woot! ...I wrote that book when I was in my mid-twenties. Like a lot of people that age, I was wrestling with strong emotions and grappling with deep hopes and fears about the future. My greatest fear was waking up one day in my 60s or 70s, in an apartment by myself, having lived a deeply isolated adult life, without family and people with whom I could make a “home.” Much of that angst has subsided now that I’m in my early 30s, so if I were rewriting Washed and Waiting today, I’d be … [Read more...]
“Making God’s House Into a Home: An Interview w/Spiritual Friendship’s Wesley Hill”
February 4, 2014 By
“A Queer Calling”: Blog which may be of interest to many of you
January 17, 2014 By
"Reflections on the experience of a celibate, LGBT, Christian couple." … [Read more...]
“Identity Theft”: I review (and LOVE) “The Goldfinch”
January 17, 2014 By
in the Weekly Standard: When we speak of “the permanent things,” we should mean the enduring, inescapable, and unfulfilled longings of the contradictory human heart: the helpless yearnings found across radically different times and cultures. And among these permanent desires, the need for home and the need for ecstasy stand preeminent. Donna Tartt made her name with 1992’s bestselling murder-by-paganism tale The Secret History, which explored our longing for ecstatic release from the … [Read more...]
Man Lives With Mother, Film at 11
January 4, 2014 By
No, this is a really good piece, from the LA Times: I have a confession to make. I am a 25-year-old living with his mother, the walking stereotype of a millennial. Raised on unearned parental affirmation, equipped with elevated self-esteem, we graduated from college only to face the most dismal economy since the Great Depression. One result, according to a 2012 Pew study, was that 36% of the nation's 18- to 31-year-olds were bunking in their parents' homes. They call us basement kids and … [Read more...]
St. Odysseus and St. Antaeus
November 20, 2013 By
A while ago I asked the wild world of Twitter what it wanted me to talk about, w/r/t the concept of vocation. One response was basically, "What's the difference between discernment of vocation and navel-gazing?" That's a pretty great question; the boring answer is probably "prudence" just like with everything else (BORING), but let me see if I have a bit more to say about it than that. The "emerging adulthood" model, which has all kinds of economic, social, & … [Read more...]
“What Classic, Orthodox Celibacy Isn’t”
November 20, 2013 By
at Spiritual Friendship: If we follow the tradition’s logic, celibacy cannot be a synonym for singleness. Classic, orthodox celibacy is not a solitary priest rattling around in an oversized rectory, or an isolated yuppie in a high rise apartment building a profile on an internet dating site, or a gay person toughing it out solo at Christmastime. All these are modern day tragedies, the kind of things which deserve compassion but which cannot be normative. Classic, orthodox celibacy is rather a … [Read more...]
Follow Patheos
Catholic: