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The marvel of America
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of...
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Some words about speaking (or, Even Loudmouths Are Insecure)
Last week I joined 24 Liturgical Music Ministers at Notre Dame Vision to help them wrap up a conference week with two morning presentations. We spent one day on relationships and community, and another...
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Megyn Kelly and the mystery of white feminism
When history judges our era’s collection of liberation movements, it may well note that progress for women’s rights was halting and disjointed. Other groups advocating for legal rights and an end to...
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How Hurricane Katrina opened my heart
I can hardly believe it has been ten years since Hurricane Katrina, the breaking of the levees and subsequent devastation in New Orleans. Those events moved me so strongly that they have taken on a...
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Shootings, politics, and blame
Again. Another shooting. Another reason to say “how awful”, another opportunity for your heart to break. This one hits close to home, so I’m sitting here weeping, but most of what I think about is some...
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What I’m into, August 2015
Have I mentioned to you how grateful I am to Leigh Kramer for encouraging me to reflect on each month with her What I’m Into linkup? If I haven’t, then I’m saying it now. On to what I was into this...
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No, the Pope isn’t “talking politics”
As the Pope makes his way up the East Coast this week, journalists and pundits are eager to slide his remarks into the American political mold. This is to be expected, but let’s not pretend that the...
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Loving Your Body is an Act of Faith – my guest post for CBE International
I was honored that the good folks at Christians for Biblical Equality invited me to contribute this month. Enjoy! How many of us have shaped our lives around the message that when we go out to proclaim...
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The shame of being careful
I am much more careful when I write than when I speak. Naturally inclined to run off at the mouth, and with poor impulse control, I am in a constant battle with self to temper my speech, but have...
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We Are Never Safe
We are never safe. If someone wants badly enough to hurt us, they will. There was a time when I believed such things only happened to other people, but it was very long ago. For there to be an attack...
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What we need alongside “thoughts and prayers”
The most recent mass shooting has us all thinking and praying again. But last night’s reaction was different: there was an outburst of outrage at those who offer “thoughts and prayers” without...
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What was missing from Spotlight
I saw Spotlight during its initial limited release in Boston before Thanksgiving. It took me a month before I knew what I wanted to say about it, and almost another before I found the nerve to write it...
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(Barely) Remembering David Bowie
A few days ago someone asked me if I’ve been watching Making a Murderer. I shrugged, as I usually do when asked about any piece of relevant pop culture, and said I don’t usually watch things that are...
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When protest becomes prayer
O God, make us willing to do your will, come what may. Increase the number of persons of good will and moral sensitivity. Give us renewed confidence in nonviolence and the way of love as taught by...
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“Two Corinthians” and The Whole Ballgame
A certain presidential candidate speaking at a certain evangelical university made headlines (when does he not?) this weekend by saying “Two Corinthians 3:17, that’s the whole ballgame.” That he said...
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The rent we pay
The homeless shelter I visited this week in my neighborhood is not a sign that we are doing anything wrong, but rather that we are doing something right. A local parish is the one that opened its...
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What I’m into (March 2016)
I’ve been way overdue on sharing What I’m Into the last few months, since I’ve mostly been into running Boston Singers’ Resource, performing in The Light in the Piazza and Company, and teaching a few...
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The Stanford rape case and the politics of penance
When I chose to focus my graduate thesis on penance in the early Church, I believed that I was giving a lot of attention to wholly impractical topic (for such topics graduate study is made!), but I...
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The least wrong thing to say
It’s a dangerous time to have a thought. In the aftermath of a tragedy, for whatever thought you have, there are plenty of people willing to tell you that it is wrong. The internet is not a place where...
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What I mean by “racist”
I have been accused of overusing the word “racist”. While this may or may not be true, what is usually implied by this criticism is not that I am overusing it, but that I am misusing it. “Nobody said...
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