In my previous blog post (A man who doesn’t have it all) I wrote about how certain questions and conversations can be unique to certain groups – in that post I wrote about how asking what it’s like to be a male priest is not itself sexist and can indeed be a helpful question to ask. Recently I returned from a Retreat for Ordinands and their families, and it presented a parallel: sometimes it is good to live inside a bubble with people like you. Continue reading
We Are Family
Breaking the chain and cynicism of Father’s Day
Insert “World’s Best Dad” name here
The signs are coming: “World’s Best Dad” printed on multiple t-shirts hanging on a clothes rails; scores of cards with “Number 1 Dad” on; “Perfect gift for Father’s Day” on everything from albums of 1980s soft-rock to packets of beef for the barbecue, essentially anything the real industry deems ‘manly’. Their prevalence making the statements meaningless. Their appeal to sentimentality for commercial gain that turns fatherhood into an apparent competition.
I’m not a fan. Continue reading
Gladiatorial Acceptability
Image reproduced from the Archbishop Cranmer blog (visit http://archbishopcranmer.com/gay-cake-case-comes-to-court/ for the post on the case by Peter Lynas).
Whatever your view on marriage, whether you hold to the traditional man and woman model or a gender-blind union, the case of Ashers Backing Company vs Gareth Lee mirrors troubling characteristics of our society: a misunderstanding of tolerance and a gladiatorial approach to deciding what’s acceptable. Continue reading
We are family
How we view our relationship with each other affects our chances of getting along with each other.
Turn on the TV, listen to the radio, open your social media apps and one thing is clear, we don’t seem to be able to get on which each other very well. For a supposedly tolerant society, tolerance is in short supply. Continue reading
The Pilgrim Explorer 