I’ve been a Christian all of my Life.  Some key events in my life shaped my faith formation. I was born a cradle conservative Episcopalian and served as a female acolyte for 10 years. In retrospect, when the Episcopal Church moved to LGBTQ+ reconciliation, inclusion, and affirmation in the early 2000s, they did some things right and some things wrong, but overall, I now appreciate a good deal of what they did. In their attempts of LGBTQ+ leadership “taking over”... Read more

OK, this tough Texas lady (me) was a life-long moderate Texas Republican until Trump came along and opened the door for fascism, genocide, hatred, racusm, and overt bigotry in Texas. There is absolutely no way to declare that the Texas Republican party is what it was prior to Trump although I think Trump brought out the “nasty of the nasty” in Texas Republican leadership. I also think he gave permission for a lot of dangerous things to surface full throttle... Read more

This Easter was a very different kind of Easter, like no other Easter in my life. I will admit that for the first time, I struggled to separate my love for Christ and His Church from Religious Nationalism in the USA, from the unconditional support of Donald Trump by white right-winged Republican Christians/Catholics, from understanding how the Church has harmed LGBTQIA+ people and their families,  reading about the history of forced conversion and colonization of Christianity throughout the years, the... Read more

For any person of faith I’ve met who has rejected Trumpism and Religious Nationalism, they have experienced some degree of a faith deconstruction and maybe some reconstruction.  For me personally, shifting from being a lifetime Texas Republican Christian/Catholic to a “Woke” Catholic Democrat since Trump mocked the disabled reporter was just the beginning.   Discovering that I have gay kids and that affirming parents are a matter of life and death have also shifted me theologically and politically in an enormous... Read more

One of my favorite icons is the Palm Sunday icon. Jesus didn’t ride into Jerusalem on a noble steed ready to colonize and force his will on others. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in humility.  He also came to share unconditional love with those who the religious elite rejected. Jesus only criticized the religious elite, not the woman at the well, not the tax collector, and not those who didn’t and/or were incapable of “living up to the... Read more

Right now, with the cross being used as a political weapon in the United States and other countries where the threat of fascism is growing, I just can’t wear a cross for the time being.  So I at least temporarily switched out my cross for a Chi-Ro symbol combined with Mary. Our youngest son, who is a Church history buff in some ways, reminded me of the pre-Constantinian Christianity before it jumped in bed with Emperor Constantine, like parts of... Read more

Through my journey as a practitioner primarily, a stark reality started awakening me about five years ago, not only in my professional life but in my adult parenting and Catholic spiritual life.  The Catholic Church has two options to address the spiritual and life-giving needs of those who have neurological, psychological, biological, and other variances which scientifically diverge from the broader population.  Either continue to endanger and abuse them for the sake of enforcing “all Catholic Sexual Ethics,” which only... Read more

I regularly say that I’m a “Pope Francis Catholic.”  Over his ten-year papacy, his eyes opened wider and wider to social issues, including the LGBTQIA+ life issues.  Pope Francis’s eyes were opened to the needs of the poor more than mine were in the beginning of his papacy.  He has stretched me to better-understand the needs of humanity and love all people in a more radical way as Jesus did.  Pope Francis consistently demonstrates that Jesus loves the poor, the... Read more

I sadly see others judging parents, especially Christian/Catholic parents, for accepting their LGBTQIA+ kids. I was once very conservative about this issue myself until I learned of the reality, that kids were and are dying due to rejection and political persecution, many of who are also part of the Autism community. As many of you know, I left the toxicity of trad environments to urban Catholicism because ministers were endangering peoples lives by telling them that it was a grave... Read more

Dear Catholics Who Wish to “Purify” the Church and Broader Society, (more…) Read more