Rev. Catharine Is Currently
On Medical Leave

Holy Week, Holy Days, Holy Memories

For those of you who subscribe to and read Reflections, I said I’d continue my thoughts on Holy Week here. Even if you didn’t get Reflections, I encourage you to read; I am contemplating my relationship with Holy Week, and particularly the deepest, most complex and holy liturgy of the year in the Roman tradition, […]

No Glitter in My Ashes Part III

Who’s Repenting? Another Problem Solved by Truth-Telling So ashes aren’t a problem. Glitter itself may not even be the problem. Blending is a problem. And there is another problem yet. The problem of singling out. In the article to which I am partly responding, the author makes two suggestions:  One, have a glitter + ashes […]

No Glitter in My Ashes, Part I

“You’re the most Catholic UU I’ve ever met,” now-Reverend Madelyn Campbell said to me across the aisle in the seminary lecture hall. And in many ways, she was right, and she’s still right. My wife says I’m Episcopalian in the winter (awesome Advent!), Catholic in the spring (tune-up of Lent), more aggressively Pagan in the […]

Why Writing? Part Two

My Wariness of Gratitude The Stoic philosopher Epicteus said, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” Why be wary of gratitude? I mean really, Catharine, gratitude is a great thing! Epictetus (and a bunch of other awesome people) says so! Nonetheless, […]

A Day for Saint Francis’ Animals

We have just passed Michaelmas and the Feasts of the Archangels and the Guardian Angel. This leaves today! Today is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Assisi is a small town in Umbria, Italy where the basilicas of Francis, Clare, and Our Lady of the Flowers reside. I had the pleasure of visiting there […]

Welcome to Fire’s Light and Shadow

In honor of my free discussion on The Elemental Wisdom of Fire on September 15th, I thought I’d write a wee bit about the Element of Fire and how it speaks to me. The Element of Water is where I feel most at home. I love to drink water with lemon. I delight in baths […]

The Making of a Priestess Part One

1991 We ran through the streets on Samhain (an ancestor-veneration holiday celebrated the same night as Hallowe’en). My dear friend Robert and I had painted our faces with black and white greasepaint and prayed to our ancestors to be with us. I immediately felt a sense of my great-grandmother. The one who was the first […]

Of Limitations, Yoga, and Death: Ash Wednesday

Ah, the beauty of the movement of the body! The glory of muscles stretching, limbs pulling and pushing, bending and lifting! The rhythms of breathing, running, bicycling, rolling, climbing, jumping, dancing…the innumerable ways we can attend to joyful movement. So many! But then, sometimes, OUCH! I am a bit laid up this week, as it […]

What Am I Doing Here?–Part Two!

As I said in part one, if I learned liturgical ritual, feast days, and smells-and-bells from the Catholic Church, it was at Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary that I began to make those things my own. To feel them in my bones. To know that ritual was worth my blood, sweat, and tears. While I had […]

What Am I Doing Here?: Part One!

I’ve realized over the last week or so that I don’t think I’ve said enough about why I’m doing this work. Not enough about why I feel so strongly about The Way of the River, why I’m learning new software, why I’m shanghaiing loved ones into my process, and mainly, not enough about why the […]