Google Image How should you judge whether a Mass, or church service, was good or bad? For me, among the criteria is whether or not you leave happier than you went into church. But not in the same sense as being happy because your stock went up, or your team won, or your daughter was student of the month. No, it’s a deeper sense of happiness that is probably better described as “joy.” “Joy” is a term you don’t hear much these days. Is that because the world has a deficit of joy? Maybe.   An online dictionary equates happiness with joy, both described as emotions that result from ..read more

Google Image I’ve written before about my 4-year-old grandson, Leo. Many grandfathers would say this about their grandchildren, of course, but I think he’s exceptionally smart. He asks a lot of smart questions, for one thing. Currently, he’s been asking about, and referring to, death. And why not? Death is scary and many kids are into scary things, though they may not fathom what it means to die. For many adults, it’s the worst thing that can happen to a human being, something to be feared above all fearful things. For others, it’s a relief. For most, I think, it’s an enigma, at best ..read more

Google Image The Internet and social media are full of articles about people who have given up on religion and churchgoing. I get it. People ask themselves why they need it. Compared to the excitement and visually and auditory stimulation of the media, church may seem boring. They may have grave doubts about God’s existence. They may be scandalized by the behavior of some clergy members. Some age groups may find religion “embarrassing,” and believe that church is for old people. I’m skeptical, however. I believe people need church more than ever. And if you find church boring, is it ..read more

Google Image A few months ago, I attended an event at a theater in downtown Denver. My companions and I were waiting in line in the cold, when I spotted a presumed homeless man seated on the sidewalk holding a cup. I gave him a few bucks, then went back in line. But I had regrets, not because I agree with the people opposed to giving money to people begging on the street and not because I thought I should have given him more, but because I didn’t speak to him or even acknowledge his presence. Whether to help beggars has been a bone of contention for me for some time. Some people say ..read more

Google Image This blog is called Skeptical Faith because one of its goals is to show that skepticism and faith are not mutually exclusive. That’s because though our religious beliefs may not be provable through the kind of evidence used in the “hard sciences,” faith is nonetheless reasonable and rational. The evidence for the existence of God, for instance, is at least as rational as evidence that is commonly presented in a court of law. Such evidence includes the testimony of millions – perhaps billions - of witnesses over the centuries, and inferences from studies on the origin of ..read more

Google Image Since moving to Colorado, I’ve had lots of opportunities to spend time with my four-year-old grandson, Leo. Recently, we toured the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. I know, it sounds like a bit too sophisticated for a four-year-old. But on the day we went, the museum was filled with children. About 20 school busloads, to be more exact. And we found lots of interesting things to see, even for four-year-olds. As always, I was amazed at Leo’s curiosity about the natural world, as well as his interaction with the other children at the exhibits. He was especially fascin ..read more

Google Image When I was in the seminary studying theology, our Scripture professor, Fr. Ignatius Hunt, on Mondays would choose a student in class - I presume arbitrarily - to answer a question or two about what we had learned the week before. One of my friends, Tom R, sweated bullets on Mondays, dreading the calling of his name. The class had three or four “Toms” and Fr. Ignatius, a scripture scholar but a kind man (and one of the best teachers I had in all of my formal education), would call the name, “Tom,” then pause, looking over the student roster in his hands, before calling a ..read more

Google Image There is an old film, made in 1960, that caused me to be a secret admirer of Hayley Mills, the British child actress whom I thought was about the cutest girl ever. The film was called Pollyanna. Based on a book by Eleanor Porter, it was about an 11-year-old, unabashed optimist named Pollyanna, an orphan who lives with her stern aunt Polly. Nothing could shake Pollyanna’s view that life is wonderful, and since the book and movie, “Pollyanna” is used to describe a person who is unrealistically optimistic. One movie scene features actor Karl Madden as the Reverend Ford, who ..read more

Google Image Years ago in Ireland, the daughter of a cousin of my grandmother had a child out-of-wedlock. I heard this from my brother, a priest, who said the girl’s family took the baby from the mother and had the child raised by her grandmother. My brother spoke approvingly of this arrangement, saying that the girl’s family decided that if she was irresponsible enough to have a baby out-of-wedlock, she was too irresponsible to be a mother. When older, my brother changed his mind about that opinion, and although I thought it made sense when I first learned about it, I, too, grew to ..read more

Google Image An itinerant preacher is in a small house, packed with people who are transfixed listening to his experience of God as loving Father. It contradicts much of what the listeners have learned and, as usual with this preacher, many are confused. Suddenly, he is interrupted by someone who says, “Rabbi, your mother and brothers are outside, wanting to speak with you.” In a seemingly rude way, he answers, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” Then he answers his own question, indicating his listeners: “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Fa ..read more