Jeffrey Bruno

09/30/2026

The Hound of Heaven – Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage

I could never pray the Rosary

My attempts more closely resembled someone attempting to fall asleep

That all changed when I was coerced into a 40-day Rosary Challenge for America

I reluctantly agreed, figuring that even if I couldn’t accomplish it, there would be some merit in the attempt

But then something happened

I found myself in possession of a 135-pound Mastiff mix girl named Mala

She loved long walks, and I discovered I could pray the Rosary while walking with her—and not fall asleep!

Thus began a new chapter, filled with many years of decades

Mala passed away a few years ago, and I buried her with the Rosary beads I’d used—handmade by the Dominican Nuns of Summit

A testament to her life that she trained me to pray the Rosary daily

Mala, the Rosary Dog

And she trained me well

Now I pray the Rosary nearly every day

No falling asleep

So over the weekend, in the nation’s capital, the Dominican Friars held a Rosary Pilgrimage.

A day-long event focused on the power of this "Weapon of the Saints" through talks, prayer, Mass, and, of course, the Rosary

I couldn’t help think about my relationship with this prayer and the dog who inspired me pray it

Curious how intertwined dogs are with spiritual things

The Dominican Order is often symbolized by dogs due to a play on words: "Domini Canes," meaning "Dogs of the Lord" in Latin

And St. Dominic’s mom had a vision of a dog with a torch in its mouth, symbolizing her son spreading the light of Christ

It reflects the Dominican mission to faithfully preach and guard the truth of the Gospel, much like loyal hounds

I’ll leave it at this

I’m no theologian, but it seems that dogs might be secret shepherds on the road to heaven

Sometimes through their sloppy licks and tirelessly unconditional love

Other times like me finally being able to pray the Rosary

So as I sit surrounded by thousands praying the mysteries

I’m overwhelmed by God’s Love and generosity

And the Domine Canes that herded us all under the Basilica's towering dome

All this because of an act of His Grace

But in my case

And St. Dominic’s

There may have been a dog involved somewhere along the way

09/11/2026

Wisdom's where you find it...even from a kitten on a quiet Newark street.

A stray kitten, an empty muffin wrapper, and a Saint’s invitation to stop running from the love that’s waiting for us.

09/10/2026

There's no place like Calcutta...take my word for it. I can't believe that it's been ten years since the Canonization of St. Mother Teresa. All I can say is that it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Ten years after Mother Teresa’s canonization, the assignment I remember most is the one I never photographed.

08/18/2026

Adventure.

Like a lot of things, we know it when we're on one, but where does the true spirit of adventure live?

I was wrong about this for most of my life.

But, thank God, I know now :-)

What does adventure really mean? Is it found beyond the horizon? Or somewhere we never thought to look?

08/14/2026

Every story has a place it keeps coming back to. For me, it’s a small island in the Potomac.

Part V: Returning to the Island is now live—and with it, Before the Nation Drew Its First Breath is complete.

To everyone who followed along: thank you for joining me on this journey.

I’m truly grateful you came with me :-)

And I hope that you one day make the journey too.

A five-part journey into the hidden origins of religious liberty in America.

08/12/2026

A little over a week ago, Sister Eden Marie S.V, Sister Elena Marie S.V., and Sister Maria Annunciata S.V. offered their lives in love to Christ.

To witness a profession of Perpetual Vows is breathtaking.

It’s beautiful, it’s stunning, and it's a testament to God’s Love alive in the world today.

Here’s the story.

[And I encourage you to click the link for the Feature Version, and then click the Full Screen button :-)

In the heart of a city forever remaking itself, the final profession of the Sisters of Life reveals how God answers the wounds of an age, not merely with words, but with lives offered in love.

08/10/2026

Some ideas survive because they are protected.

Others survive because, once glimpsed, they can never be entirely forgotten.

Maryland’s experiment in religious liberty had been broken.

Father Andrew White was forced back across the Atlantic. Catholic chapels were closed. The Mass was driven underground.

But the story didn't end there.

Maryland had demonstrated a possibility: that people of different faiths could share the same civic space without surrendering their consciences.

Imperfectly, yes.

Briefly, perhaps.

But it had existed.

And the idea remained, like embers beneath the ash, waiting for another generation to carry it forward.

And just over a century later, the First Amendment placed religious liberty among the founding promises of a new nation.

Part IV of Before the Nation follows those embers toward the promise that would become our inheritance.

I invite you to continue the journey with me.

Part IV: The Idea That Would Not Die is live today.

The experiment had been wounded. The idea survived—and its echo would eventually reach the First Amendment.

08/06/2026

I never learned any of this in school. Heck, I never heard so much as a whisper about it from anyone, anywhere.

But when you begin to understand the early days of the colonies, and the incredible struggles those first communities faced, it becomes hard to look at your parish church the same way.

The freedom we have to walk through those doors and go to Mass every day rests, largely, on the courage of men and women who believed that faith should not have to hide, and who held fast to the fragile promise of religious liberty even when history turned against them.

In Maryland, that promise was battered by civil war, rebellion, political upheaval, and persecution. Father Andrew White was forced back to England.

Chapels were closed.

The Mass was pushed back toward silence.

Even the Act Concerning Religion…an extraordinary effort for its time…could not keep the dream from nearly collapsing.

But it didn’t disappear.

Something remained, like embers beneath the ash.

Part III of Before the Nation follows that fragile dream into the moment it met history, and asks what it means that it survived at all.

I invite you to continue the journey with me.

Part III: When the Dream Met History is live today.

A fragile peace. An old fear. And the gathering storm that threatened to bury Maryland’s experiment in religious freedom.

08/03/2026

Part II - When I first reached St. Clement’s Island, I thought the story was about what happened there.

But the island was never meant to be the destination. It was the threshold.

Within days of that first Mass, the settlers crossed the river again and began building the settlement that would become St. Mary’s City.

There, religious liberty did not yet exist as a law or declaration. It existed as something smaller and more vulnerable: a Mass said openly, a child learning prayers without fear, and Catholics and Protestants trying, however imperfectly, to share the same civic space.

Part II of Before the Nation follows them beyond the island, into the place where that fragile dream was first tested.

I invite you to continue the journey with me.

Part II: The Shore Beyond the Island is live today.

A five-part journey into the hidden origins of religious liberty in America.

07/31/2026

Five years ago, I didn’t know St. Clement’s Island existed. Now, perhaps, it’s my favorite place on earth.

The first time I went there in March of 2020, the world felt like it was closing in.

Finding the island felt almost miraculous. And there, I discovered an important American story, one that very few Americans seem to know.

The story of how the first notion of Religious Liberty arrived on two ships, and a sea-worn group of English Catholics and their companions.

This project is my attempt to tell their story, and to invite you to explore it with me.

It’s in five parts.

The first part is live today.

A five-part journey into the hidden origins of religious liberty in America.