Profile: Bill Donaghy is a lay evangelist who writes and speaks on topics of the Catholic Faith. He is a certified Theology of the Body speaker, and teaches Scripture in Malvern, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Rebecca live in Lansdowne. Learn more about his speaking ministry and semi-serious blog at www.missionmoment.org.
“Maintain a spirit of peace and you will save a thousand souls.” - St. Seraphim
We just finished a week’s vacation in Maine with the family “from the north” – my dad, brother, wife, and two little ones. My brother Sean manages a summer camp “up they’ah” and he took us all on a little pleasure cruise last night. We slipped over the glassy surface of Washington Pond, just as the sun was tipping his hat to the day on the western rim of the world, in a pontoon boat. It was recently “kitted out” with new carpet and new cooshy seats, each equipped with a snazzy drink holder. In essence, it’s like taking your living room out for a drive (or float I should say).
Our little guy is just 11 months old now (we can’t believe it), and Sean and Amy’s little ones are each under 5. Needless to say, the down time for us adults is few and far between. It comes in dribs and drabs, like scattered coins that we’re quick to pick up. Last night’s cruise, brief as it was, came like a shower of gold.
The kids were strapped, secured, and seated, and under the watchful eyes of five adults. So for a few moments, slipping out across the cool water, we each in our turns could let the mind wander….
Water lapping up on the hull. Wind over the face. Dark pines on the edge of the water. Sunshine peeking through the trees. Sunshine pouring honey on the lake’s skyward gaze. A loon in the distance. The face of my father looking out and up as he held the throttle that muttered bubbly commands to
Does the Church believe that men are better than women? Why can’t women be priests? When is the Vatican going to break free of this outdated patriarchal system of “government” and get with the times?
Hmmm. On this feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, the rocks on which the Church was built, I wonder if in certain circles, these questions aren’t stirred up again with new ardor.
The mystics tell us that there are two dimensions to life, two movements of the heart, two approaches to reality and spirituality. They are as big and as cosmic as Earth and Sky, Sun and Moon, Masculine and Feminine. They are the Petrine Way and the Marian Way.
Many of us tend to plod along in our faith journey following the Petrine Way; named after St. Peter, impetuous, lovable, “open mouth insert foot” Peter. It is active, leaps ahead, goes, grabs, speaks with passion and is a very productive way, no doubt. Generally speaking, it has masculine characteristics. To get closer to God, I’m going to “do” this or that…. get involved in a group, knock on doors, do the stations every day, read the entire Bible in a year, etc. It springs forth from us, from our initiative.
There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s the active branch of the Active/Contemplative paradigm that makes up the Christian Way of life. In the Martha and Mary gospel story, this is Martha.
But it is not the only way to live in the Spirit that God has poured into our hearts. In fact, the primordial way, the first way, the fundamental posture for those who thirst for the Holy Spirit is the Marian Way, modelled after
Yes, clearly I DO have too much time on my hands…. I’m a teacher who’s off for the summer. What’d ya expect? Enjoy the second installment of the Tower of Binky… the Two Towers! (Coming soon, Return of the Binky!)
Well, what can I say? Give me a half day of school and a free afternoon while Rebecca runs some errands… and you get this piece of cinematic diversion! Me and the Boy gettin’ silly! PS – There’s no need to tell me I have too much time on my hands, by the way. I’m a teacher and the school year just closed! So I do!! Stay tuned for me random antics…
God sure knew what He was doing when he decided that the human species would be able to procreate and raise little humans. For one thing, I see it as His ingenious way of getting the male component outside of their own heads once and for all. Ladies, I imagine you need sweet liberation from your own mental gymnastics of self-seeking fulfillment too, from time to time.
I have discovered that babies have the potential to pull the selfless out of the selfish. When you become a Mommy or a Daddy, powers are unleashed that could not have been extracted in any other way, except perhaps through some great trauma or suffering or epiphany. It’s amazing, exhausting, exhilarating…. “It is life nearest the bone where it is sweetest.”
Our nearly 9 month old baby boy continues to astound, capture, and captivate our hearts on a daily basis. We wake and walk the halls at 3am, and love it. We hear him cry and we run to him. He poops, or should I say explodes, and we think, get this, that it’s cute. And we want to clean it up. We sing to him all day long, and Daddy, over-productive, always reading, writing, e-mailing, planning, or presenting Daddy has been wasting time, squandering time, spilling out time doing nothing (read here everything) with his son. Including making random YouTube videos of his antics… The Boy Wonder discovers the Blues!
