“No matter how enlightened we become, how educated, how affluent, how socially aware and self-reflective, we must, if we are honest with ourselves, admit that there is something wrong with us. We can’t seem to get past hurting ourselves and this planet. Is this brokenness, this sin, this evil . . . is it personified? Is there really some personified evil, and even an ultimate higher power who embodies evil itself?” (more…) Read more
We all believe in something. And when it’s all boiled down, what we all believe in is goodness, decency, respect. We believe in love. As our race evolves, we will increasingly come to realize that, for all of its drama, life remains sublimely simple. We yearn to give love; we yearn to receive love. The rest is just time passing by. **************** The image is Common Land, oil on board, by Helen Fockhart. Read more
This is Dawn Hawkins. She is executive director of Morality in Media, which (according to its website) is “the leading national organization opposing pornography and indecency through public education and the application of the law.” As Dawn recounts in the video below, last month, while she was flying on Delta Airlines, she noticed that the guy seated in front of her was, on his iPad, looking at porn on the airplane. (It was also six in the morning. But you... Read more
Dear Kirk Cameron: Hello. My name is Kaitlin Eldridge. I am ten years old. My brother Matt is seven. We live in San Diego, California. John Shore lives two houses down from us. He is friends with my dad. Sometimes John babysits me and Matt. He is a very funny person. Matt and I love him. Yesterday John was babysitting us when I was writing a book report. I found this picture of you online. You used to be so... Read more
This just in: Dear John, I have a question on which I’d like your thoughts. The best hospital and physician group in my area is a Catholic health system. Under a new health plan I’m considering selecting them as my provider of choice. However, as a gay man in California who lived through the Prop 8 disgrace, I am loathe to increase the wealth of, or in any way support, the Catholic Church. The recent flap over contraception has made... Read more
We humans are driven by the imperative to procreate. As spiritual, philosophical, intellectual, and creative as we are, in the end we must, and will, have sex. *Snork* In the end. See?! Right there! It’s like it’s all we can think about! (more…) Read more
“We do not have long to live in this world. We don’t have the luxury of moderation. Nor do we want it. This immoderate love with which God holds us, is so extreme that it raises people from the dead. Not only does it challenge us to give up the literal death-hold that our addictions and obsessions create, God’s love gives us not only a new lease on life, but life itself.” (more…) Read more
By now you’ve likely heard the story of how this past Saturday morning, at Saint John Neumann Catholic Church in Maryland, Barbara Johnson was denied holy communion by the priest officiating at the funeral of her beloved mother. At the crucial, deeply personal moment in the Mass when Barbara, a life-long Catholic, expected Father Marcel Guarnizo to utter “the body of Christ” as he offered her the communal host, Fr. Marcel instead covered with his hand the communal bowl, and... Read more
This morning Lynne, who wrote the letter which I answered in yesterday’s post, As a Christian, must she forgive the brother who raped her?, left a comment to that post which I wanted to share here. Part of what Lynne wrote in her comment was: Hello, this is the writer of the letter. I have not been able to read all of the comments, as they were a lot. Last night I had a dream that I think came from... Read more
A woman writes in with an extremely difficult question. Read more
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