Mark's Blog
A Movement Created in Gettysburg
“You are the largest volunteer organization in the world,” Jonathan Sacks remarked to an audience of 1000 at the conference of Anglican bishops in 2008, held in Canterbury England. “You have to stay together for the sake of the rest of us”, he pleaded,...
The Declaration of Independence: A Call to Citizenship
On July 4th, I will have been the fourth of forty-one readers of the Declaration of Independence, a public event held every year in the Jaffrey NH meeting house, the frame of which was erected in 1775. The reading will be followed by an ice cream social, and the...
The Supreme Court, Race, and Our Cultural Limp
Most scholars and pundits are predicting that the Supreme Court will vote to overturn affirmative action as a part of the college admission process. The formal decisions on the two cases are expected by the end of the week, when the Court finishes its term. ...
A Suggested Response to the Indictment of Donald Trump
Years ago, my father called to tell me that one of my younger sisters had just moved in with a man she was dating, while she took a year off from college to live in Wyoming. Expecting me to share his disdain for this development, I asked, “what is his name?” That...
Introducing Podcasts: Reconciliation Roundtable
Later this week I will be inaugurating a bi-monthly podcast, entitled “Reconciliation Roundtable”. Reconciliation Roundtable will feature conversations with leaders who not only demonstrate a commitment to reconciliation, but whose life stories demonstrate a journey...
Vulnerability, Mystery and Artificial Intelligence
Functional Atheism is a term I first heard about thirty years ago from writer and conference leader Parker Palmer. He described a functional atheist as someone who says they believe in God but lives as though God doesn’t exist. I have held on to the term for these...
On the Lookout for Hospitality
It seems that an agreement has been reached to raise the debt ceiling, so as to avoid default. After months of dire predictions, weeks of preening by pundits and politicians, and several days of round the clock negotiating, a deal has been achieved, which now...
Fear, Trauma, and Guns
Last week I was in Washington DC with a group of bishops, clergy and laypeople to witness and strategize about our work in gun violence prevention (referred to as GVP). Organized by Bishops United Against Gun Violence, which I helped form after the Newtown,...
The Challenges of Freedom
Freedom. The bedrock of the American experiment. It is protected in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, adopted in 1791: freedom to exercise one’s religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of the right to petition the...