Celebrity priests, online accusations, boundaries + more

Our quarterly Ask-Me-Anything letter

Last week, I put out a call for ask-me-anything questions to build this week’s newsletter. I got many thoughtful, creative questions, and I really wish I could answer every single one, but I do these AMA issues quarterly, so there will be plenty of future opportunities to get a question in!

AMA disclaimers: Some of the questions were repeats/long and personal, so I’m paraphrasing a few of them. As I grow in my faith + personhood + feminism + motherhood + alllll that jazz, I’m really starting to see just how much I value open dialogue. I think the fact that we have such a hard time having conversations with one another is one of the critical breaking points of our society, especially in America— “land of the free”, etc. So here’s what I want to say: you and I can disagree and you are welcome here. You and I can hurt each other’s feelings and you are welcome here. You and I can have very different beliefs and you are welcome here. The only things I don’t tolerate are you telling someone else they aren’t welcome here, or you deciding to radically blaspheme the Holy Spirit or something. K? Let’s pray for each other and assume best intentions as we wrestle with tricky topics. Conflict is what happens when thinking people gather.

How you handle deep, long lasting, and wonderful friendships with families that are not Catholic (or even Christian), that do not share Catholic values, or actually lead lives directly contradictory to what the Church has to offer?

OOF.