The Lord's Prayer Revisited

The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ is widely recognized as the familiar prayer Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him “how should we pray?”. It remains the standard prayer recited privately and publically by many Christians everywhere. Recited ritually it can become so repetitive that we forget to  take the time to absorb its hidden meanings. A few simple questions about this prayer might help us to unlock its salvific intent.      

“Our Father in heaven” . . . do you think of ‘heaven’ as a separate and distant place from this earth?  Does this prayer not suggest to us that like any loving parent God not only cares for his children but wants them to become responsible adults?

“Hallowed be your name” . . . does this remind you that as a son/daughter of God that you yourself are also hallowed? Is holiness (wholeness) limited only to the righteous, or are we all holy individuals capable of unholy acts?

“Your kingdom come” . . . does this make you think of the 'kingdom' as something to take place in the present or the  future? Does the next line by Jesus not clearly place it here on earth as well as in heaven?   

 “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” . . . How often do we follow God’s will or instructions to live as ‘kingdom people’ here on earth? Is it possible that by listening to the God within that we can discover that God’s will and our will are perhaps similar?

“Give us this day our daily bread”, . . . do we trust God enough to provide our daily spiritual and physical needs?  Why would God not give us this?  What role (God’s will) do we have to help our neighbours in this regard?

“Forgive us our debts,”.. . . do we really trust God to forgive us for the many errors or mistakes we have made in our life?  If not, are we condemned to carry our pain until death?  What do you make of the following Scriptural passages: Hebrews 8:12 ,Jeremiah 31:34 Isaiah 43:25 , where God reminds us “and I will not remember your sins." ?

“as we also have forgiven our debtors” . . .  Are we able to forgive those who have hurt us and do we realize that God recognizes the burden of holding on to our pain and wants to teach us to let go so that we may be free to live life to the full?

         

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” . . . . now comes the great assurance or comfort that we are not dealing with an entity that will lead us into temptation but rather one who wants to protect us and despite our faults will not punish us but instead is prepared to deliver us from the evil that our ego’s have allowed to come our way. 

The Lord’s Prayer is God’s promise to listen and respond to us while  being fully present in every situation of our daily life – no matter how insignificant or painfully difficult.  The extent to which God is present appears to be entirely up to us. God does not assign any pre-conditions upon our cry for his help or assistance.  This Deity meets us where we are not were others would have us be. Note that this prayer reveals a Creator who completely identifies with us in all our fears, pains and struggles or sins no matter how painful these may be. The same God is equaly present in our hopes, joys and dreams. 

Finally, the Lord's prayer offers a direct line to God’s unconditional love where we will re-discover that we are imbued with the power, but not escape, the  ability to resist evil and do good, to heal and be healed, to forgive and be forgiven, to overcome fear, rejection and temptation, etc.  Did Jesus not also remind  us “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father”? (John 14:12)

Reading the Signs of Time

Step into Kairos



There is little question about how we as humans are affected by the passage of time. It is a constant struggle as we race against the clock to keep appointments, schedule events, take time to rest and recoup from the daily strains of life, etc.,   Yet linear time is an illusion in contrast to God’s time.  Theologians tell us God exists ‘outside time and place’ and  is able to experience our life as a single event – from the alpha to the omega. This now makes perfect sense when as a child we would ask the question how can God possibly connect with us at the same time as all the other people in the world?  St. Thomas Aquinas said [God’s] knowledge, like his existence, is measured by eternity, which in one and the same instant encompasses all time; so his gaze is eternally focused on everything  in time as on something present . . . What happens in time is known by us in time, moment by moment, above time. (Summa Theologiae 14:13)   

The awareness of ‘God’s time’ from ‘linear time’ has an enormous impact on our earthly existence and experience.  

St. Augustine in his City of God (Book 12) argued against Plato and Aristotle – that circular views of time were ‘miserable’ and ‘prevented the appearance of anything new’.  By contrast Christianity offered the possibility of renewal, growth, personal change and salvation. 

