Simply Spirit: Racism and white supremacy are killing our Black and brown sisters and brothers. We white people — especially white Catholics — are being called to do something about it. But what must we do?
From Where I Stand: The greenness of life is withering, and we are late in coming to consciousness about climate change while we wait for the government or science to save us as we ignore the damage we are doing to ourselves.
Simply Spirit: The mental state of acedia tells us that the world and our church are beyond the power of God to save. This is where our Advocate, the Holy Spirit — our Advocate-Spirit — comes in.
From Where I Stand: As long as we silently accept Donald Trump's big lie and do nothing to expose it, he will see that the people he lied to about it keep voting the lie's carriers into office.
From Where I Stand: Now in its infancy, a new form of synodality — such a rare model of operation in the Roman church — is fast becoming a new sign of both hope and despair.
Simply Spirit: Addressing the woeful omission of biblical women leaders in lectionary texts should be a top priority for today's Catholic Church. We asked for this at the time of the 2008 synod on the Word. What about now?
From Where I Stand: COVID-19 lockdowns didn't deprive us of anything in the realm of faith. Instead, they are simply requiring us to dig deeper for spirituality ourselves — which is what we have always been meant to do.
Simply Spirit: Women's History Month is a great time to celebrate the 'mothers of the church,' early female believers who shaped our church's future no less than the better-known 'fathers.'
From Where I Stand: Lent is not about giving up our adult candy or immersing ourselves in pain. Lent is about being honest with ourselves, changing what needs to change in our lives, making our world a better place and growing into the Light.
Simply Spirit:A Deadly Education, the intriguing first book in Naomi Novik's new series, led me to think in new ways about how we are called to use our own graced "superpowers" to overcome evil and promote good.
From Where I Stand: We are clearly a people in transition. But going from what to what? Abba Pambo, a Coptic desert monastic of the fourth century preached, "If you have a heart, you can be saved," and his words offer us wisdom now.
From Where I Stand: If you want to resolve a problem, you must be willing to face it, to address it consciously, to confront it. We must stand up to the wind that's shaking the pillars of our republic.
Simply Spirit: I think it oddly providential — or perhaps synchronistic — that the horrific events at the U.S. Capitol occurred on the Feast of the Epiphany. An epiphany is a manifestation or an awakening.
Commentary: As I sit socially distant with other health care workers, there is a reverence as we wait to receive the vaccine for COVID-19. This is not only about protecting me; it is about protecting others.
From Where I Stand: It is not the force of power, or the power of force, that can save us. Only inclusiveness and equality everywhere — not party bosses or class conformism — can really save us.
From Where I Stand: Rule making or rule breaking? Each of these has its place. The moral response requires that we decide which is most life-giving at any given time.
Simply Spirit: It may be time to own our despair. The clerical system isn't working anymore. Perhaps it was never meant to work, only we didn't realize it.
From Where I Stand: My mother insisted that there was something to be learned in everything. I've learned a lot from President Donald Trump in none of the ways I wanted to.
From Where I Stand: The time is now. Otherwise, it will forever be too late to grasp this moment of holy change again. It will be far too late to take on the pride, greed and corruption that has brought us to this time.
Simply Spirit: Okay, I have a confession to make. Last spring, as I watched the coronavirus pandemic explode across our planet, I was beyond furious at Donald Trump. (But that's not my confession.)