Rebecca and I look back at the now seemingly short 5 years of infertility that began our marriage; the days of waiting and longing
(The videos embedded in this post show a more articulated and contextual unpacking of key points in the Pope’s teaching on the Theology of the Body and are a necessary addition to the news interview mentioned below. I hope they help!)
In the past week since ABC Nightline aired a 6 minute video interview on Christopher West, articles have tried to articulate, posts have posited, and Twitter has been twittering with people’s reactions to its content. Many have been overwhelmingly positive, seeing through the roughly 10 substantial distortions and misquotes from the 6 minute piece (each clarified by Christopherhere), grateful that even a glimmer of the Church’s beautiful teaching slipped through the mainstream to potentially 4 million viewers. Others have used up large pockets of cyberspace to attack and belittle one of their own rather than the slanted ABC interview.
Samples of this attack:
“He (Christopher West) is one of the many self-help gurus out their that market their perspectives, attract people who are spiritually foundering, and make a living off their presentations, books, and dvd’s… In my diocese (that would be Philadelphia, folks), all those into West have no real spiritual foundation. They follow cultural phenomenon, become spoke people for this “New” understanding and wind up in the end with the usual nothing… Give him time, and he will self-destruct like the rest of them.”
- GM
“I’m shocked and horrified by the words that he uses. His mere mention of Hugh Hefner is to my mind an abomination.”
There’s something catchy about these images, and the tune by Matt Maher. A friend sent it to me today. It’s more of a Lenten tune but hey…. we’re always called to discipline, right guys?
By Bill Donaghy on April 28th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized
“Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Like a splinter in your mind… driving you mad.”
- Morpheus, The Matrix
The more deeply I delve into Pope John Paul II’s new sexual revolution (found in his teaching on the Theology of the Body) the more I come to realize the absolute insanity of the present state of things.
WARNING: The following words will either ruffle your feathers or unbind them so you can take flight.
Look objectively for a moment at the way the human body is treated today. Look at the magazine covers in your local
By Bill Donaghy on February 13th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized
I have a great idea for a Stimulus Package that will save us $800 billion dollars. Get this…. It’s called the Love Your Neighbor and Quit Being Greedy Action Plan.
Here’s how it works:
- In all of your decisions, don’t make profit, expansion, progress, or power the end. Use them as a means to another end…
- and that end is, get this… people. Us. Men and women.
It’s a crazy idea, I know, but I got to thinking that the most precious resource, the greatest asset, the golden fire that makes the world go ’round is actually NOT money. It’s people and a passion for people – men and women and children, in all of their manifold appearances of poverty, sickness, oppression, beauty, talent, gifts and contributions.
So the fuel to drive this Stimulus Package, whose end would not be spending but the idea of giving for the revitalization of men and women and families who are the living stones that make up businesses, factories, and corporations, would be… Love.
Yes, it’s a little old school, a little archaic. But give it a whirl and you’ll be amazed at how much a little of that love your neighbor stuff can carry you, and carry others.
By Bill Donaghy on January 11th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized
I’ve shared about our story of adoption, both with our baby boy (so new and so beloved to us), and of our little ones over the last few years, 12 of whom went to God before ever seeing the light of day. I’m so happy to say that, for a short while, Little 13 saw that light.
Baby Grace Elizabeth came to us early on Sunday, the feast of the Epiphany and of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (we think Gracie planned it that way). We waited, praying, while the c-section proceeded. Someone sneezed and we all whispered “God bless you.” And the doctor said “That was Grace.” What a way to come into the world! Blessed in her very first seconds.
She cried and squeezed our fingers, she turned her fragile head towards the light more than once. I baptized her with water from a tiny cup and we prayed, not knowing how long she would live in her condition. Then she fought for 10 hours before going back to God. She gave up her spirit just after the Angelus bells at 6pm.
For how this day unfolded in the plan of Our Father, we could not have asked for more. We had the tremendous blessing of family, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins around her, hugging and kissing her all day. Photographs and videos were taken, our pastor came and blessed her, and a dear friend from Maryland came too; he and his wife having lost their own precious daughter at birth, and truly knowing our pain.
We sang “Amazing Grace,” we prayed together, and Gracie met her big brother too. We wept, wishing she
“Maintain a spirit of peace and you will save a thousand souls.”
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