Jesus used a Greek term for this: kairos, a word meaning ‘opportunity or 'the right time’.  Kairos is distinct from chronos, the usual Greek word for time, which refers to the mere passage of events.  In Kairos the linear movement of time is less significant than the power and potential of every given moment.  From this, time is not so much a ‘line’ as a pattern of dots, where each dot represents a unique historical opportunity.

In the New Testament, the concept of kairos is used in a special theological sense, to speak about the timing of salvation. Jesus describes his own appearance and the coming of his kingdom as    moments of kairos. Paul tells us that Jesus died at a moment of kairos and that his second coming* will he another. To see kairos moments, said Jesus, we need to be able to 'read the signs of the times’ by looking at the world with the eyes of faith. Only then does the array of religious opportunity become visible. Paul urges his fellow Christians to seize the kairos and put their lives right, before Jesus' second coming and the final judgment**.

John Bowden, Ed. Christianity – The complete Guide, Novalis, 2005.  



Experiencing Timelessness

We have all probably experienced moments of timelessness.  Perhaps it was watching a golden sunset, a walk through a pine scented forest, observing clouds moving effortlessly against a blue sky.  A moment shared between two lovers, etc.  

All it really takes is an awareness to be in the present and letting God be God.  Many gifted spiritual teachers can help us or experience momentary ‘eternity’ without the need to leave earth. This form of meditation, can be a powerful tool especially for those who find prayer as difficult, dull, or frustrating.  The essential key, is to journey beyond mere thought forms and discover satisfying new depths in prayer from the heart.

A well known and proven guide to such exercises, especially for groups, is  available from most bookstores is Anthony de Mello’s ‘Sadhana A Way To God – Christian Exercises in Eastern Form (1984).  For those who prefer a solo effort I recommend ‘Wellsprings – A Book of Spiritual Exercises’ (1984) also by Fr. Anthony de Mello, SJ.   Here follows a brief outline of just one exercise called ‘The Center’

         I imagine that I walk into a desert place.

         I spend some time exploring the surroundings,

         then settle down to contemplate my life.

         I see how frequently I rush outside myself

-     To people, occupations, places, things –

In search of strength and peace and meaning,

forgetting that the source of all

is here within my heart.

It is here that I must search   

One of the profitable benefits experienced by most participants, just like the sunset, is to observe without making judgment and a sense of timelessness.

The universe could no more be separate from God than my body could be separate from its cells.  Moreover, the only emotion that I would associate with God is love, but it would be more accurate to say that God is love than God is loving. – Dr. Allan Smith as quoted by Bernard Haisch, The Purpose – Guided Universe (2010) p. 146.

*  "In titling this work 'The Second Coming of Christ', I am not referring to a literal return of Jesus to earth. He came two thousand years ago and, after imparting a universal path to God's kingdom, was crucified and resurrected; his reappearance to the masses now is not necessary for the fulfillment of his teachings. What 'is' necessary is for the cosmic wisdom and divine perception of Jesus to speak again through each one's own experience and understanding of the infinite Christ Consciousness that was incarnate in Jesus. That will be his true Second Coming. - The Second Coming of Christ (The Resurrection of the Christ Within You) P.  Yogananda

** see also: http://whenreligionfails.blogspot.com/search/label/final%20judgment

Traditional Marriage under attack

The National Catholic Register (US) posted the following headline April 15/2011: 'Marriage 101:  Societal decline of traditional marriage and rise of cohabitation and 'hooking up' affect students’ values, according to Catholic experts.'

