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Catholic

Tony Woodlief

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Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

May 2016

May 19, 2016

The Long Regretful Wait

By Tony Woodlief My mother’s quavering voicemail was right: I hadn’t called in a long...

October 2015

October 20, 2015

The Beast Without

“Isaac’s being a jerk,” my seven year-old, Isaiah, says about his older brother. They have been...

September 2015

September 21, 2015

Let Me Die Like This

When I die, Lord, let me go in a plane crash, spiraling down, earthward, earthward,...

September 03, 2015

I Come Not to Praise the Megachurch

The church may have begun as a non-spiritual entity, a business of some sort that...

August 2015

August 19, 2015

Downturned Face, Upturned Eyes

There is no writing more precious and self-indulgent than the essay about the difficulty of...

July 2015

July 22, 2015

A Boy, a Wren, and the Kingdom

The little boy moves amongst his creation in the sand: a montage drawn with a...

July 02, 2015

Dancing for My Life, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. Traditional dance is, by modern standards, inherently misogynistic. The man leads, in...

July 01, 2015

Dancing for My Life, Part 1

“ONE two three, LONG short short—don’t step on her!” Gulya is my dance instructor. She’s...

June 2015

June 11, 2015

Prayers in the River

I stand hip-deep in a river, casting into the eddies. I am not the kind...

May 2015

May 22, 2015

The Two Lists

Seven-year old Isaiah found a small desk in the back of our garage and claimed...

May 01, 2015

Jesus and Legos in the Deep, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. “Judas the transgressor,” we Eastern Orthodox sing during Holy Friday Matins,“was unwilling...

April 2015

April 30, 2015

Jesus and Legos in the Deep, Part 1

I read about a shipping container holding five million Lego pieces that fell into the...

April 08, 2015

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos and the Megachurch

This post was made possible through the support of a grant from The BioLogos Foundation’s...

March 2015

March 09, 2015

Sojourners in the Darkness

My mother, an uneducated woman in her sixties, said she would ask [his murderer] to...

February 2015

February 24, 2015

Science and Faith: an Evolving Conversation

“I left the Church,” my tablemate explains, “because my priest couldn’t answer my questions.” We...

February 02, 2015

Seeking Mystery in a Secular World

The topic, at the Eighth Day Institute symposium in Wichita, Kansas, was how to regain...

January 2015

January 16, 2015

It’s Time to Derail the Gravy Train

Earlier this week we saw yet again what happens when thousands of the unemployed, living...

December 2014

December 26, 2014

Where Is the Light in Our Darkness?

For most kids I knew, Christmas was a time of anticipation. Even if you hadn’t...

December 02, 2014

Madonna and Child

The entrance makes all the difference. I recently watched the opening of a Madonna concert,...

November 2014

November 18, 2014

Back off, Man, I’m a Scientist

My friend in graduate school used to groan as the holidays approached. His father was...

October 2014

October 27, 2014

Riding the Waves

My sons argue over Avengers characters. The littlest insists he’s Captain America. Another claims Hawkeye....

October 08, 2014

Renouncing the Gridiron

I gave up sports for the same reason I gave up politics and pornography. I...

September 2014

September 12, 2014

The Machinery of Cowardice Fails the Children of Rotherham

My children once heard someone address me as “Doctor,” and so they asked me if...

August 2014

August 25, 2014

We Who Are Left Behind

“Why’d you let go?” Conrad Jarrett shouts at the ceiling, in a climactic scene in...

August 05, 2014

The New Truth Quashes Dissent

It’s comforting, in these confusing times, to know at least some truths are beyond dispute....

July 2014

July 18, 2014

Caught in the Crosshairs: the Children at Our Border

I write this on a Sunday, when people who spent the week shouting at busloads...

July 02, 2014

Mangled Science, Mangled Truth, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. Mathematicians sometimes employ the imagery of a three-dimensional landscape to represent the...

July 01, 2014

Mangled Science, Mangled Truth, Part 1

It’s one of those intellectual nuggets you tuck away for dinner parties: A recent psychological...

June 2014

June 10, 2014

Experimenting on the Lambs

News from Alabama is that researchers obscured risks of blindness, brain damage, and death in...

May 2014

May 23, 2014

Scientific Passions

The nerd world felt a slight disturbance in the force a few weeks back, when...