Tying up odds and ends.

Odds and Ends just celebrated its 11th birthday. That's 132 columns or about 80,000 words--the size of some novels.

I've always been fascinated by the treasures, idiosyncrasies, and great characters of Catholicism. From gold vestments of popes and bishops to threadbare habits of monks and mendicants, from stern nuns inhabiting bygone schools to lay ministers on contemporary parish staffs, from Francis Cardinal Spellman to Dorothy Day, the treasure trove of religious tradition under Catholicism's big tent is unbelievably diverse. Highlighting some of these people, places, and things for the past 11 years in this column has been great fun.

Another fun part of these past 11 years has been reading everything else in U.S. CATHOLIC. Take for example the June 2007 Signs of the Times squib about the German priest, Father Franz Meuer, whose parish raised and donated money to help build a new mosque in their area of Cologne.

My interfaith interest was piqued, and I went to meet Father Meuer when I was in Germany recently. He was out in a park where an annual youth summer camp called "HoVi-Land" was organized for some 500 children of all faiths whose families could not afford to go "on holiday," as Europeans say. Here stood a tent town filled with hundreds of adult volunteers providing wonderful experiences for these kids. "Just because people are poor is no reason to treat them poorly," Meuer repeatedly said to me.

After guiding me through "HoVi-Land," Father Meuer took me to see his parish church, built in 1999. The lower level is given over to service initiatives: soup kitchen, food and clothes pantry, toys and bikes for kids. The second level is the area for liturgy, and rising above the second level is the bell tower. The architecture embodies and reflects a theology that understands the church's foundation as service, that celebrates liturgy rooted in and growing out of service, and proclaims the Good News of salvation that builds on service and prayer.

What a great experience, meeting this priest, hearing his vision of church, and seeing it in action and architecture, all because I read U.S. CATHOLIC. Both you and I are blessed to be reading this magazine of cutting-edge Catholicism.

Another thing I've always liked about U.S. CATHOLIC is its ability to change. A redesign is in the works, and it feels like a perfect time to bring this column to a close. I'll miss writing about the various nooks and crannies of Catholicism. And I'll miss your letters, too, both the compliments and the criticisms.

Look for me elsewhere in U.S. CATHOLIC. The editors are encouraging me to write essays for upcoming issues. So even though it's the last Odds and Ends column, it's not my last word or words! Godspeed.

PETER GILMOUR ([e-mail]) teaches at the Institute of Pastoral Studies of Loyola University Chicago.