Maria Gwyn McDowell

  • Immoral Inhospitality

    Edit: Due to the controversy caused by Fr. Robert Arida’s original post, Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America chose to remove the post and replace it with his own reflection.  The overwhelmingly hostile responses remain.  You may read… Continue reading

  • Silence, Solidarity and Grief: responding again to A Queer Calling

    Given the cost of speaking out, the divisiveness of the issue, I don’t know what offering solidarity on the part of A Queer Calling might mean given the cost that comes with solidarity.  I do think it requires honestly facing… Continue reading

  • Stories are Never Just Stories: a response to “Our Celibate Gay Agenda”

    Sarah and Lindsey at A Queer Calling finally laid out their celibate gay agenda: A Queer Calling came to be at a time when we felt a need for more meaningful interaction with other people on topics such as celibacy,… Continue reading

  • To My White Nationalist Brothers, Again

    Dear Matt Parrot, Let me start by saying clearly that I am saddened by the denial of the eucharist to Matthew Heimbach. I understand why it was done, at least according to the (rightly) limited information made public. But I… Continue reading

  • To My White Nationalist Brothers

    Only a few days ago, via the ubiquitous internet, a number of Orthodox Christians discovered that a new brother, Matthew Heimbach was welcomed into our midst, a member of an openly pro-White organization, the Traditionalist Youth Network. At least four… Continue reading

  • Neighborly Unction

    Tonight, many Orthodox will gather as a community to receive the Sacrament of Unction. A late addition to Holy Week services, unction “is offered to all who are sick in body, mind, or spirit.” The seven Gospel readings reflect the… Continue reading

  • Eating Cake and Swinging Sticks

    In “Cake and Compassion in Arizona,” Fr. Lawrence Farley creates a rhetorical association and then immediately denies its impact: he likens the refusal of baking a cake for a lesbian couple to the same refusal of a Jew or an… Continue reading

  • Triumph of What?

    As the first week of Great Lent draws to a close, encouragements to persist in the fast increase, and recipes (some of them very tasty) are shared. Fasting for Orthodox is a rigorous practice of virtual veganism for the duration… Continue reading

  • On Preferential Options

    We prefer division. We prefer it because it’s so much easier to create and sustain communities of (presumably) like-minded people, so that we do not have to be with “them.” – Dn. Nicholas Denysenko Division is always easier than unity.… Continue reading