I'm indebted to the teachers who shaped me - from the Sisters of St. Joseph at St. Croix Catholic elementary to the monks of St. John's in Minnesota to my professors at Georgetown.

Sunday afternoons at a parish center - or a community center - is familiar territory for me.

Professors go batty too, perhaps more often than other people, although owing to their profession, their madness is less often remarked.

As a husband, father and public servant, I'm thankful for the counsel and wisdom of my older brothers - Bill, who was a priest, and Kevin, who is a priest.

We're underscoring to everybody the promise at the heart of the Affordable Care Act, which is quality, affordable health care coverage available in a transparent marketplace for the first time ever.

I traveled with then-Senator Obama to Israel in 2008. I will never forget our time in the holy city of Jerusalem and following behind him as he approached the Western Wall - and even in the dark hours of that very early morning, it was a place bustling with energy afforded by one's faith.