Content about John Henley

July 1, 2010

Boys Don't Cry

Why developing an inner life is essential to healing men from the explosive violence bottled up within.

We are getting used to the troubling news reports of men who kill their whole families, their wives, their children, or their fellow workers. We are, of course, appalled and saddened, and suspect that these men must have been mentally ill or drunk or on drugs. They often are, but more often the "reason" is probably even deeper and less obvious than addiction or illness.

November 1, 2009

We Need to Take Better Care of Sister Earth

If the nations that built on the Judeo-Christian heritage do not soon see the work of earth care and climate change as a moral and spiritual imperative, one wonders how we will have any moral authority left?

As a priest of the Franciscan Order, the very first European "invaders" in the States of New Mexico, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and California. I think we have been around long enough to see both the good and the bad that we brought with us. We usually found it congenial to live among the Native peoples of the new world, because they already shared our vision of both a simple and a communal life. In fact, they often taught us how to live it!

January 1, 2004

Cheap Religion Is Worse Than No Religion

Richard Rohr writes about why peace is so hard to come by for most people and most groups, especially if they presume they can eliminate all evil from themselves or from the world.

Lucifer means "light-bearer", and the problem of evil is that it carries just enough light to confuse you.

In our search for the true spirit of Jesus, and the search for authentic peace, I would like to tackle one of the most confusing, ignored, and problematic passages in the Synoptic Gospels. This passage could help us understand why peace is so hard to come by for most people and most groups, especially if they presume they can eliminate all evil from themselves or from the world. It is a story of false exorcism.

November 1, 2003

Persons Transform Persons

Richard Rohr argues that we are seldom personally "transformed" by an idea or a new piece of knowledge, unless it is also connected to a person or a relationship. Persons finally transform persons into persons; ideas only rearrange our minds.

September 1, 2003

The Two Halves of Life?

History has recognized that there are at least two major movements in the spiritual journey. Richard Rohr calls them the path of ascent and the path of descent.