Disqus - Latest Comments for duanalla

Re: A Statement on Sojourners’ Mission and LGBTQ Issues

duanalla — Wed, 11 May 2011 08:22:52 -0000

I read sojourners online, and am a supporter of your work. I don't think that will entirely change in light of your decision over that controversial LGBT ad.

But, I must say, it reads a lot like you're taking a side.

I am sure the whole thing is much more subtle, nuanced and complicated than what is available on the web.

However....

However, the bare facts of the decision will be counted as a trump by those who actively, and destructively oppose people like me having a place, say and voice in religious life, and for that, I am disappointed in the lack of Sojourners prophetic voice in this issue.

Re: http://corkman.tumblr.com/post/4984272439

duanalla — Thu, 05 May 2011 05:07:29 -0000

testing twitter comments

Re: The Girl Who Cried at the Stations of the Cross

duanalla — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:52:39 -0000

Thanks Kate - that is beautiful. A deeply personal insight into how people from so many places, with so many thoughts about religion, experience Jerusalem as saying something to them. Beautiful.

Re: http://blog.onbeing.org/post/3473883169

duanalla — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:41:28 -0000

She's been a powerful voice in calling not just for justice, but also for in-depth theological reflection and change within Irish Catholicism... compelling and clear. There are some hopeful signs that her voice, and others like her, are being listened to. At the same time, there are some sad indications that, even though child protection rules are correctly tightened up, in-depth theological reflection on this forsaken chapter of Irish history may not happen within leadership and their praxis.

Re: http://blog.onbeing.org/post/3361168401

duanalla — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:51:40 -0000

It might have been a good way to start off a Friday, but I've only seen it now. It's a magnificent way to start off a Monday. Beautiful stuff...thanks.

Re: http://blog.onbeing.org/post/3271586254

duanalla — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 09:03:48 -0000

Thanks Trent - a lovely moment of insight - realising that what might be a casual byword for me is precious for someone else.

Re: Lessons on Friendship from an Afghani Refugee Family

duanalla — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:52:24 -0000

This is beautiful - thank you Heidi.

Re: http://blog.onbeing.org/post/1226974265

duanalla — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 04:23:41 -0000

Beautiful images and a great post... thanks Anne.

The picture of the quilt reminds me of the beginning of a wonderful poem by Julia Kasdorf that was featured on The Writer's Almanac a few years back called "Mennonites"...

We keep our quilts in baskets and do not dance
We hoe thistles along fence rows for fear
we may not be perfect as our Heavenly Father.
We clean up his disasters. No one has to
call; we just show up in the wake of tornadoes
with hammers, after floods with buckets.

The rest of the poem is here:
http://writersalmanac.publi...

Re: http://blog.speakingoffaith.org/post/810768717

duanalla — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:02:03 -0000

Mary O Hara's comment is interesting... and insightful... and complicated! I live on the street where the riots have been taking place, and was watching it unfold the other night from my kitchen window with sadness and curiosity. It was clear that some people wanted to riot, and that for some, there was little other agenda than that.Some of the people rioting are from the area, some have traveled in for to make a statement.

North and West Belfast are very 'deprived'. However, it's not for lack of employment schemes, social change programmes, opportunities for reconciliatory programmes etc. It seems that the mixture between a certain european kind of urban poverty and the awful effects of over thirty years of traumatic violence has given rise to a deep feeling of local-community pride and inadequacy, coupled with a deep feeling of disenfranchisement.

O Hara speaks of it being soul destroying - and she is right - because there is a rare 'strategy' that hasn't been tried here. We have, as Lederach says, some kind of peaceful bigotry - a peace which is mostly about the absence of conflict for a good part of the year, but which hasn't gone deeper to the issues of trauma, poverty, national identity, compromise, shared-space and belonging. I don't see that purely economic strategies will solve this - they will only distract us. What we are looking for is something that is both practical, empowering, and also nurturing of something deep in the human person for an attitude of neighbourliness. What we have can seem soul destroying, and what we need is something that is soul-flourishing - on a practical and spiritual level.

