I really like “Gender, Sex, and Other Nonsense,” an essay by Daniel Walden back in the March issue of Commonweal. It’s a beautiful, Catholic piece of writing about transness and self-narratives.
Guest Post: Reverse Culture Shock: Who Am I Post-Service?
Almost a quarter of a year has gone by since I left my life as a Jesuit volunteer in Peru. I was not prepared for the struggle to define myself in an old and familiar context but now as someone different.
What Are the Elements of Your Spirituality?
Reflecting a year removed from a retreat I took myself on, I ponder what it looks like to create retreats for myself in “the real world” and how I can use my natural gifts to enter more deeply into relationship with God, myself, and the world.
So Much More Than Mud Huts
Until I lived there, South Sudan was more of a concept than an actual place. But in the spring of 2018, I got an email from a Jesuit priest who was the Country Director for the Jesuit Refugee Service in South Sudan.
Becoming an Artist, Again
My experiment in regaining a sense of curiosity, creativity, and playfulness not just in the times I set aside to indulge my wannabe artist but, in my life overall.
Guest Post: Advent Birthing
I love the imagery and symbolism of pregnancy and birth during this time of Advent, because it is so rich with meanings and also of course because I love accompanying women as they prepare and work to bring new life into the world.
The Guest House
Rumi’s “The Guest House” is an invitation to be present to whatever season of life you are in, and to entertain the moment to moment experience of it. As someone who is still learning to acknowledge, accept, and appreciate all emotions, I find Rumi’s words both comforting and challenging.
My Principles
I’m the sort of nerd who likes to articulate my principles. I love being able to recite these words in times of prayer and lean on them in times of stress. My articulations of my principles are largely borrowed from Thich Nhat Hanh’s mindfulness trainings, but I have gone ahead and made some modifications of my own.
Radical Friendship
I’ve recently started to re-examine what Arrupe actually meant by love in his “Fall in Love” prayer. What if we treated our friendships with the same kind of intentional love as other relationships?
The Wisdom of Emptiness
Although we, as Catholics, make a commitment to the “one, holy, and apostolic church”, I have found a spiritual connection to Buddhism: a relationship that possibly expands and further explains what I value in the Catholic tradition.
Chia Seeds: Truth in Trends?
What’s up with chia seed trend? Is it healthy or should we think twice?
Guest Post: They Say
“They Say” is a poem Meg O’Neill wrote while working in Ritsona refugee camp in central Greece.
Recipe: Quinoa Greens
Quinoa Greens is one of my favorite recipes. It’s tasty. It’s healthy. It’s simple to cook, and it’s easy to modify.
Cooking Up Community
Three lessons, three questions, and one recipe: reflections on cooking, community, and care.
Queer Sexuality and its Challenges to Christianity and Catholicism
Released in 2018, Boy Erased and The Miseducation of Cameron Post bring major attention to Christian conversion therapy and the general repression of queerness by conservative Christian communities. In this post I discuss the ripple effects this kind of mass media representation has on people who identity as both queer and Christian, and what that might mean for FJVs working towards a better understanding of allyship within the church.
The Ruined Report 