GOD GIRL ON HALLMARK CHANNEL’S “NEW MORNING” In case you missed it, click HERE to watch Cathleen’s interview with host Timbery Whitfield on the groovy new Hallmark Channel morning show (aptly named) “New Morning,” that aired this morning, Monday, September 18. You can also click HERE to watch a mini-clip of Cathleen talking about the idea of “joy.” PS: Gotta love the Barbara Walters filter. Wish it would follow me everywhere . . . Read more

GODSTUFF: IT’S NOT THE SEEING, IT’S THE BELIEVING On the concrete wall of a Kennedy Expy. underpass, a few feet away from a water stain that some people believe is a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary, someone has stenciled a rendering of Jesus’ face along with the words: “Believe in yourself.” The unspoken second half of that sentence would seem to be “. . . instead of that water stain over there.” We are so quick to judge the... Read more

U2 and Dave Stewart perform Walk On for the America: A Tribute to Heroes concert in the days following Sept 11th. I remember where I was, I remember how it felt, I remember how grateful I was. And here in Atlanta, as I prepare to read the words of this fine man, this self-described “crap disciple,” talking about his faith — words of grace that continue to echo through my soul, enliven my spirit, make me laugh at myself and... Read more

FILE UNDER: THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY “La Soeur Volante” aka “The Flying Nun” I loves me some Sister Bertille.Bring back nuns who fly.Please. Read more

FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US … Forgiveness is superhuman. I mean “super” in the sense that it requires us to go beyond our human-ness to get there. It’s a thought that surfaced repeatedly as I watched year-old images of battered, desperate New Orleanians, abandoned in an ocean of chaos and sorrow. A year after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, a different kind of devastation lingers. No, it lurks. In the... Read more

SORRY KIDS, NO INDIGO … Alas, a last-minute scheduling snafu means Emily Saliers won’t be able to join our God Girl at the Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia this weekend. We’re sad, but we love the lovely, talented and kind Ms. Saliers just the same. There might be a God Girl/Indigo Girl mash-up yet, just not this weekend. INSTEAD, as originally scheduled, you can hear God Girl read from THE GOD FACTOR at 1:15 p.m. SUNDAY on the Scottie Stage... Read more

GODSTUFF: BLESSED ARE THE WEIGHT WATCHERS: ON THE SACRAMENT OF BROCCOLI CASSEROLE AND BANANA PUDDING Back in the decadent early 1980s, New Wave rocker Adam Ant mocked clean living in his maddeningly catchy song, “Goody Two Shoes.” “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do ya do?” Ant taunted. A new Purdue University study may hold the answer to Ant’s question. If they don’t drink and don’t smoke, what do they do? Eat, apparently. “America is becoming known as a nation of... Read more

Long promised, and well overdue, here is the transcript of my live “God Factor” interview with Moby, June 29, 2006 at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in NYC. My thanks to Moby for his gracious participation and candor. Hope you find it as intriguing as I did. MOBY: Um, before we start talking, I have a question: How come I’m not in the book?   GOD GIRL: You might want to ask your people that. I called about trying... Read more

GODSTUFF: THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD . . . TO GOD? Forty years ago, a young English pop singer said something that sparked such a cultural hullabaloo among many religious Americans that it makes the recent reaction to Madonna’s strapping herself to a disco-ball-glittery crucifix seem like a collective shrug. In August 1966, an American magazine published a portion of a newspaper interview John Lennon of the Beatles had given a British journalist months earlier wherein the topic of religion... Read more