This week the Catholic Church was rocked by the news that same-gender couples are not eligible to receive "same-sex blessings." Note the question wasn't whether or not those in LGBTQ relationships can get sacramentally married in the Catholic Church. The horror, right? Heaven forbid the Church offer sacramental equality and treat all God's people equally.... Continue Reading →
Lent is fast-approaching with Ash Wednesday right around the corner. Like many of you, I'm considering how I want to live these 40 days and how God is calling me to respond in these uncertain times. Where is this Lenten time calling you? I'd like to suggest one possible focus for this season of renewal:... Continue Reading →
Countless news articles this week explored various iterations of the question, "Where do we go from here?" A recent reflection by Fr. Ronald Rohlheriser, OMI asks, "What is love asking of us now?" Martin Luther King, Jr. asks in one of his seminal texts, "Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?" On his... Continue Reading →
Image: San Damiano Crucifix (replica) in Cathedral of St. Francis, Santa Fe, New Mexico Christmas 2020 Lately I've felt drawn to learn more about Saints Francis and Clare and the Franciscan charism. This fall I plunged into the history of the movement by reading Paul Sabatier's The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St.... Continue Reading →
In many ways, Advent is about preparing the way of the Lord. We are encouraged to wait, anticipate, listen, and slow down in order to - prepare - the way. Advent is all that. And more. Perhaps the best way to prepare for God-with-us is becoming God-within-us. How are we invited to not only prepare... Continue Reading →
COVID-19 and racism. To be sure, we continue to reel from both. As I type this the U.S. is seeing a resurgence of corona virus cases and our streets - still filled with mostly peaceful protestors - demand justice for those murdered at the hands of "bad cops." What is clear about both is that... Continue Reading →
This past week I had the privilege of helping with the Rolling the Stone Away Conference in St. Louis. A conference for LGBTQIA saints and prophets, approximately 300 gathered to honor our history and empower our future. It was inspiring! During one of the panel discussions, a responder asked us to consider how we hold inherited religious... Continue Reading →
What’s missing? Perhaps even more important, who is missing? What face of God is missing when people of color aren’t represented, for example. Or members of the LGBTQI community. Or women. Or those with views different from our own. If we are going to cultivate communities of authenticity we need to stop and ask what or who is not there. This... Continue Reading →
How can we support authentic human flourishing? With the great disparities in our world, how can we be especially attentive to human flourishing for those on the margins? Those on the periphery of society who are struggling to get a fair shot and equal opportunities to succeed? This “preferential option” for the oppressed, outcast, vulnerable and marginalized places... Continue Reading →
Ryan J. Hoffmann 