Spirituality

By Fr. Glenn Jones

I’ve found an intriguing little book at the moment titled “Spy the Lie”—written by some CIA operatives—which focuses on spotting deception. A key point of such a skill is that, to be successful in rooting out truth from someone who is lying, one must control one’s own biases toward the person’s state or behavior—avoid assuming either truthfulness or deception in anyone. After all, who among us has not been surprised to find that a favorite co-worker was a thief, or had a good friend or confidante (or beloved) betray you, or hear of a homeless person who returned a wad of cash—persons Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Here we are in mid-August … another election just around the corner. Oh boy … oh joy (max eye roll). Slanted news stories, and out-of-context—or simply made up—quotes abound. Doctored videos and recordings, cancel culture, bullying of those with contrary opinions … especially on social mean-ia. The assertion of examples of extreme behaviors or events as societal norms in order to buttress contrary positions. Arguing adversaries leaping from point to point as soon as a position begins to crumble rather than continuing to a logical conclusion … bringing to mind: “A Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones

Much of this column is from a column I wrote a couple of years ago, but it seems apropos now, as the 75^th anniversary of the only use of atomic weapons in wartime is nigh, to repeat much of it here (with slight editing).

July and August, of course, usher in these anniversaries of the first atomic explosion here in New Mexico, and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings which essentially ushered in the end of World War II.  In my former parish of Los Alamos where “the bomb” was developed, annually there were disarmament demonstrators—well-intentioned folks, of course, if not always civil Read More

By Fr. Glenn Jones

You may have seen the stories of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul—formerly the cathedral of the Orthodox faith built under Emperor Justinian I in the early 500s in the former Constantinople—being converted from the museum that it has been for the last several decades back into a mosque, which it was for several hundred years prior to that. An absolute jewel of architectural beauty, it has “changed hands” a number of times over the centuries—Orthodox cathedral to Catholic cathedral in the Crusades, back to Orthodox cathedral, then to mosque during the Ottoman conquest, to museum in Read More