The Church on Current Issues

For a number of years I have worn two hats. At a nearby college, I am Dr. Woodill and teach a very popular course on death and dying. Elsewhere, I am Fr. Joseph. As the priest of an older parish, I have buried more people than seems right. I have also attended to their dying.…

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen. 1:1) "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." (Luke 21:33) "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away." (Revelation 21:1)…

Many of you know friends or family members who struggle chronically, intermittently or occasionally with depression of varied severity. Some of us, ourselves, struggle with this common mental dysfunction. In a previous "Family Life" article by Albert Rossi, "Issues in Mental…

I have written this article seven! times now, mentally, and have never been satisfied. First I wrote it from my own point of view or how I am here when my own children come home from school, and then from articles I have collected on the subject, either praising day care: …

It has been said that those who define an issue, own that issue. Nowhere is this more evident than in the critical issue of abortion. Abortion propaganda has been presented as fact by, among others, the media and the medical and legal professions for so many years that the…

Introduction Hypnosis is defined as "a trancelike condition that can be artificially induced, characterized by an altered consciousness, diminished will power, and an increased responsiveness to suggestion." It sounds like a psychoanalyst swinging a watch or other shining…

Last year at 5 AM on Pascha morning our seven-year-old, Beth, said with a thrill, "This is the first time I've ever seen the sun come up. And, just think, it happened on Pascha." Although she didn't really understand what she just said, Beth in fact did articulate the…

The morning my wife died I had to make a very difficult decision. The nurse said to me, "Your wife isn't going to live until noon. You must get your son out of here." I said, "Thank you for your opinion." I wondered to myself, should I take my son, Tim, age 11, away…

Too often we open our daily newspaper and our eyes are assaulted by the photograph of a tiny child who has been beaten by a parent. We are horrified, angry, and we ask: How could anybody do that to a child, especially one's own? A friend recently surprised me by saying she …

Society's concern for senior citizens these days is certainly justifiable and praiseworthy. We see and hear of so many dire cases around us that at times we even forget that aging is not synonymous with misery. We must be reminded of the healing power of sympathy and…