Tag Archives: injustice
A Climate of Violence
Injustice exists; this is reality. Continue Reading A Climate of Violence
Curbing Our Appetites
What Do We Do With Money? Curbing Our Appetites Friday, September 24, 2021 Sallie McFague (1933–2019) was a renowned scholar in the theological disciplines of ecology, economics, and feminist Christianity. In her book Blessed Are the Consumers, she calls consumerism “the most successful religion on the planet” with catastrophic results for humanity and our planet.… Continue Reading Curbing Our Appetites
Trauma and Silence
Trauma and Healing Trauma and Silence Thursday, May 6, 2021 Today I share a contemplative poem from CAC friend and writer Felicia Murrell. Felicia’s words combine a deep awareness of God’s presence while clearly naming the collective trauma of police brutality and lynchings. It is worth remembering, as Black liberation theologian James Cone (1938–2018) points… Continue Reading Trauma and Silence
Merton’s Call for Racial Justice
Thomas Merton: Contemplation and Action Merton’s Call for Racial Justice Friday, November 27, 2020 In the midst of the intense struggle for civil rights, Thomas Merton insisted that Christians had a moral duty to address racism—on a personal and systemic level. His words were prophetic at the time and continue to be relevant to this… Continue Reading Merton’s Call for Racial Justice
The Spirits of the Air
What Do We Do with Evil? The Spirits of the Air Wednesday, October 14, 2020 It was very difficult to become a Christian if you were a Black man on a slave ship, and the slave ship was called ‘The Good Ship Jesus.’ —James Baldwin (1924–1987) The “flesh” is the second source of evil, deadness,… Continue Reading The Spirits of the Air
A Negative Matrix
What Do We Do with Evil? A Negative Matrix Monday, October 12, 2020 One reason we lost interest in the concept of sin is because we usually heard it being used to judge, shame, exclude, or control others or ourselves. Seldom was the concept of sin used to bring discernment or deeper understanding, much less… Continue Reading A Negative Matrix
The Inevitable Spiral of Violence
Nonviolence The Inevitable Spiral of Violence Tuesday, September 19, 2017 Dom Hélder Câmara (1909-1999) was a Brazilian archbishop and brilliant nonviolent activist who offered a model for understanding how structural injustice leads to greater violence. [1] I overlay Dom Hélder’s teaching on the “spiral of violence” with traditional Catholic moral teaching which saw the three… Continue Reading The Inevitable Spiral of Violence
Contemplation AND Action
Action and Contemplation: Week 1 Contemplation AND Action Friday, May 13, 2016 I used to think that most of us must begin with contemplation or a unitive encounter with God and are then led through that experience to awareness of the suffering of the world and to solidarity with that suffering in some form of… Continue Reading Contemplation AND Action