Now that the loan forgiveness announcement has passed, I am going to move on to a topic I hold dear, the lives and human dignity of LBGTQIA+ people and their families. I confess that I didn’t understand the LBGTQIA+ experience as a heterosexual married conservative Catholic-Christian mother until my profession as a pediatric disability therapist in secular employment strongly encouraged me to do so. Since I am Catholic, the spiritual component was a significant part of both conflict and resolution... Read more

Yesterday, I wrote a piece called “The Hatred of Unconditional Love.”  In my own quotes, “Not comprehending that some middle-aged and older people were as truly as angry as I thought they were about loan forgiveness, I made this post in quotes on my Facebook page with an Avatar megaphone.” “After earning two degrees plus 2 years of post-graduate credentialing, I am thrilled that others will have loan relief.” I innocently declared war. This is not the first time people... Read more

Last night and early today at 5:00 am, I wasn’t able to diminish my internal sorrow of what I witnessed when Joe Biden passed a historic student loan forgiveness act.  As a mother who still has still one college child of multiples who all went to college, it profoundly puzzles me that people my age (50), and especially older, are fuming with anger that Millennials and Gen Z young people would have some much-needed and well-deserved financial relief from college... Read more

    After reading through some of the comments on most of my posts, I now realize that I haven’t devoted enough time to describe why I write the pieces I do. I apologize for this. I understand that some of my writings are indeed controversial and difficult to swallow at times.  I believe it’s important to introduce myself and what I do again, not for the sake of accolades but for the sake of defending the lives and human... Read more

As I sipped on my morning coffee today, I located three website addresses among many which all support the statistics I’ve read, that there is a connection between the church’s leadership and either peace and restoration, or the opposite, the violence we’ve experience and witnessed throughout Trump’s presidency and beyond. Written by faith publishers themselves, I read accounts of active peace and service with decreases in domestic violence and decreases in other types of violence.  I am especially impressed with... Read more

I’ve been asking myself the question, what do Christians/Catholics do now? A better question is, what does 80% of America do about the 15%-20% of the Religious Right (mostly white) who are using their predatory brand of right-winged Christian Nationalism to force their will on others by suppressing, coercing, abusing, shaming, and even damming the other 80% of us to “do their will” instead of allowing God to do His. For all 50 years of my life, I have been... Read more

When I first started studying Catholic theology many years ago, The Seven Deadly Sins were of particular interest to me.  St. Jerome, Tertullian, St. Basil the Great, St. Cyprian of Carthage, and even Martin Luther all spoke of some sins being worse than others. 1 John  5:16-17, John 19:11-12, Hebrews 10:26-29, and 2 Peter 2: 20-22 do the same.       In Catholic theology, the Seven Deadly Sins are: Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth.  But what... Read more

  A year ago, I did something I thought I would never do. I officially changed my party affiliation to Democrat by voting in my first Democratic primary. I was asked, “Julie, how can you be a Catholic and do such a thing? It’s for the same reason 60% of the American Catholic Church, 76% of Hispanic Catholics/Christians, and 95% of Black Catholics/Christians are Democrats and don’t vote Republican, because we believe, especially at this point, that the current far-right... Read more

This piece is a little different than what I normally share. Instead of speaking about politics and faith, I will speak about faith, healthcare, and family. Autism and Parkinson’s Disease My journey with Parkinson’s Disease and raising a son with Autism have both profoundly impacted and shaped not only faith but our family life for the better.  Our youngest child Sam was diagnosed with Autism at nearly 3 years of age in 2003.  He received 25-30 hours a week of... Read more

I am ashamed to say that I once supported Catholic bishops who denied the Eucharist to Catholic pro-choice politicians.   I arrogantly acted this way in my more judgmental and hypocritical days, five years ago and before then.  I apologize to everyone for acting that way in the past. About a year ago in 2021, some American Catholic bishops within in the US Conference of Catholic Bishops tried to move and deny Joe Biden Communion for being a pro-choice politician as... Read more