“This isn’t who we are.” This morning I heard those five words spoken by someone I respect — Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post — about the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. I wanted to jump through the TV and slap him. Let me explain. It will take a minute, so bear ...
I recently heard from a long-time friend in South Carolina, Mr. Eager Beaver, a high school civics teacher in the hamlet of Van Wyck. I mentioned to him what a mess I thought the country was in, but I must have said some things he found extreme. Mr. Beaver, shocked to the marrow by some ...
When it seems I’ve dropped off the face of the earth for a month, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to write about, it only means that other things kept me from it. That’s what happened this last month when two events — an initially scary 10-day illness and The Women’s World Cup — sidelined me. ...
This morning I re-read a wonderful little book entitled Falling Upward by Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest. I first read it on the recommendation of one of my sisters, who isn’t conventionally religious. I suspect it interested her because it doesn’t just speak to Christians, but to anyone who lives life thoughtfully. In a chapter ...
Almost two years ago, I posted a blog entitled “The Drums of War.” (The piece, dated Aug. 14, 2017, is in this site’s Archives.) I fretted then about the building sentiment for war with North Korea. This was before Trump fell in love with the mass murderer who leads that country. Happily, my fears ...
About 20 years ago, I was introduced to the work of an organization called The Rural & Migrant Ministry. It was led by an inspirational and determined Episcopal priest named Richard Witt, and it was my good fortune to be assigned to work for his ministry upon my ordination as deacon. Because I speak Spanish, ...
While taking a sabbatical from blogging during Holy Week and Easter, I became more and more intrigued by Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. From the outset I was attracted by his resume. I’m a sucker for Rhodes Scholars. He is obviously whip smart and highly accomplished. But the more I heard ...
Before I begin……….take a long look at the lady in the title photo above. That is what a political leader looks like. She is wearing a hijab to demonstrate her solidarity with the Muslim community of her country. Which of our political leaders would have the same sensitivity and courage? How many times have you ...
As the Quixotic Deacon travels further into the maw of Lent and his annual struggle to observe the season in a holy fashion, some rather non-Lenten thoughts have bubbled up. Herewith: The Methodists In late February a worldwide convocation of Methodist leaders, both lay and clergy, voted to reaffirm the church’s ban on ...
David Brooks, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, is an erudite and thoughtful public intellectual admired by many readers, me among them. But I was dismayed when I read his Feb. 26 column, which was entitled “An Agenda for Moderates.” Brooks weighs two competing ideas that animate today’s politics — Tribe, a “magnetic ...