This summary was based on a presentation by associate professor W. Bradford Wilcox during a recent symposium at the Catholic University of America. According to Prof. Wilcox ‘the decline of traditional marriage in America continues to affect students’ education and the welfare of the Catholic Church’.  Wilcox and other experts maintain that traditional marriage is on the decline due to:

· The nation’s retreat on marriage

· cohabitation is on the increase

· universities need to do a better job of preparing students for marriage

· Students from unmarried families are prone to more drinking and “hooking up,” or engaging in casual sex

· The creation of the birth control pill

· The government has set up programs encouraging sexual abstinence but still hands out birth control

· the decline in traditional families is affecting the future of the Catholic Church

· unmarried families with children rarely attend church

What should be immediately evident from these expert opinions is that the problem(s) seem to be something or someone else's fault. This begs the question: 'Should this symposium not have redirected its focus on learning to take individual responsibilities instead?'

Accordingly, should we not be teaching our children, students, etc. the importance of being responsible for our own individual actions?  Surely we cannot blame ‘others’ for our own mistakes.  Each of the issues presented above merely provide an excuse for following the crowd.  At the same time it is highly unlikely that these influences are likely to change. What really needs and can be changed are our individual choices and decisions.   So, here follow some recommendation for the church today.  Teach people that they too are connected directly to the Creator and that their salvation is not dependent on the church.  The church too must accept that God dwells within each individual, regardless of our understanding of the faith.  The church can no longer afford to dictate to the people how they must live out their life and spirituality.  It is the hierarchy in the church that must also change if it hopes to survive - although that may already be too late. The current church teaching on human sexuality is hopelessly outdated since it is almost entirely based on the 4^th. century understanding of St. Augustine who himself struggled with sexuality throughout his entire life.  In its own struggle to deal with the growing sexual scandal the church has revealed its own battle with its understanding on the subject.

If the purpose of the symposium was simply a call to return to the traditional form of marriage as defined by the church the decline will most certainly continue for the reasons I have already stated.  

Rather than complain about failures of society let us pass on the importance of learning to accept personal responsibility for our actions and toward others through the unconditional love of God.  The following scriptural passages may be of help: 

 

“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ... Deuteronomy 28:1-68 ESV

For each will have to bear his own load. Galatians 6:5 ESV

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 1 Corinthians 13:11 ESV

The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. Ezekiel 18:20 ESV

The Left Hand of God



The Prodigal Son - Rembrandt

Christian religion is becoming increasingly militant. Today God’s Judgment is often presented in strict terms beginning with punishment and banishment to hell for those who have strayed. Homosexuals are defined as deviants and not worthy of God’s love.  Women who seek abortions, for whatever medical reason and doctors who perform them are called murderers.   Ordinary folks who challenge church teachings are openly threatened with the withdrawal of the sacraments or simply asked to leave the church. Anti-abortion students are encouraged to publically parade with posters displaying graphic images of aborted fetuses. Some religious clerics are eager to ban children of gay parents the right to attend their publically supported schools. Theologians who did not follow church teachings to the letter have been banned by the hundreds from their teaching positions. Religious institutions are confining God’s unconditional love in strict legal terms. Volumes of religious edicts are being issued forth proclaiming that their religion is the only true one, etc. etc. Extremes of every kind are being enforced or applied at the expense of the right to obey our God given conscience.  

Under these conditions is it not entirely reasonable that more and more people are turning away from these ridged and dispassionate views of God and the religious institutions that support them?    

Michael Lerner in his book The Left Hand of God suggests that it is time to listen to the more loving, compassionate and justice seeking voice of God. Instead we seem to have been responding to a fearful voice which is often harsh, judgmental, power oriented and domination seeking.  Rabbi Lerner describes the left hand of God in these simple terms    “The Left Hand of God stands in marked contrast to the vision of God as the powerful avenger, the Force that will overthrow evil through superior power, the Force that seeks to exterminate enemies and suppress dissent. The vision of the Right Hand of God imagines that evil can be wiped out by one more war or by imposing rigid com­mandments about how to live and enforcing them through violence and punishment. It imagines that people can be coerced into goodness.

The human race needs and yearns for the Left Hand of God. It longs to be part of a world in which kindness, generosity, nonviolence, humility, inner and outer peace, love, and wonder at the grandeur of creation stand at the center of our political and economic systems and become the major realities of our daily life experience.

