
Mary Marrocco
Dr. Mary Marrocco is an associate secretary for the Canadian Council of Churches. She is also a teacher, writer and lay pastoral worker. Her column, Questioning Faith, features topics about the teachings of our church, scriptures, the lives and writings of the saints and spiritual writers and theologians. She can be reached at marrocco7@sympatico.ca.
A friend was reflecting on a remark she’d made that morning to someone, which she didn’t feel good about. “Sometimes I think about things after I say them,” she mused, “and wonder why I did.”
Mary Marrocco: Learning how to turn betrayal upside down
How do we not become violent in an age of violence? How can we find another way when in our world, and even in our Church, violence seems to have made such terrible inroads?
Mary Marrocco: The gift of tears unlocks healing spirit
Her body is thin and tense. It carries the anguish, the hurts and false steps, of years. Her face does not as yet reveal the pain she’s known in her young life. She doesn’t cry. Alone, sometimes, she has bursts of uncontrollable stormy tears. Never the gentle kind and never for long.
Mary Marrocco: The priceless power of the gift of self
Our collective annual engagement in gifts at Christmas-time has wound up for the year. Consumer Christmas can be frustrating and painful, but still it recognizes and develops in us the power of gift.
Questioning Faith: Pay attention to the yearning of the heart
Stopping for lunch en route to a big city, my companion remarked: “My grandmother grew up in this town. In those days, it was beautiful, a thriving and energetic community.”
Questioning Faith: Rachel’s weeping brings a sign of peace
“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.” (Matthew 2:18, quoting Jeremiah 31:15)
Mary Marrocco: Living and loving in the face of death
“I have been half in love with easeful Death.” So wrote poet John Keats two centuries ago. For him it was sorrowful, yet his succinct sentence could well describe our current perspective in this country.
Questioning Faith: Gift of awe can unleash powerful change
One late-summer evening, I snatched a moment to walk down to the lake. The day’s rain was starting to clear, golden sunshine emerging. The beach was criss-crossed with noise and activity: volleyball players, loudspeakers, food sales, toys, umbrellas.
Questioning Faith: The truth will make us agents of healing
As a psychotherapist, I work with people harmed by abuse: abusers who “own” it, and who don’t; falsely-accused people; and many, many people from many walks of life who have been abused.
Questioning Faith: Evidence points to leap of faith
Are you afraid of the dark?