Tag: Culture
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St. Therese and Mental Illness
Mental illness and spiritual battle often get conflated, and the faithful that suffer with mental illness find differentiating the two nearly impossible. The assumption at the root of this conflation is that emotional and mental distress is a purely spiritual phenomenon that requires a solely spiritual response. Resentment, loss of faith, and/or despair abound for…
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“I am not broken”: Rethinking a Christian Presentation of the Gospel
She spoke a language I could not understand. Standing a few inches taller than me, with dark hair tied up in a tight ponytail and her arms crossed, this young, bright poli sci student looked me in the eye and said, “I feel so sorry for you.” I gaped. The smile that accompanied these words…
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Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin
Growing up I often heard the phrase “love the sinner, hate the sin” used as a way to approach the complexity of living in a world where we are called to love a broken and sinful people. This phrase actually comes from St Augustine in his Letter 211 where he writes, “Cum dilectione hominum et…
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On the Crusades and Their Significance for Christianity
Shellfish. Starving children in Africa. The Crusades. In a normal, rational world, these three subjects would be as far apart from each other topically as they are physically. In religious debate between an uninformed atheist and an unprepared Christian, however, these three topics are the conversation’s bread and butter. Having grown up in the church…
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Just Say it in American
Here I am, back from a long break, and the best block of content that I could think of was a guide on how to pronounce foreign words in English. How does this have to do with Christianity? Let’s just say that you will find out later. But in the spirit of writing about religious…
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St. Ignatius and Opportunity Costs
For millennia the family craft would dictate one’s career. The son of a farmer is expected to be a farmer, the son of the fisherman will become a fisherman, and the son of the carpenter will become a carpenter. Within the past century a new model of choosing your own career became the norm. You…
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Beyond Brexit
Today, Brexit was supposed to become official. However, it was delayed and the drama seems to be continuing till June 30th at the latest. Regardless of the timing, this year the United Kingdom will part ways from the European Union and enter the unknown, an unknown that can lead to new opportunities and greater risks.
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Commitment and Friendship
In my limited experience in this life I have noticed that there is a tendency to push against true intimacy with other people. In the realm of relationships and marriage a higher divorce rate and increasing break-up related suicide are symptoms of a deeper problem concerning a lack of real intimacy. While fear of the…
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The Strange Image of America
It is common in American immigrant communities to view things from their ancestral homeland as sacred and holy, while viewing everything American as profane and disposable. This trend is difficult to quantify, and it is based solely on my observations. Yet I noticed it consistently throughout immigrants from Eastern Europe as well as even some…