The spiritual consciousness that I call the Left Hand of God is not the exclusive property of any one party or movement.”

Recently I participated in an online exchange with an anonymous Catholic on the sensitive question of heaven and hell. Because my opponent expressed her understanding of hell only in literal terms I tried to present her with the Left Hand of God which presents a more healing image of God and hell.  What follows is a condensed version, which began on the subject of Indulgences and went on to the more serious question of hell:

Trebert:  

The practise of granting Indulgences is rooted in the belief that a penitent needed support by the prayers of the Church in the effort to pay the debt of penance. However, we cannot bargain, earn or win God’s love – it is His gift to all.
Sin cannot prevent us from our eternal reward with God in heaven – sin simply often keeps us in a self created hell on earth. The purpose of salvation is to free us from the burden of sin whenever we are willing to INDULGE and learn from our mistakes with the help of the Holy Spirit. God’s unconditional love heals comforts and forgives the unforgiveable because He does not remember our sins. (If we believe God gives up on people forever and does away with them by sentencing them to death in hell, then we can give up on some people forever and do away with such people by sentencing them to death through capital punishment). The image of God as a vengeful, demanding and punishing deity can literally drive us crazy! Punishment never heals, only love can heal.

Anon:
If sin cannot separate us from God, then there is no point of the Cross.
God does not send anybody to hell. Where did you get that idea from? It’s not a teaching of the church. Heaven is union with God. If someone does not want to be there God will not force them.
God cannot also give someone what does not exist. If they want to love God on their own selfish terms. God cannot give that to them. It does not exist. It's not a question of earning God's love. It's a question of expecting something that does not exist. Love demands justice. The cross is both the mercy and justice of God.

Trebert : Nothing can separate us from the love of God Romans 8:38-39). When we associate or interpret the meaning of the cross with punishment or fear we immediately diminish our understanding of God’s unconditional love. True Love cannot make demands. God’s mercy has everything to do with restorative justice not worldly punishment. Yes, God will not drag us into heaven ‘kicking and screaming’ but he is willing to descent into hell to offer his unconditional love which we may never have experienced or received while we inhabited this earthly place.

Anon:

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, means that nobody can snatch us out of the love of God, but that does not mean that we cannot opt out of it. "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21; cf. Matt. 10:33, 18:35).
The Catechism of the Catholic church states:
#633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom": "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Saviour in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell." Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

Trebert: Are you perhaps more interested in fear, punishment, and eternal hell, etc. than  the love of God? Religion is for those who fear hell. Spirituality is for those who have been there! (anon)

Furthermore, "Hell exists, not as a place but as a state, a way of being of the person who suffers the pain of the deprivation of God.” Pope John Paul II Vatican on July 28, 1999.

Jesus' story of the rich man (Dives) and Lazarus (a poor beggar) is sometimes cited to prove that there are people in hell, or that once a person gets to hell he or she cannot leave. Lazarus, a poor beggar, dies and goes to heaven where he is in the bosom of Abraham. Dives, who had not reached out to help Lazarus, dies and goes to hell. Dives asks if he can go back and warn his five brothers so that they will not end up in hell too. Abraham refuses.

A clue that this story is not to be taken literally as proof that some people are in an eternal state of hell is Dives' desire to help others and Abraham's refusal to permit it. If we define heaven as a state of giving and receiving love, and hell as a state of total alienation in which no love is given or received and repentance is impossible, then the compassionate, unselfish, repentant Dives is at this point behaving more like a resident of heaven than is Abraham. What the story does seem to be saying is two things. First, social standing in this world can be turned upside down in the next. Secondly, if you ignore your brothers and sisters in need (as Dives did previously), you will feel like hell. Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn & Matthew Linn, S.J., Good Goats – Healing Our Image of God, Paulist Press, 1994.

