New Guest Blogger Flora Harper

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 1:25 pm by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

New Guest Blogger Flora Harper 2014-12-27T13:25:54-05:00 Fr. Dwight Longenecker

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Flora Harper joins the stable of Standing on My Head’s famous guest bloggers. Flora writes the Spirituality column for the Los Angeles Cosmos. She has published articles for the FemToday website, writes an advice column for Blondie and is working on her first book, “Get Your Inner Goddess Out Girl!” Flora has a degree in sociology and media studies. She is a self described “cafeteria Catholic” who loves candles, incense, quiet moments of centering prayer, Catholic celebrations like high school homecoming and baptism ceremonies. Flora is in a long term loving relationship.

I’m so happy to have this chance to write on spirituality for another website!

Spirituality is a very important thing in today’s world. So many people long to be spiritual, and I’m one of them!

I love Pope Francis so much don’t you? I call him the cuddly pope. Just like somebody’s grandad.

I hope he gets rid of all these bigots and hateful people who call themselves Catholic. They are so intolerant! Why doesn’t he just get rid of them is what I want to know. Don’t they know the main message of the Catholic Church is “All are welcome!”

They should just leave. Let them start their own religion if they don’t like Papa Francesco.

The main ones who should be driven out are the Catholics who hate homosexuals.

The homosexuals I know are all nice people. They live in nice homes in the suburbs with a basketball backstop in the driveway and flower pots on the porch just like everyone else. One of the families I know has two mommies and they bring cookies to the school bake sale too! Why are these bigoted Catholics so hateful? We are friends with two gay men who are so funny and nice! They drive a Lexus just like I do! They have a house at the ocean and take nice holidays in Italy just like I do! How can anybody be so full of hate toward nice people like that? We need to welcome these people and affirm their lifestyle. Do we reject them just because they are different? Who are we to say who they can love or not?

This is not being spiritual!

The problem with these bigots is that they are worried about “dogma”. When are they going to learn that the Catholic Church has moved on from all that? The second Vatican Council taught us that dogma divides. All this obsession with rules and regulations is what makes religious people kill one another.

They should listen more closely to Dr Martin Luther King Jr who said, “I have had a dream. Love is all you need.” Or the Dahlia Llama who has written, “All we are saying is ‘Give Peace a Chance'”

These are the spiritual people we should be listening to. And Dr Joel Osteen.

I will close with an encouraging quotation from one of my favorite spiritual writers, Mother Starblood–a female shaman who lives near Asheville, North Carolina.

Mother Starblood says, “The earth moves under your feet. The stars whisper their secrets to you. When the wolves howl you howl. Be still and commune with your inner goddess.”

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