head. No, for me, it was a jewel-encrusted papal tiara. Here's how my day as pope would go.
Column
'The church that raised me rejected me'
Young Voices: I reunited with an old friend, a gay woman, who was willing to share with me, a straight man, her pain and wistful reminiscence of a church that seemed to reject her.