This article is for Catholics and others who want to learn about restorative justice, how restorative justice is an important way to live the Catholic faith, and basics for implementing restorative justice groups in parishes and communities. Related points in a recent Vatican News article linking restorative justice practices to Pope Leo's address on 2026 … Continue reading How Restorative Justice Puts Catholic Faith into Action
resiliency
New Research: Here’s How Self-Kindness and Being Social Can Support Your Self-Forgiveness
(photo: Seth Willingham, 2016) This article is for Catholics who want to be better at forgiving themselves or help others forgive themselves. This article reviews new research that demonstrates the connection of self-kindness to self-forgiveness, and explains how a person can improve their kindness to themselves as a way of more easily engaging in self-forgiveness. … Continue reading New Research: Here’s How Self-Kindness and Being Social Can Support Your Self-Forgiveness
Franciscan Advice: When forgiveness isn’t enough you need to clean house too! Here’s how!
(photo: Sherburne County, Minnesota (USA), Tom Delaney, 2025) Central Minnesota is blanketed in deep snow. The contours and features of the land get to be rounded and softer now, with a more resplendent and sparkling reflection of any glimmer of light. It makes you wonder if we are not cable of the same transformation -- … Continue reading Franciscan Advice: When forgiveness isn’t enough you need to clean house too! Here’s how!
“New Things” in Theology Point to the Science of Mental Health
(photo: Sherburne County, Minnesota (USA), Tom Delaney, 2025) And just like that...it's winter here in Central Minnesota. The snow fell overnight while a stiff wind blew from the north that shook the forest. Fittingly, today's Liturgy of the Word includes the beautiful canticle from Daniel (Chapter 3) and ... Cold and chill, bless the Lord;Praise … Continue reading “New Things” in Theology Point to the Science of Mental Health
Our Own Anger is Still Not Good for Us
(art: Church of St. Nicetas, Macedonia, 14th cent.) Whenever the Gospel accounts of Jesus driving out the money changers from the temple come up in the Liturgy of the Word, I often see an article or hear someone asserting that the Gospel account is proof that anger can be righteous and even a virtue. It … Continue reading Our Own Anger is Still Not Good for Us
Forgiveness is a Constant Invitation to Rebirth in Love
Today's Liturgy of the Word includes a reading from the Gospel of Luke (17:1-6) that is a cornerstone for forgiveness as Christian faith in action. In this section of the gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples: If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.And if he wrongs you seven times in one … Continue reading Forgiveness is a Constant Invitation to Rebirth in Love
Perfectionism Works Better with Self-Forgiveness
(photo: Al Shahed Press, 2025) My spiritual director was a priest in his elder years who had "seen it all, done it all." During one of our meetings, he commented, "I have heard confessions - thousands of them, maybe more, who knows how many? In all of that time what I saw was that I … Continue reading Perfectionism Works Better with Self-Forgiveness
Forgiveness Multiplies Forgiveness
(photo: Tom Delaney, Sherburne County, Minnesota, 2025) There is a prodigious deer population here in our little corner of the oak savanna in Central Minnesota, maybe because of our proximity to Dunes State Forest and Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. It seems that they appreciate the network of walking trails through the woods and frequently use … Continue reading Forgiveness Multiplies Forgiveness
Live and Forgive 