We progressive Christians like to roll our eyes at the Roman Catholics for their official stance on reproductive issues, such as contraception and reproductive technology. Many of us assume that they are just old-fashioned, or out of it, or have a serious case of wishful thinking, or just don’t know what they’re talking about, seeing as the leadership is made up of unmarried old guys. But I find much to admire in Roman Catholic reproductive ethics, even as I don’t... Read more
Rachel Stone posted yet another excellent article about the importance of childhood vaccination for public health over at her new Religion News Service (RNS) blog. Rachel has consistently spoken up in favor of most children being vaccinated against childhood diseases, including in a (surprise!) controversial post several years ago for Christianity Today in which she invoked the Golden Rule to argue that vaccinating is not merely a “personal choice,” but a way of caring for our vulnerable neighbors by fostering herd... Read more
Imagine you are standing at an intersection with your child, waiting for a walk light so you can safely cross the street. The traffic light turns red, the “walk” sign lights up, you grab your child’s hand, and just as you are about to step off the curb, a mysterious voice from above says, “Stop! In 5 seconds, a car is going to run the red light. If you are in the crosswalk, your child will be hit and severely... Read more
Our Valentine’s Day celebrations are even more pathetic understated than usual this year. Many years, Daniel and I have purchased a premade four-course Valentine’s Day dinner from a local pasta shop. For about $60 and the minimal labor of assembling the salad and heating up the main course, we can eat a restaurant-quality meal in our own home after the kids have gone to bed. But as we don’t have a functioning kitchen right now, even such minimal kitchen work is... Read more
The same medication that I take every day, in doses that would leave most of you passed out cold or hospitalized or dead, directly led to Hoffman being discovered in his apartment with a needle in his arm. Read more
I love my minivan for lots of reasons having to do with convenience, but also because of what my dependence on this questionably ethical material thing reveals about our lives in the kingdom that is both here and not here. Read more
Our kitchen renovation has been going on for one entire day, and I’m already tired of it. I just don’t enjoy feeding a family of five from a cramped corner of the living room, where food and utensils and the coffee maker are randomly piled on two card tables. OK – That right there is the only time I’m going to publicly complain about the inconvenience of a kitchen renovation, because being able to do this is a huge luxury... Read more
Last weekend, I went on a one-night retreat with my church’s vestry. (In an Episcopal church, the vestry is akin to a board of directors. We advise and collaborate with the clergy on big-picture questions around the church’s mission, and approve the annual budget. I am in my third year of a three-year vestry term.) To prepare for the retreat, we were given a timeline onto which we were to draw two separate lines illustrating our life’s journey thus far.... Read more
Next week, we start a major kitchen renovation. I promise this will not morph into a DIY or home improvement blog, but I will occasionally write about our renovation here. So much of what I write focuses on our relationship with the material world—with our bodies, with clutter and Christmas gifts and food—and how material life and our inner lives interact. We’re renovating our kitchen because we wanted more attractive fixtures and a more functional layout, but also so that... Read more
In using genetic screening to ensure that our baby would not inherit my painful bone condition, we understood that we could not control everything. But we could control this. Read more
Ellen Painter Dollar
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