Author Archives: Philip E Jenks

John F. Kennedy had been dead 13 years by the time the first of our six adult children was born. By the time they cracked their first high school history book, JFK had long since passed from flesh to myth. … Continue reading →

For my grandchildren and the children in your life, a story about two mythological figures – Santa Claus and John F. Kennedy – and how they saved Christmas from an early episode of climate change.

President Harry S Truman and Governor Harold E. Stassen were divided by party lines, but they had more in common than either would have admitted. Both ordered the racial integration of armed forces under their command, in Truman’s case all … Continue reading →

The concept of Mary as the Untier of Knots was well known in the 17th and 18th centuries and is best memorialized by a 1700 painting by Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, saw Schmidtner’s painting … Continue reading →

May 29, 2019 – Reposting this essay on President Kennedy’s 102nd birthday. November 22, 2018 – Today is Thanksgiving and also the 55th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. As Billy Joel put it, “JFK, blown away, what … Continue reading →

I served on the communications staff of American Baptist Churches in the USA for two decades. Most of that time I was editor of The American Baptist Magazine, a position I assumed as a callow youth. I was a naïve … Continue reading →