How faith shaped his life and public service We always remember our first experiences. My first experience to cast a ballot for the president of the United States was in 1976. James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr. — an engineer, a former naval officer, a humble
Why the proximity of the two holidays should provoke reflection This July 4th, America for the 248th time celebrates its independence from British rule. But the proximity of Juneteenth, now a federal holiday since President Biden designated it as such in 2023, should force Americans
There’s still a difference between accepting and affirming Last month, United Methodist Church delegates voted to repeal the denomination’s long-held exclusionary stance toward its LGBTQ+ members in church doctrine, polity, and social standing. The news was received with mixed feelings — cheers and tears. “We
Is this just a blunder, or has the Pope revealed his true colors? Pope Francis sent global shock waves when the news broke that he used the highly offensive F-word frociaggine (“faggotness” in Italian) in a closed-door conversation at the Italian Bishops’ Conference. During a
My home state of Massachusetts celebrated 20 years of marriage equality on May 17, thanks to the landmark decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that preceded by 11 years the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage
Women’s History Month doesn’t do enough to lift up black lesbians. Fifty years ago in Boston, several lesbian and feminist women of African descent founded the Combahee River Collective. As a sisterhood, they understood that their acts of protest were shouldered by and because of
When France enshrined abortion rights in its constitution, it prompted me and a lot of other folks to wonder, what’s wrong with the United States? What’s wrong with the United States is that the affairs of the church have collapsed into the affairs of the
Theater and dramatics rolled up in song Every Black History Month, there is always a tribute to the Black church and its gospel music. The contribution of LGBTQ+ singers to the canon of gospel music, however, is never front and center in celebration of its
This past Valentine’s Day, I pay homage to W. E. B. Du Bois’s 1924 novel Dark Princess because it highlights the least talked-about subject then and now: Black love. Two activities converged for me during COVID-19: When not officiating funerals, I read romance novels and
For three weeks in October, Catholics from around the world came to Rome for the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to discuss a range of topics confronting the present-day Church as it prepares to govern itself in the future. Among the many Catholics