Orthodox Psychotherapy: My Conversation with Fr. Mikhail Baleka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuwPfRXc-nw
Prayer to St. Joseph the Betrothed
O Holy, Righteous Joseph! While still living on earth, thou had great boldness before the Son of God, Who was pleased to call thee His father, as thou was betrothed to His Mother, and to
Converting to Russian Orthodoxy: My Conversation with Fr. Joshua Genig
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jd4QPMp2WY
In Search of Grand Duke Michael with Captain Peter Sarandinaki (Part I)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkZPXmfcmQc
In Fear of God; or Learning to Love the Lord in Orthodoxy
“…in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” – Philippians 2:12 A good father should want his children to fear him – just a little bit. Otherwise, they would have almost
Trauma, Trust, and My Orthodox Baptism
“Can we do anything else but trust in God? God calls us to do much, and we have not much time to do it.” – Fr. Seraphim Rose On the Feast of “The Entry of
Abuse and Anger – Hate and Hell
“Father asks to have it passed on to all who have remained loyal to him and to those on whom they might have influence, that they not avenge him; he has forgiven and prays for
Saint Joseph Saved My Life
In order to save my life, God sent me the one saint who perfectly exemplified the human attributes that I most feared: FatherhoodMasculinityStrengthBraveryFortitude For as long as I could remember – I yearned to embody
The Rosary – From an Orthodox Perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MovYyaRqScs
Fr. Seraphim of Platina: The Life and Death of the Unlikeliest Russian Orthodox Monk
“He who does not live in Christ…already lives in the Abyss, and not all the treasures of this world can ever fill his emptiness.” – Fr. Seraphim Rose, "Nihilism: The Root of Revolution of the
My Lifelong Obsession with Icons
“…icons, just as well as the Scriptures, are expressions of the inexpressible.” – Vladimir Lossky I grew up around icons. My father was an immigrant from Sicily. What little he brought with him to the
Finding Forgiveness and Peace in the Midst of Corruption, Despair, and Anger
Above: Marie Spartali Stillman, "How the Virgin Came to Brother Conrad in Offia and Laid her Son in his Arms," 1892. “What he would have liked, without admitting it, was for the whole world, forever
Prayer of St. Mary of Egypt Before the Crucifix
Bring aid to one who has solace nowhere nowSave in you and your Son.I beg you, order the sacred doorsTo be opened to me;Mistress of heaven, allow me to look uponThe royal marks of the
Simplicity and Peace: Surviving Sex, Porn, and Fap Addictions
Give me the strength to seek you; Oh, you who allowed me to find you, and who gave me the hope of finding you more and more. – Saint Augustine For much of my life,
A Good Father Tells the Truth
Above: Eugène Burnand, "The Prodigal Son" (1908) My dad was a good father. I didn’t always think so. When I was a kid, I thought he ignored me; he paid more attention to his work,
Is the life of an unborn baby worth more than that of a gay man?
Above: Marooned, Howard Pyle (1909) During Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court, she innocently referred to those with a “sexual preference;” according to the Human Rights Campaign, the correct term is
The Priests I Admire the Most – Are Probably Not Those You Would Expect
Above: "Blessing in the Village" by Hans Bachmann, late-19th century. “No one is ever holy without suffering.” ― Evelyn Waugh, “Brideshead Revisited” I have been around the world of traditional (trad) Catholicism for over 20
Sheltering at Home with St. Joseph, and My Father
Above: “The Icon Corner” by Vasily Maximov, 1869. “On our earth we can only love with suffering and through suffering. We cannot love otherwise, and we know of no other sort of love. I want
The Confusion About Saint Joseph’s “Doubt”
An often-repeated mischaracterization about St. Joseph, especially in films depicting the Holy Family, is that he initially thought that the Virgin Mary had committed adultery before their betrothal. According to St. Matthew: “When as his
In the Midst of Sorrow and Squalor – There is Still a Human Being
In my mid-to-late-twenties, I looked pretty extreme. I think almost everyone who knew me before had given up on me: an aunt I rarely saw, a close friend of my fathers, even some of my
James Martin or Bishop Thomas Paprocki: Who is Truly Compassionate and Sensitive?
