Tag: memoir

• Much More Than Food

  Before I was born, an Italian family table taught me that food was never just nourishment—it was love, gratitude to God, and the first lesson of faith.

  RMDell’Orfano

  July 10, 2026

  Autobio

  Catholic spirituality, Christian faith, family table, family traditions, gratitude, Italian heritage, John 6, love, memoir, Sicilian cooking, tomato sauce

• Beyond AI: The Real Challenge

  An engineer reflects on WPI in the 1960s, the rise of artificial intelligence, and why lived experience—not information alone—remains the true path to wisdom.

  RMDell’Orfano

  July 3, 2026

  Autobio

  ai, artificial intelligence, Christian life, college life, critical thinking, education reform, engineering, engineering education, experience, experiential learning, Faith and Reason, higher education, learning, lifelong learning, machine shop, memoir, perseverance, personal growth, pilgrimage, practical wisdom, qualifying project, Scripture, slide rule, smartphones, STEM, technology, vocational education, Wisdom, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, WPI

• Sorry, No Catholics Allowed

  At age twenty-six in the summer of 1968, I visit the Bruderhof community in northern Connecticut, stepping through its stone wall and wrought-iron gate into a pastoral world that feels suspended in time.

  RMDell’Orfano

  February 25, 2026

  Autobio

  1968, Anabaptist tradition, bruderhof, Christian communal living, communal property, Connecticut, Deer Spring, intentional community, memoir, New England countryside, pastoral landscape, religious experiment, spiritual searching

• Terror in the Night

  A night of shelter at a remote monastery descends into terror when a fellow traveler appears at the foot of the bed with a knife. What follows is a silent vigil of fear, prayer, and survival beneath the Abbey’s ancient walls.

  RMDell’Orfano

  February 4, 2026

  Autobio

  contemplative life, evil and grace, faith under threat, memoir, monastic life, moral testing, near-death experience, pilgrimage, prayer and deliverance, psychological terror, sacred space, spiritual memoir, trauma and faith, violence and survival