Anon: The love of God does not deny the existence of sin and its consequences - just as a parent disciplines their child, because they do not want them to go astray. Jesus said "Not everybody who calls me, lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven." Do you claim to know more than Jesus? Only angels are spiritual without being religious. Human beings are a body, soul unity. We are bodily persons. This is how we experience the world.

Trebert: The consequence of sin (missing the mark) often results in the experience of hell.  Jesus never condemned anyone who went astray and neither should we. God (Jesus) is unknowable (St. Thomas Aquinas).  When we attend church regularly but do not reflect a basic Christian attitude our pleas “Lord, Lord but will not bring us into the kingdom of heaven.  If religion does not bring us into a direct relationship with God we will not understand the meaning of ‘spirituality’.    

In conclusion to these exchanges the aforementioned book by the Linn family is an excellent Catholic understanding of God’s Left Hand. I highly recommend it for those who yearn for a more healing image of God.

New Evangelization

 

From the earliest days of his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his ardent desire to re-Christianize the West. To this end, he recently unveiled a new Vatican agency, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization. Headed by Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the council is to present the Catholic faith anew to the world.

For many Christians the words ‘to Evangelise’ means “teach people about Jesus Christ as saviour.” This understanding is derived from the instructions issued by Jesus himself as contained in the Gospels. St. Luke (4:43) for example records Jesus saying: “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose”. Jesus subsequently conferred the same mandate upon his apostles: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole of creation” (Mark 16:15). Evangelization is not only the responsibility of the bishops and the clergy, but of “every disciple of Christ, according to his or her ability” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, n. 17)

Jesus evangelized in more than word. He cured the sick, fed the hungry, raised the dead, and gave hope to the poor, however conversion to a particular faith carrying his name is not mentioned anywhere in the four Gospels. Since Jesus was a Jew it would have been logical that he would have insisted that his listeners adopt his Jewish tradition. Not so. The conversion that Jesus spoke about, time and time again, was a conversion of the heart! Evangelization for Jesus meant adopting a new way of life. Jesus was talking about living a life with others where we would share kingdom values such as compassion, understanding, forgiveness, peace, acceptance, etc. This is how Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God, and said that we are already in the kingdom if we live according to these values. Furthermore, Jesus promised that we will live more completely in the kingdom after our death.

Almost from the beginning religious institutions sought to modify Evangelization to include the conversion to their particular branch of faith. Evangelization as interpreted by the early church meant that the convert was required to not only adopt the particular dogma and doctrine of the institution but also accept its traditions even if it meant completely denouncing their own culture and customs. Religious history is filled with many records of forced conversions as well as the destruction of many indigenous cultures which occurred well into the twentieth century. The pages of history are filled with stories of much cruelty and suffering at the hands of many well meaning missionaries. Surely, this was hardly the message of salvation that Jesus came to bring.

So let us once again return to the original meaning the Jesus clearly intended. Christian evangelization has nothing to do with a particular dogma or doctrine, Catholics, or Protestants. It has even less to do with church membership, its liturgy, rubrics, vestments, candles, or a hierarchy. It has everything to do with imitating the life of Jesus Christ and sharing God’s kingdom values here on earth.

Evangelism should really be a two way street. We enter the other’s world because we really believe we are enriched by the interaction and our horizons will be enlarged. We celebrate good and beauty where ever we find it. Jesus often found faith outside his religious tribe (Israel, God’s people) and praised it (Matthew 8:10; 15:28 to name a few instances). Actually, when we read the Gospels we often find Jesus saddened by the lack of faith among his own people and followers.

We don’t bring God to the other, but find God in the other.- Richard Rohr 

On Being a Heretic

Photo: Old Catholic Church on the Island of Barbados

Copyright © 2003–2009 Deron E. Meranda

The heart is a heretic because it seeks unity of spirit, not uniformity of thinking.

Heretics are people who deviate from the norm. The word heretic comes from the Greek word 'haireses', meaning “to chose.” Heretics choose a path that differs from the norm. Jesus was a Jewish heretic, and Christianity began as a Jewish heresy.

