I often see scaffolding wrapped around buildings. Rigid metal poles bolted together. Planks and ladders providing safe passage from one place of work to another. Scaffolding is needed for major repairs and maintenance, such as replacing a roof, or painting a tall building. Sometimes, this scaffolding is then plastic-wrapped, to provide privacy, safety, and a Read more
Not one prayer Marcia. Even though you asked me to pray for your pilgrimage to Santiago, not one dialogue with God has unfolded. No petitions have been sent heavenward asking for your safekeeping. Not even any candles lit on your behalf. My lack of proper praying hasn’t given rise to any guilt at all; just an engaged interest Read more
The new deputy principal of Nga Tawa Diocesan School for Girls thinks New Zealand children are very spiritual beings. He said, for instance, New Zealand children were very in tune with their environment. “And this is not to be confused with religion, this is not about religion.” After studying in India Kannan came to Rotorua Read more
I soooooooo don’t get it. John Main says, “Language may not be able to lead us into the ultimate communion but it is the atmosphere in which we first draw breath of consciousness.” I have spent more than fifty years acquiring language – a spiritual language, that is, not my native tongue – and suddenly Read more
Baby boomers do not lack in spirituality, according to Right Reverend Ray Coster, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. He says they just expressed it in different ways. He said while baby boomers and their children were the ones most likely not to belong to a church because they struggled with the Read more
‘Why on earth do people use crosses to mark road deaths,’ asked my friend as we were setting the world to rights over a glass of vino. ‘It seems strange,’ she said, ‘it’s not as though they’d all be believers.’ Her question penetrated. I turned to talk to her but instead found myself looking back Read more
A bunch of blokes were gathered in a holy huddle at the back of a cathedral, worried that no one seemed to be listening to their good news anymore. Par for the course now but this was Paris during the Second World War. A world in turmoil meant people were thinking for themselves, taking up Read more
Fran Rossi Szpylczyn is a self-described “church nerd.” You could say she is something of an Internet one, too. A blogger for six years, she currently writes for three faith-related blogs — one for her own parish, one for the parish where she works as the office manager and onefor the Times Union newspaper in Albany, N.Y. That’s not counting her Read more
“The Rohr Institute” is not a title you’re likely hear Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr use himself. But while he shies away from the name for fear that the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) will be misinterpreted as a “cult of personality,” the center’s staff is working diligently to transform its programming so the legacy Read more
Stephanie Dowrick is one of Australia’s most influential spiritual teachers. She has carved out a unique and independent niche in the realm of religion in this country. She is a prolific, best-selling author, a qualified psychotherapist, and much in demand as a speaker. She leads spiritual tours and retreats, and is a pioneer among the handful Read more