Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Good Letters

Home
Catholic

Good Letters

Select a Category A. G. Harmon Alissa Wilkinson Allison Backous Art Authors Brad Fruhauff Bradford Winters Bryan Bliss Caroline Langston Chad Thomas Johnston Chris Hoke Christiana N. Peterson Culture D.G. Myers D.L. Mayfield Daniel Bowman Jr. David Griffith Elizabeth Duffy Faith Film Greg Wolfe Guest Contributor Interview Jan Vallone Jeffrey Overstreet Jessica Eddings-Roeser Jessica Mesman Griffith Kelly Foster Lindsey Crittenden Morgan Meis music Natalie Vestin Nick Olson Peggy Rosenthal Personal Reflection Poetry Friday Reflection Relationships Review Richard Chess Richard Cole Sara Zarr Shannon Huffman Polson Sonya Bilocerkowycz Tania Runyan Tony Woodlief Topical Categories Uncategorized Vic Sizemore Writing

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

July 2018

July 23, 2018

Welcome to Tel Aviv

Early on Friday morning, the first full day of my recent trip to Israel with...

July 19, 2018

I Hate Summer

For the past several days—until today, alas—we’ve been having a spell of entirely uncharacteristic weather...

July 18, 2018

Party in the USA

The day is hot and musty but everyone is celebrating. After all, everyone can enjoy...

July 17, 2018

Fast Food Funeral Procession

The line lurched forward one vehicle at a time, halogen halos radiating from headlights. Although...

July 16, 2018

Pennies from Heaven

I’ve never really been into crosses. Like fire hydrants or Starbucks, there are so many,...

July 12, 2018

Inspired by Rachel Held Evans’s Inspired

Fridays used to be pizza and a movie nights, growing up. My dad would bring...

July 11, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 9, Psalms, In the End

Thinking of the psalms as a way to cycle through the entire range of human...

July 10, 2018

Leaving My Denomination

The first time my wife and I worshipped in an Episcopal church, we were members...

July 09, 2018

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Our son Eric was four years old. My husband George, after teaching all day at...

July 07, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 8: Psalms In the Beginning

I always privately hated the psalms. Most of them, anyway. As a teenager, I’d leaf...

July 03, 2018

Sonnets in the Prime of My Life

The sonnet, of course, is the gold standard of form, the first one most people...

July 02, 2018

Living in a Border State

I spent elementary school in a Mexican neighborhood in Austin, Texas. I attended birthday parties...

June 2018

June 28, 2018

For the Love of Money

My husband and I took a spring break trip to the central coast of California,...

June 27, 2018

The Summer I Wasn’t Attacked By a Shark

Jaws is released the summer I turn fourteen, and my friends and I spend every...

June 26, 2018

The Pope’s Call to Saintliness

Did you know that you're meant to be a saint? So says Pope Francis, in...

June 25, 2018

Monasticism In Lockdown America, Part 7: Holy Fool

Hank’s trembling confession that he’d be killing God if he killed another inmate had charged...

June 21, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 6, Icons

The jail staff asked if I would meet with some of the guys in the...

June 20, 2018

An Italian Journey with Auden, Goethe, Sex, and God

Recently, I was wandering around some of the less travelled corners of Tuscany with a...

June 19, 2018

I Feel Bad About My Neck

I feel bad about my neck. Those are not my words; they’re the title of...

June 18, 2018

Yehuda Amichai: My One Poet

If I could have only one poet, I’d choose Yehuda Amichai. He’s the poet of...

June 14, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 5, Holy Elders

With their white beards and deep lines in their faces, the older men stand out...

June 13, 2018

On Cultivating Friendship

On a festive Sunday evening in what should have been spring (nearly sixty degrees at...

June 12, 2018

I Am Not My Phone

How You Know It’s Time for a New Phone There was a moment when...

May 2018

May 31, 2018

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Part 3, Exercises

I recognized the Orthodox monks’ prostrations I’d learned in the monastery in the “burpees” the...

May 30, 2018

The Odyssey as Liturgy

I happened to be in the midst of re-reading Homer’s Odyssey when the current issue...

May 29, 2018

Mother’s House

Mother’s house is not a house. Mother’s house is not a cave. Mother’s house is...

May 28, 2018

I Am Not a Mother: I’m a Human Being

“You’re not a good mom!” My ten-year-old daughter shouted as she stomped up to her...

October 2017

October 18, 2017

Looking For Release

This post originally appeared at Good Letters on May 9, 2012. Dayne, my mother’s ex-boyfriend,...

October 02, 2017

Bridal Veils and Blessing

In the back of the closet right, where I’d stowed it years before, I found...

September 2017

September 06, 2017

The Tattoo Monologues

Getting a tattoo is not only about deciding what to etch onto one’s body forever,...