Hello! My name is Kolbe O’Donnell, and I’m a graduate student of moral theology living and studying in the Northeast United States. This blog is the place where my academic pursuits, spiritual journey, and personal story meet. It’s an invitation to walk alongside me as I wrestle with questions at the heart of Catholic thought; questions about the human person, love, suffering, virtue, and what it means to seek God in all things.

I grew up a cradle Catholic, but for much of my life the faith was more of a background rhythm than a consciously chosen path. Everything changed shortly after I suffered a spinal cord injury that left me paralyzed from the neck down. What could have been the end of meaning instead became the beginning of a deeper one. In the midst of physical limitation and uncertainty, I encountered the mercy of Christ with a clarity and urgency I had never known before. My reversion to the faith was not gentle. It was seismic; an awakening to God’s presence in suffering and a rediscovery of the Church as a home capable of bearing the weight of real human experience.

That rediscovery led me to the diocesan seminary, where I spent nearly two years discerning the priesthood. It also drew me, for a time, into the quiet austerity of a Carmelite monastery, where silence, prayer, and community deepened my longing for union with God. Though my path eventually led me out of formal formation, the desire for truth, and the desire to share it, has only grown stronger.

Now, as I continue my graduate studies, this blog serves as a space to process, articulate, and share what I’m learning. My hope is not simply to explain theology, but to explore it with you: to let academic study illuminate lived experience, and to let lived experience challenge and enrich the truths we study.

If you’re interested in Catholic theology, the spiritual life, or simply in following the winding road of someone trying to earnestly love God. Welcome. I’m glad you’re here.