ethics – Ordinary Time

‘A shame for the nations’: What can a spiritual mutt make of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement as the Gaza war grinds on

Demonstrator faces Israeli soldier in occupied West Bank, 2012 (Wikimedia Commons). With the self-examination and repentance of the High Holy Days coming up fast, Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin wrote a column for Religion News Service that touched me deeply. Using a Yiddish expression that's too nuanced to translate easily, he suggests the hard-right settlers in Israel's … Continue reading ‘A shame for the nations’: What can a spiritual mutt make of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement as the Gaza war grinds on

David Brooka on PBS News Hour, March 3, 2025 (quote at 5:40). Screen shot. Editor’s (admin’s) note: A copy of my email, with necessary links and edits, in advance of this month’s appointment with my spiritual director, giving her a heads-up on what I’d been journaling on since our last meeting and, more to the point, … Continue reading David Brooks discusses ‘moral injury’ inflicted by Trump’s cruelty and bullying (notes for spiritual direction, July ’25)

Google News directory, news items, July 7, 2025, 11:08 a.m (CST). A week after President Trump was re-elected, Psychology Today posted an article to its website noting that the outcome "reflects a moral injury for many -- a psychological wound caused by betrayal of deeply held values." Explained Mary Ann McDonald of Holy Cross College in … Continue reading Moral injury and Trump 2.0: Are you on the bus? Off the bus? Or thrown under the bus with Black and brown people?

Girls' Softball Game, 2009 (Tequask, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia). Yesterday I'd had it up to the keister with politics, so my heart leapt up when I read JVL's column in The Bulwark. "I know the Republic is falling and we have more pressing concerns," he began. "I know this isn’t important, in the grand scheme … Continue reading Who wins? center-right analysis of trans athlete bans in kids’ sports hits a home run with this weary Democrat