And, in the midst of the riots, there are small pockets of unusual relationships, which, I hope, are the living manifestation of the kind of future we hope to embody.

Lederach's influence among the peace&reconciliation sector is enormous, and I loved the show...Thanks to all involved... I listened to it on Tuesday morning, in the wake of the localised riots on Monday night. While SOF is always enriching, it felt particularly appropriate this week.

Re: http://blog.speakingoffaith.org/post/669299408

duanalla — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 08:45:55 -0000

I'm a fan of option number 3 - it captures something of the Americana for me. When considering ideas before listening to the 3 options, I thought that some excerpt from the soundtrack to The Straight Story (http://www.lynchnet.com/sst... would suit... I'll be intrigued to hear what emerges.

Re: http://blog.speakingoffaith.org/post/508768903

duanalla — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:26:35 -0000

Beautiful video - I hadn't seen this one. Thanks for posting it Trent.

Re: SOF Observed - The Fall of the Wall, JFK’s Assassination, and Two...

duanalla — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:56:23 -0000

Happy birthday Krista - I hope the day was a celebration and a lovely time for reflection on the year past and the year coming.
I was especially moved by a BBC Radio 4 programme yesterday interviewing folk who sang at some of the official celebrations - hearing Freiheit being used in the Ode To Joy was incredibly moving.
Here's to more unexpected Freheit! and many thanks to the SOF team for continued magnificences.

Re: SOF Observed - Expressing Our Inner Gifts Nancy Rosenbaum,...

duanalla — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:00:57 -0000

A line from Irenaeus of Lyons always comes to mind in conversations like this - where he says that "The glory of God is seen in a human being fully alive"... there are moments when I am involved in running residential retreats for people that make me feel like there is nothing more to be added to happiness - providing a welcoming space for discussion, dialogue, warmth, fires, North Antrim coastlines and woodland... it just seems to strike a chord of something rhythmic and rich for me.

This year a friend gave me Dave Isay's book "Listening is an act of love" - I tried (in vain) to limit myself to savouring one story at a time, but found myself being moved to tears over and over again at the simplicity of the storytelling.

If I can choose a favourite-among-favourites, it's this one about a bus driver in New York:
http://www.storycorps.org/l...

Thanks again for great interview with John. We all loved it when he used to come up to Belfast to give some talks... the humour,respect, insight, warmth, hospitality, and that magnificent laugh with his head thrown back - he embodied such humanity, and helped his audience and friends live their lives richly. This show captured something unique about him - wonderful production and both a poignant and piquant listen.

Pádraig, Belfast.

Re: a geographical sacrament

duanalla — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:45:27 -0000

Testing Disqus comments.

Re: a geographical sacrament

duanalla — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:42:54 -0000

Testing Twitter comments...

Re: a geographical sacrament

duanalla — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:41:56 -0000

Testing faithbook comments...

Re: SOF Observed - Resting, and Remembering John O’Donohue, in...

duanalla — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:10:43 -0000

Glad that the beauty of Connaught gave you a soft stay Krista. And it's lovely to remember that landscape in light of John O'D. Hopefully the rest continues.

Re: Some Light Summer Reading?

duanalla — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:06:03 -0000

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood... and American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Neither of them new, but both of these would make for very interesting conversation.
Listening is an Act of Love - amazing stuff from Storycorps.
Oh, and the usual steady stream of Mary Oliver. If there was a patron-saint-of-arranging-interviews, I'd pray to that one for a Mary Oliver interview.

Re: SOF Observed - "Britney's Conversion Diary"

duanalla — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:28:22 -0000

It is interesting what a celebrity conversion (or celebrity flirtation with conversion) does to the ratings of a particular spirituality/faith globally...
Clever article though - amusing, no problem with the language, but the exclamation points hurt my eyes. (!)

Re: SOF Observed - "Torture" vs. "Enhanced Interrogation"

duanalla — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:30:58 -0000

I'm interested in this post Kate - it seems to me to be a sensitive topic for people from all perspectives - because when one's country is having enquiries about the use of torture, the question seems to be "are WE capable of this?". It has the potential to imply something awful about tactics that were presumably done in the name of patriotism - we move from sides of mutual extraction and begin to dwell in the greyland. Ultimately - I think this is a good bruising of conscience... but it is uncomfortable, and I'm not sure how well it is dealt with on a national scale... Are we capable of this? Yes we are.

