Religious women - both Catholic and Orthodox, and yes, one Methodist minister - have been a tremendous influence in my life. Right now, American Catholic (mainly) Religious and (some) Nuns (NB: Nuns are cloistered and thus rarely found outside of monasteries; those women who taught you, etc. are Religious Sisters) are under threat from the Vatican ( Read more... )

Greetings, respected bloggers and all readers of my journal ( Read more... )

This year, I posted the names of 30 LGBT people killed in hate crimes around the United States. Here is the explanation that I posted to my facebook wall ( Read more... )

Can you love someone if you don't speak to them ( Read more... )

Last night, I had one of my usual stress dreams. Ever since 2001, when my best friend sent her last letter to me, I've been haunted by the question of why. I had loved her so deeply for a decade, and we had been so close in our own way, that it made no sense to me that she would cut me off like that. The last thing she wrote to me was a ( Read more... )

I have a secret: I was a Philosophy major. This dismays papertigers somewhat, but by the time she found out, it was too late for her ( Read more... )

This year, I have been thinking a lot about Christianity as an ascetic faith. I've been thinking about it particularly as I've heard some of my own faith speak on the furthest right extreme of contemporary issues, and thought about how much differently I see things, and how much differently many clergy see things. I've also been hearing a lot ( Read more... )

In a church in Los Angeles, where I grew up, there is an icon called Mother of God Rescuer of the Perishing. As a child, I sang the Akathist to the Rescuer of the Perishing. It's such a hopeful name for an icon, which is perhaps why, in times of trouble, I immediately seek out and silently (or in an undertone if I have more privacy) chant the ( Read more... )

I was reading an interview with a monk posted to the Orthodoxy community and an entry in louiseroho's journal, and I found myself thinking about the lack of courage in our daily lives ( Read more... )

Here are some of the best words I've heard in a long time. This is sweet and loving and oh so very hopeful. It's water in the desert.

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