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Chris McDonnell     2018 articles 


 


Dec 26: Earth rise over our moon
The US Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the Apollo 8 flight around 

Dec 19: The Jesus Child

Dec 12: Gaia's revenge
"The continuation of civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend is in your hands"

Dec 5: Henri Nouwen - a lonely mystic
Because of his own struggles and experiences he was able bring support to those who were struggling, he knew where they were for he had been there himself.

Nov 28: A drifter passing by
The story-telling aspect of tapestries, meticulously stitched by hand a thread at a time has often been a model of our own lives, put together one piece at a time

Nov 21: Leaves that were green turn to brown
"Those who are best at forgiving are those who do not forget"

Nov 14: A bird with a broken wing cannot fly
How will the Democracy of immigrants that forms the United States rebuild trust and civility?

Nov 7: The pity of war
The War that had cost so much in human suffering also took apart the very fabric of society

Oct 31: The voice of courage (Oscar Romero)
Many people have paid a high price for their honesty in speaking out

Oct 31: Abraham's Children (Pittsburgh synagogue shooting)

Oct 24: Who calls the tune?
Great leadership looks to what might be achieved over and above the mistakes of previous times

Oct 17: When it comes to talking
Yet for the average Joe, the agenda is unknown, the detail a matter of conjecture

Oct 10: Give me a drink
Idle time spent by water is never wasted

Oct 3: A much needed place
He was a person who was at home with diversity, seeking common ground and understanding rather than looking for the edges and tripping points of discord

Sep 26: I'm just passing through
We have all been there sometime, in a strange place, hesitant in an unknown town or city, not sure of the next step to take.

Sep 19: Write a letter or two
Over many centuries, letters have been exchanged about anything and everything

Sep 12: 9/11 reflection

Sep 12: The fragile face of dignity
W
e should be dignified people of principle

Sep 5: A suffering Church
W
e are facing a cataclysmic change that hasn't been experienced since the years when reformation swept through Europe

Aug 29: A pastor for his people - Raymond Hunthausen
He was truly a man of the Beatitudes

Aug 22: When honesty comes at a price
The cover-up became part of the story

Aug 15: Brother Roger of Taize
Thirteen years ago, on August 16th, 2005, the founder of the Taize ecumenical community was attacked and killed during evening prayer

Aug 8: Year of three Popes
That time now is history though forty years on, its influence is still felt

Aug 1: The Transfigured Christ
Each of us can identify some such turning point, some significant occasion in our lives

July 25: Remaining faithful
Being alongside someone is about remaining faithful

July 18: Fifty years on and still a disputed question
It is hard to argue the case for responsible conjugal love with those whose experience is, by and large, that of the celibate looking-on

July 11: Baggage on the journey
Y
ou cannot be understood if the language you use is archaic and has therefore no meaning for those we address

July 4: A broken dream
The current argument in the US is not between Democrats and Republicans; it is between decency and autocracy.

June 27: Take, eat and drink
'Of course the Church was corrupt but that was no reason to leave it.'

June 20: A cathedral for our time
What a fine, magnificent statement of faith the whole design represents!

June 13: So what can we do?
We are no longer children who respond to being told we can't do something, but adults teaching each other how we might be Christians in difficult days.

June 6: You just call on my name ...
Recently, there was a Royal Wedding. These things happen, but this was different

May 24: It will always be Pentecost
Pentecost was not a "one-off" event

May 23: Time to talk to someone...
It is the spoken word that is our basic currency of exchange

May 16: Give us a job!
A Christian can't just sit around, that's not in the job description

May 9: "Is everyone else alright?"
Concern for others is a generosity that carries with it a cost, both in time and energy

May 2: Time to get dressed again
I have often thought that if my years had not taken me in to teaching, then working with wood was an alternative worth considering

April 26: We belong, our belongings
Wherever we move, the tap root of our lives is always rooted in the soil of our birth place

April 18: A question of doubt
Once we have accepted that doubt is part of faith, our expectation of an easy ride is reduced and trust is maintained in times of difficulty

April 11: Walk with me
We have lost the significance of the action of breaking, the physical distribution of the one loaf, the sharing, one with another, of the Eucharistic Christ

April 4: Once started, it is hard to stop
Yesterday's norm is now a matter of history within a very short space of time. There has been greater change in the last sixty years than in the whole of our human experience on this earth

March 30: We look after ourselves
"
Any seminary that does not disabuse its students of the self-evaluation involved in pretending to such omnicompetence is seriously failing the priestly community"

March 22: Thanks for stopping
"T
he Church has survived in spite of her clergy"

March 15: What's in a date?
It was on March 15 in 44BCE that Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Roman Senate. It gave rise to the words in Shakespeare's play "Beware the Ides of March"

March 7: Students inspire the call for change
Living in the UK, we find it inconceivable that teenagers, too young to buy a beer, can walk into a gun store and buy a killing machine intended for rapid fire in a war zone. But that is the case in the US.

March 1: Our actions have consequences
Oxfam ... and the Church

Feb 22: What do we value?
Maybe during this listening time of Lent, we might examine our own values, what we hold dear, what shapes our lives and forms our experiences, what gives us vision

Feb 18: A time of waiting
The vast majority of us live far from the desert experience, yet we also can find that odd moment of peace and stillness, a slip-away time that is valued, a time when we can be ourselves and breathe the solitude we rarely encounter

Feb 14: Looking two ways now
Our calendar reminds us of a journey we undertake whether we like it or not, the passage through space of our Earth round the star that is our sun

Feb 7: The I that is me
The respect we gain is determined by the respect we give

Jan 31: Still asking questions....
What cannot happen, must not happen, is that the question having been asked by so many is left hanging in the air

Jan 24: Fifty Years on from 1968
It is worth gathering some thoughts on that year and their consequences