Above: Jean Louis Forain, "Return of the Prodigal Son" (late-19th Century). On June 12, 2017, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, issued an official decree “Regarding Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ and Related Pastoral
Contra Mundum Comes Home: Brideshead Revisited, Your Gay Relative, and a Twitch Upon the Thread
(Pictured above: Jeremy Irons as Charles, Anthony Andrews as Sebastian, and Jonathan Coy as Kurt in the 1981 UK miniseries “Brideshead Revisited.”) The 1945 novel “Brideshead Revisited” by English Catholic-convert Evelyn Waugh maintains an odd
A Holy Family, the lost child, and salvation from homosexuality
Above: John Dickson Batten, “The Family” (1886) I have no recollection of seeing my parents pray when I was a child. We never prayed the Rosary together as a family. I probably knew one prayer
Saint Joseph as Universal Foster-Father of All Men With Same-Sex Attraction
“And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” (Luke 2:48) In his book “The Fatherhood
The Father is the only one who can carry his son…
On the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, just north of San Francisco, is one of my favorite places to spend a quiet and sunny day walking and hiking. The area, part of the
Has the Church set the bar too high for those with same-sex attraction?
In his interview with Dave Rubin, Bishop Robert Barron said the following about homosexuality: In a certain way I wouldn’t want to press it further than that. That’s the Church’s job to say no to
Same-Sex Attraction, Chastity, and Porn Attachments
As a lonely and rejected little boy, my first discovery of gay pornography was like a miracle. In a sense, after years of being either ignored or mercilessly teased by other boys, and thus adoring
As I stood on the edge of hell, God was only one step away
Once I looked into the hole of hell. It was opened wide as if by a massive speculum. And what I saw inside was beautiful. Then, only for a mere second, I could see everything.
The False “Gay” Self, Possession, and Restoration through Humility
(Above: “The Prodigal Son” by Nikolay Losev, late-19th Century.) "The Holy Spirit is not an artist who draws the divine substance in us, as though he were alien to it. It is not in this
Even though I abandoned God, He never deserted me…
(Pictured above: “Wandering in a Field” by Vasily Perov, 1879.) In 1988, as a young, confused, and rather naïve teenage boy, I made a pilgrimage of sorts to the Castro District of San Francisco. In
Becoming God: Centering Prayer, the Catholic Church, and Homosexuality
According to the Spring 2015 Newsletter “Intercom,” from the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati – the centering prayer group at the predominantly “gay’ Catholic Parish of Most Holy Redeemer (MHR) located in the Castro District
Catholic dissenters on homosexuality take center stage at 2017 LA Congress
(Pictured above: Archbishop Jose Gomez with Fr. Chris Ponnet, Arthur Fitzmaurice, and the Plasencias.) At the 2017 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress a number of speakers are scheduled to talk about the LGBT issue. For
Catholic “rigidity,” the Latin Mass, and the traumas of modern life
“And I ask myself: Why so much rigidity? Dig, dig, this rigidity always hides something, insecurity or even something else. Rigidity is defensive. True love is not rigid.” –Pope Francis When I curiously returned to
Mass Exit: Why gay men find more sanctity in homosexuality than in Catholicism
(Pictured above: The opening segment from Madonna's MDNA Tour.) Recently, I attended Sunday Mass at a Southern California Catholic parish that also advertises an active LGBT ministry. The church was located in a rather well-to-do
The greatest prayer I ever offered up to God happened when I didn’t even know any prayers
(Pictured above: detail from “Saint Francis in Meditation” by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1635-9) “…many individuals think they are not praying when, indeed, their prayer is deep.” – St. John of the Cross After years of
Same-Sex Attraction, Porn Recovery, and St. Joseph: Keeping calm in the midst of chaos.
A good Catholic priest, who was very instrumental in my recovery from both same-sex attraction and an addiction to pornography, always had the same recommendation for me whenever I talked with him about my great
Gay Marriage and Transgenderism – A Sign of Civilization’s Decline and Fall
St. Alexius of Rome lived from about 410-460 AD; this period was at the heart of cultural, social, and political collapse in the already waning Roman Empire; during this period, as a whole, Rome was
What being an altar boy – once meant to a former gay man
For the most part, my childhood in Catholic parochial schools was a nightmare. Almost from the get-go I was a rather shy, artistic, and introverted kid. I was woefully uncoordinated and completely disinterested in the
What those leaving “gay” – really need from the Church
“And Jesus said: Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more.” (John 8:11) “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within