“He had AIDS, you know.” I heard this from the funeral director as soon as I came into the funeral home to conduct the memorial service. Of course, I knew that. I had visited this man numerous times in the hospital, listened to his confessions, and brought him the Holy Eucharist. During those visits, we spoke at length about his illness, his misgivings, his love/hate relationship with the Orthodox Church and we spoke about his funeral.
November 20, 2011
“Because, I could not live like that anymore.” Myron told me this about his life. He was from Ukraine, eastern Ukraine, from the city of Poltava. He was in Florida working as a room cleaner in a hotel that I was staying at for a conference. He was here illegally.
November 6, 2011
“Homosexuality is so evil that even the devil does not want it.” These words were spoken by an Orthodox priest, educated in Australia, serving in Greece and given as “pastoral” advice to a younger man who was struggling with what he was feeling – love for another man. This is the face of true evil – a priest, ordained by the Holy Spirit, called to spread the good news of the Gospel, the good news of love and forgiveness, telling an anxious young man that he is worse than the devil.
October 24, 2011
I fell in love with the Orthodox Church when I was around 8 years old. As a family, we did not go to church very often. The child of a mixed marriage – mixed religiously and ethnically, the great distance from our home to an “acceptable” Orthodox Church – one of the right ethnic variety for my father – and a father who worked many hours – all added up to infrequent church attendance. I did not understand any of the divine services – but I knew what I loved – the sights, the sounds, the smells and the tastes. The beauty of the church drew me in