I felt as if you were writing right to me. I still haven't found the peace you describe, even after 50 years - the pull is strong, especially with the new Pope and hope for some critical changes. But my sense of God is not what the Church holds it to be either. In any case, this really hit me where I live, and I will read it and think on it again and again. Thank you.
The differences, individually, in what we need and what we find, are an aspect of the “disunion” I find most poignant. Many of us leave for similar reasons but the answers we find (or don’t) are often dissimilar. It’s not something I fully understand. What I do know is that each of us are complex creatures with unique individual needs that will never find resolution in a one-fix for all mentality. Know you are the best answer to what you need. Keep searching. I believe the answers are often found on the journey, not the end.
I am back with more, only to let you know that this (master)piece of soul searching & explanation is most likely one of my favorites so far (which is very hard to choose just one) as you unravel today through this personal spiritual journey (that many of us have venture); and also the decline of religion & wilderness experience (I think most of us have traveled through this) yet you always arrive to that sacred place and the beauty in humanism mixed with faith. Thank you Dino! This is another keeper for me & one I will cherish as I reread the treasure of your word depiction from one place to in search of a better. And a special thanks for blessings in your benediction!
Me, too! Although our journeys are different, your Compass of Faith & Reason blended together gives me so much relevant thoughts in my own search beyond those church doors. My leaving was a matter of progression through many decades within 3 different denominations & then many other non & interfaith, etc. until finally in this last decade, I've kinda withdrawn from church walls and denominations to seeking more Truth. {again I should have waited to finish your entire "EXILES of FAITH", even Exodus was an Exile ...} Life calls us to still seek meaning but hopefully WE move upward in being human; not the current mobility in cruelty & imposition of ones' faith, but that's the history of the church; "cross in my hand, the sword in the other" and it has not changed except perhaps with the degree of inhumaneness worldwide ...
It wasn’t rebellious or science for me either the day I stopped believing in Catholicism. It was an overwhelming sense of peace.
I like the way you write.. It's made me feel good.
Thank you, Linda. That makes me feel good.
I felt as if you were writing right to me. I still haven't found the peace you describe, even after 50 years - the pull is strong, especially with the new Pope and hope for some critical changes. But my sense of God is not what the Church holds it to be either. In any case, this really hit me where I live, and I will read it and think on it again and again. Thank you.
The differences, individually, in what we need and what we find, are an aspect of the “disunion” I find most poignant. Many of us leave for similar reasons but the answers we find (or don’t) are often dissimilar. It’s not something I fully understand. What I do know is that each of us are complex creatures with unique individual needs that will never find resolution in a one-fix for all mentality. Know you are the best answer to what you need. Keep searching. I believe the answers are often found on the journey, not the end.
I am back with more, only to let you know that this (master)piece of soul searching & explanation is most likely one of my favorites so far (which is very hard to choose just one) as you unravel today through this personal spiritual journey (that many of us have venture); and also the decline of religion & wilderness experience (I think most of us have traveled through this) yet you always arrive to that sacred place and the beauty in humanism mixed with faith. Thank you Dino! This is another keeper for me & one I will cherish as I reread the treasure of your word depiction from one place to in search of a better. And a special thanks for blessings in your benediction!
Thank you, Peggy.
“Those of us who have left the institution haven’t left the sacred. We’ve carried it back into the world where it always belonged.”
Thank you, thank you.
The best is yet to come
Me, too! Although our journeys are different, your Compass of Faith & Reason blended together gives me so much relevant thoughts in my own search beyond those church doors. My leaving was a matter of progression through many decades within 3 different denominations & then many other non & interfaith, etc. until finally in this last decade, I've kinda withdrawn from church walls and denominations to seeking more Truth. {again I should have waited to finish your entire "EXILES of FAITH", even Exodus was an Exile ...} Life calls us to still seek meaning but hopefully WE move upward in being human; not the current mobility in cruelty & imposition of ones' faith, but that's the history of the church; "cross in my hand, the sword in the other" and it has not changed except perhaps with the degree of inhumaneness worldwide ...