Recently in the north of Ireland, a report was published on the Past - and one of the recommendations in it was to admit that every side in our conflict was a moral agent. The tendency was for each side to see itself exclusively as the moral actor, while dehumanising and painting the 'other' as immoral... when we allow ourselves to admit atrocity done in our name - well, that's an uncomfortable place to be. But, it's a good place.

I was thrilled that you SOFolk decided to do this programme... and I am sensing that there was considerable sensitivity and delicate negotiations in the questioning and editing process.

Well done! Pádraig.

Re: Speaking of... religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas?

duanalla — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:20:40 -0000

I've been thinking about this for a few days... and here are the votes of this Irish Jury.
I like Speaking of Faith - I've always seen that it's about a multiplicity of faiths - whether that's faith in a doctrinal system of beliefs, in human capacity, or in an analysis of the human condition - all of those are faith perspectives, and I have loved the nurture (and challenge) given by your programme to these things.

So, I'm happy with Speaking of Faith.

I'd be interested in hearing some more from the conversation amongst the staff team about how you may have felt the current title may be narrowing - is that a gut instinct, or from some feedback... etc.?

From the titles given, I like First Person, and Listening Generously and Consider This...
I'd wondered about something incorporating the whole idea of first-person narrative over the last few days, and also wondered about whether that phrase from Krista's book - the vast middle - would be a starting point. I've always found that to be a helpful way of understanding the energy with which the programme's conversations are structured.

I also like the word Encounter. Gerard Van Kaam once said "Human encounter is the essence of cure, in the deepest sense"...

Whatever it's called, I'll listen.

Re: Bono Rocks His Own Soul

duanalla — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:36:46 -0000

Hey hey Trent & Cary...
Another Irish voice coming in here to add to Cary's - I'd be interested in hearing what he had to say. I think one of the unique features of SOF is that it seeks to ask questions that aren't predictable, and does so in an environment that brings out something particular to the soul of SOF.
I liked the quote - the dying and the living that is easter - it reminds me of René Girard's insistence on called Jesus of Nazareth "our crucified and living brother" - that there is something unique not only in the rising, but the deading too...
Trent - I'll look forward to hearing what happens.
Cary - I'll look forward to our next coffee (or ten)...
Pád.

Re: SOF Observed - A Jewish Holiday, Once Every 28 Years

duanalla — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:25:58 -0000

There is something very earthen about moments like that Trent - where a religious festival only happens once a generation - it helps people feel a sense of time, of the enormity of it, and yet, of the connectedness of it too...
I once stayed at a monastery in France where on rare occasions they celebrated a prayer-office at 2am. I happened to be staying there during a period where they were making time for this liturgy, and one of the nuns told me it was worth interrupting my sleep for, so I did. Bleary eyed, by candlelight, we sang in 4-part harmony and prayed for those who work by night, those who couldn't sleep, and those whose experience was bleak ... as you said above, the rare moments of marking those religious liturgies remind us to do these things in the spaces in-between. I've always kept that 2am liturgy in mind if I'm awake in the middle of the night.
Happy SunLooking! Pádraig.

Re: SOF Observed - Les Freres de St Francis de la Sissies —...

duanalla — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:08:39 -0000

You might possibly have influenced my entire listening experience to the Messiah... every Christmas & Easter will be punctuated by mental images of Les Freres de St. Francis de la Sissies... Cheers Trent.

Re: "There’s a New Power in America – Atheism"

duanalla — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:06:32 -0000

I'd be very interested to hear Andrew Sullivan's vision of the vista of American theological argument these days... it'd make for a fascinating interview. I've also thought that James Alison would be a wonderful theological voice on the catholic/gay perspective - informed deeply by a Girardian reading of the 'how-to' of such difficult conversations... but he's not bringing a US perspective - more a UK or Brazilian one.
I'll look forward to what emerges... Pád.