The Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist

               When I enrolled in a seminary course to learn about the art of pastoral care, the professors began by telling us the most important tool we’d need would be to learn more about ourselves. I was offended by this

               Yesterday we explored alcoholic systems, citing examples from my own family of origin. Today we’re going to talk about some of the reasons people head down the path of alcoholic behavior. A number of years ago, an accidental discovery

               My grandmother, Mary Yanni, was one of the most influential people in my life. When I was born, my grandmother’s house was about two miles away from the home where I lived with my parents. My grandmother (affectionately called

               I did not always know I was going to become a priest. When I was a child, I did have a love for the liturgy, but I thought everyone did. While attending St. Mary’s Catholic School and Church, I

               I grew up in a border town in California. This means that my whole life, I have lived in the vicinity of people speaking two languages all around me. I attended a private Roman Catholic elementary school called St.

               How many of us were taught as children that we were not supposed to question things that were told to us by adults? I was taught this as a youngster and I was told that this was especially true

               When we say the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, we affirm that “We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” Have you ever noticed we don’t say “one, holy, Episcopal, and apostolic Church”? What do you suppose

               There’s a word that gets tossed around a lot these days and it seems to be a hot-button issue. The word I’m talking about is “privilege.” Sometimes people talk about concepts like “white privilege” or “male privilege” or “straight