It was over 600 years ago that Julian of Norwich had this amazing revelation – “All Shall be Well.” When we look around us, we can easily question the audaciousness of her vision’s hopefulness and serenity: how could all things possibly “be well” when we’re are surrounded by violence, savage acts of terrorism, mass murder, […]
Arthur Conan Doyle
Resurrection: What it Is and Isn’t
Resurrection: a good topic for the continuing Easter season in the Christian calendar. (Our Orthodox brothers and sisters will celebrate Easter on May 1st this year.) While Christians think we have a pretty good idea what we mean by resurrection, or at least the resurrection of Jesus, it is actually more complicated than it appears […]
Capital Punishment from the Perspective of the “Other Side”
The United States is one of the few Western industrialized nations that still allows the death penalty. Americans who favor capital punishment justify it for several reasons: someone who commits a heinous crime deserves to die; the death penalty is a deterrent to violent crime; and death is the only punishment that comes close […]
Animals go to Heaven
About a year ago, Pope Francis was purported to comfort a child on the death of his pet by saying that animals go to heaven. While the report may be apocryphal (and may or may not actually have been attributed to Pope Paul VI), the survival of animals’ souls after death is a persistent question, […]