Religious orthodoxy is the inevitable result of thinking exclusively from the head. Distinctions of “us-versus-them” dissolve when we see each other through the heart

From: Robert V. Thompson, ‘A Voluptuous God”

I truly think that I am guilty of being a heretic at times - at odds with the church on several sensitive issues, albeit with due respect and uncensored humility. Please note the following words in italics are my own,

ON THE Founding of the Catholic Church

Catechism of the Catholic Church, #763 (1994): Christ accomplished God the Father’s plan of salvation, which was the reason he was sent into the world. By preaching the good news of the reign of God, which had been promised in the Scriptures, Jesus inaugurated the Church.

Good News: Jesus came to inaugurate God’s Kingdom beginning here on earth for all people, not to establish an hierarchical institution complete with all its trappings. The keys of the Kingdom are the keys to living out a life in the Spirit based on Christ's teachings and example.

ON Original Sin

St. Augustine (CE 354-430): the guilt of Adam’s sin is passed on through “lust” involved in procreation.

Catechism of the Catholic Church # 390 (1994):The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents.

Good News: "Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind^* in our image, according to our likeness . . . God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good". (Gen. 126-31, NRSV)

We are God’s holy daughters and sons, created with his original blessing which is to share rather than to receive for the self (ego) alone; and the source of all our pain and suffering.

ON Apostolic Succession

Dogmatic Constitution of the Catholic Church, n. 20 (1965): “by divine institution bishops have succeeded to the place of the apostles”.

Good News: We are all ‘God’s people’, equal in status, (as promised by the Church through baptism) united by embracing diversity through the Spirit to share the ‘good news’ with all those God places in our path.

ON Salvation outside the Church

Catechism of the Catholic Church , # 846: (1994) ‘Outside the Church there is no Salvation” How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body.

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 171,(2006): This means that all salvation comes from Christ, the Head, through the Church which is his body. Hence they cannot be saved who, knowing the Church as founded by Christ and necessary for salvation, would refuse to enter her or remain in her. At the same time, thanks to Christ and to his Church, those who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ and his Church but sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, try to do his will as it is known through the dictates of conscience can attain eternal salvation.

Good News: “those who sincerely seek God and open themselves to God’s grace can be saved even if they have no explicit knowledge of Christ”. (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 1965)

ON Universalism

St. Augustine(CE 354 - 330) : God does not actually will everyone to be saved; for if God did, no one would be lost.

Council of Constantinople (AD 553) : The concept known as Universalism holds that all persons and creatures are related to God or the Divine and will be reconciled to God. The Fifth General Council of the church in Constantinople officially condemned Universalism. Promoting it could result in punishment, even death, for heresy.

Good News: “God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Tim 2:3-4

If everyone understood their holy nature above their sinful or ‘false self’ believing that God desires to reconcile all in heaven, we could stop judging those we banish to hell and get on with the ‘here and now’! (see also my blog on ‘Heaven and Hell’')

ON Sexuality - Homosexuality

Catechism of the Catholic Church , # 2359, (1994): Homosexual persons are called to chastity . . they should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

‘Dominus Jesus’ (2002) Catholic Doctrinal Statement: “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder,”

Good News: The New Catholic Catechism (1969) “It is not the fault of the individual if he or she is not attracted to the other sex. The causes of homosexuality are unknown”

"I find it strange that, if I were to tell a cardinal in the Vatican that I was struggling with doubts about the existence of God, I would receive sympathy and support. But if I were to tell the same cardinal that I had doubts about papal teaching on contraception and the ordination of women, I would receive a stern lecture on loyalty to the pope". Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, 'Confronting Power & Sex in the Catholic Church'.

The aim of this pilgrim heretic, is not to take issue with organized religion, but rather to awaken that restless and questioning Spirit that rests within all hearts. A Spirit that will not rest until it rests in God.

more to come . . . .