Passages, Links and Points of Interest October 2022 Catharine Isabell Winsor April 8, 1921* - Sept. 28, 2022† Since closing OIRF in June 2018, my employment status and work has been described as “supposed-to-be-retired” and I have happily continued regular – if shortened – working hours in my tiny home office as Praxis2Practice. Those of you who had met and knew my Mom Catharine can appreciate the deep bond that we shared on many levels (roommates for the last 18 years, mentor, proof [...]
May 2022 These have been dramatic times. The pandemic seems to be easing until the next scare-tactic takes over the media narrative, the war in the Ukraine, the terrible loss of life to senseless shootings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX along with out of control politics and economics leaves each of us wondering how we can regain control of the craziness. Every day I remember that comment overheard at one of my online conferences that the only difference between a conspiracy theory and a conspiracy is usually only [...]
March 2022 There was a night recently where thoughts whirled and sleep escaped me. Rather than stew in frustration, I did a “Carolyn” and just sat at my computer in the early hours of a new day and wrote – just notes and thoughts and an attempt to make sense of recent events. It is certainly a turbulent and highly charged time in history. As I’ve mentioned before, I believe this is the time of millennial transition that many expected in those first few years of this 21st century. [...]
January 2022 In a way, so much of the year 2021 was depressing and frustrating, and represented a time when as a people and as practitioners we simply had no control over the events and consequences of the pandemic narrative. I closed my 2021 messages on what I hope was a strong note of optimism. I have come to the understanding that this is the way of our “new reality”. We have come through the transition from pre-pandemic life and have arrived into the present situation that we must [...]
November 2021 In a talk by Melissa Spas (who serves as the Director of Education and Engagement for an organization called the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving) she commented that “the dominant expectation of our economy is scarcity and competition, and the shadow side of scarcity is greed.” Scarcity, competition and greed – does that ring true for the pandemic situation we are currently facing? Biblical scholar Marcus Borg uses the term “domination system” in his writings, which he says refers to “what is commonly called ‘systemic injustice’ [...]

