I have now been asked this question five times, “Julie, how can you support Amy Grant’s decision to host her niece’s lesbian wedding?”  As I will say again, my support of the LGBTQ+ community has nothing to do with sexual activity, which is none of my business, but the Sanctity of Life and the Dignity of the Human Person which are core tenets of Catholic Social Teaching.  By Amy Grant showing unconditional love, she is placing the sanctity of her... Read more

In the first half of this piece,  I’m paying a special tribute to those who love others without condition which gives a foundation to the second half.  The second half will be story about two Catholic Deacons.  Many Christians have experienced being political refugees because they are looking for the Love of Christ, not a mean and angry god. Christians in particular, people of faith, and especially Church leadership show that God is either a God of love, mercy, and... Read more

I have to comment on these articles from Microsoft Newsweek and from the Human Rights Campaign. Lies, misinformation, and especially politically-motivated hatred have reaped unspeakable damage to disabled, Neurodiverse, and LGBTQIA+ youth and their families, the populations I serve in my profession. When every major medical association in the world comes to a consensus about a topic in any medical field, bucking science and medicine of the collective, especially with extremist rogue ideology through political enforcement, endangers the lives of... Read more

Both political extremes are not equally-dangerous although I once believed this.  Please note that I am not speaking of the majority of Americans who are both Democrat and Republican. When I say extreme, I am speaking of less than 5% on both ends of the political spectrum, especially here in Texas.  As a former moderate Texas Republican until 2016, I once thought that the extreme Left and the Extreme Right were just as bad and very much like each other... Read more

In July, 2022, Pope Francis traveled to Canada to apologize to Indigenous peoples for the Church’s role in the atrocities committed in the residential school system back in the 1950s and 60s.  I do believe The Holy Father’s penitential pilgrimage was a precursor to yesterday’s event at the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, TX on 12-11-2022. Yesterday my husband and I attended the San Fernando Cathedral together as we regularly do and arrived a little early for the 10:00... Read more

No doubt, a series of events and God moving me to different places over the last six years were absolutely required to open my eyes to full reality, especially coming from my conservative religious background and service in religious education.  God had to first pull my family away from ultra-conservative religious circles by church splitting and COVID force. Serving children with developmental, learning, and cognitive disabilities as an Academic Language Therapist, first in religious education but then into secular society... Read more

This didn’t happen overnight.  We didn’t wake up one morning with a National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin which lists Targeted People and Targeted Places. Sadly, the Targeted People include the LGBTQIA+ community, racial minorities, religious minorities, certain types of media, certain government personnel, and perceived ideological opponents. The Targeted Places are public gatherings, schools, faith-based institutions, government facilities, and US critical infrastructures. A long-threaded series of events over a period of six years sadly needed to happen for me to... Read more

Today I made a Facebook post about Trump as a commentary to the article below this picture. I made a few quotes and then stated a few of my own points. https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/opinions/trump-tore-my-family-apart-eldredge/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2UvPw2Ldet38y_BZVruWYEKCEy-mjc2oRK1sKo2gmWtfmLnyobL4caip0 “Was your blind loyalty to President Donald Trump, a person you’ve never met, worth burning our family to the ground?”  This has happened to millions of families. One of my readers replied.  “Now, who made you chose? Because it wasn’t me. Don’t give a flip about your politics.”... Read more

In my last piece, I wrote about the consequences of marrying the empire to the Church. Being the Church history nerd that I am, I reviewed some of my early studies of the Church Fathers and how the earliest Christians conducted themselves.  In short, I reviewed the time period closest to Christ and his Apostles which was the freest of government corruption, the pre-Constantine Catholic Church from 33 AD-312 AD. Prior to 313 AD, this was a time of REAL... Read more

I admit it; I’ve been in a state of lament and depression.  Trying to sort through the why’s and how’s, I’ve finally narrowed-down the primary reasons for my current state of depression.  In short, the Church didn’t listen.  The Church didn’t listen to the multiple warnings from the late Billy Graham.  The Catholic Right hasn’t listened to Pope Francis. And the Religious Right didn’t listen to long-respected faith leaders like Rev. Jim Wallis.   The Church married the empire once again... Read more