So yes, I do think we should ask whether a particular religious practice inclines towards the evil, the destructive, the abusive - call it the “demonic” if you like. And yes, I think we should be aware of the way this can happen even within Christianity. Read more
It is never appropriate for one person to tell another “I am having sexual urges because of your body” if they are not already in a mutually consenting relationship of respect and communication. Read more
by guest writer Sean O’Conaill That Jesus called people to ‘follow me’ in the Gospel is indisputable, but was he calling some to a primary role of ‘ministry’ and others to be merely receivers of that ministry – a secondary role? All of the mainstream Christian churches are organised on that pattern – but what Gospel passages could be used to justify such an understanding? Aimed at promoting vocations to the ‘priesthood or religious life’, a recent pastoral letter by the... Read more
Once again, Pope Francis has compared having an abortion to “hiring a hitman.” As reported in CBS News: Pope Francis on Saturday said abortion can never be condoned, even when the fetus is gravely sick or malformed. He is urging doctors and priests to support families to carry such pregnancies to term. During an audience with participants of a Vatican-sponsored anti-abortion conference, Francis said opposition to abortion isn’t a religious issue but a human one: “Is it licit to throw... Read more
This might seem cynical to people brought up on feel-good romances, the inheritors of our parents’ “all you need is love” generation, but A Song of Ice and Fire is reorienting us to an ancient idea we ought not to have abandoned: the recognition that eros can be destructive as well as salvific Read more
I fervently pray that you had no idea the way your words would sound. I pray you didn’t see the victims all around you who inferred they had failed to die, in defense, though many of us felt it was a fate worse than death. Read more
What if we let the jury remain out on difficult metaphysical questions about personhood, and instead focused on working for a truly pro-woman, pro-child society? Read more
Pope Francis’ announcement, a few days ago, that the results of the commission to study the history of the female diaconate were “inconclusive,” was disappointing to many, myself included, yet I was not surprised. For one thing, I’m not sure he’s ready to provoke additional controversy. We’ve already got the scandal of institutional abuse and cover-ups – a scandal with which none of the church’s clerical leaders, however well-meaning, seem competent to deal, and which is probably far more sweeping... Read more
Coming in from planting sweet corn today, I glanced down at my dirty calloused hands with the jagged nails and torn cuticles, and immediately remembered that scene in Gone With the Wind, when Scarlett tries to trick Rhett into lending her money, but her work-worn hands give away the true desperation of her situation. My first thought was, “damn, I’d be screwed if I needed to convince anyone I was an idle lady.” My second thought was, “damn that scene... Read more
SPOILERS OF COURSE I’ve been a fan of George R.R. Martin’s monumental epic, A Song of Ice And Fire, for years now, so after a number of people I trusted told me the show version, Game of Thrones, was just as good, I started watching that, too, and quickly caught up with the seasons. While some alterations made by the showrunners were problematic – for instance, they made several sex scenes rapey, which had not been so in the book... Read more
suspended in her jar
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