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The Loss of Heaven and The Fear of Hell
Growing up as a Roman Catholic, like the rest of my generation, I was taught a prayer called, The Act of Contrition. Every Catholic back then had to memorize it
https://ronrolheiser.com/the-loss-of-heaven-and-the-fear-of-hell/
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What Makes for Christian Communion?
The question of intercommunion within our churches today is a big one, an important one, and a painful one. I’m old enough to remember another time, actually to remember two
https://ronrolheiser.com/what-makes-for-christian-communion/
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Rachel Held Evans, 1981-2019
No community should botch its deaths. Mircea Eliade wrote those words and they’re a warning: If we do not properly celebrate the life of someone who has left us we
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Faith, Fear and Death
A common soldier dies without fear; Jesus died afraid. Iris Murdoch wrote those words which, I believe, help expose an over-simplistic notion we have of how faith reacts in the
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Jean Vanier (1928-2019)
Our differences are not a threat but a treasure. Jean Vanier, the Founder of A’Arche, who died in Paris on May 7th wrote those words, but their truth is far
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Where is Home?
During the years that I served as a Religious Superior for a province of Oblate Priests and Brothers in Western Canada, I tried to keep my foot inside the academic
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Language, Symbols, and Self-Understanding
A reporter once asked two men at the construction site where a church was being built what each did for a living. The first man replied: “I’m a bricklayer.” The
https://ronrolheiser.com/language-symbols-and-self-understanding/
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Who Goes to Hell and Who Doesn’t?
Hell is never a nasty surprise waiting for a basically happy person. Nor is it necessarily a predicable ending for an unhappy, bitter person. Can a happy, warm-hearted person go
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Beyond Mysticism
“I’m a practicing mystic!” A woman said that in one of my classes some years ago and it raised lots of eyebrows. I was teaching a class in mysticism and
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Ascending, Descending, and Just Keeping Steady
Where should we be casting our eyes? Upward, downward, or just on the road that we’re walking? Well there are different kinds of spiritualities: Spiritualities of the Ascent, Spiritualities of
https://ronrolheiser.com/ascending-descending-and-just-keeping-steady/