Dr. Mary Marrocco is an associate secretary for the Canadian Council of Churches. She is also a teacher, writer and lay pastoral worker. Morrocco explores the lives and writings of the saints, spiritual writers and theologians‚ and how they relate to contemporary life.
Amusingly, and confusingly, two signs were posted, one above the other, on the charming wrought-iron gate leading to a country estate: “Welcome” and “No trespassing.” The place seemed to say simultaneously, “Come in, we want you,” and “Stay away, we’re afraid of you.”
Mary Marrocco: Humanity is enriched by connection to dead
By Mary MarroccoHow do we become fertile earth?
Mary Marrocco: Casting off fear for the sake of love
By Mary MarroccoShowing a young French couple our summer youth camp, we chatted about our part of the world and theirs. André, an intense observer of human nature, lamented the lost connection with nature he sees everywhere. His greatest sorrow was not that people are distant from nature, but that they are not sad about it.
Mary Marrocco: We must give our faith a chance to grow
By Mary MarroccoReligion, an essay in a major news service declaimed recently, is a sociological phenomenon that exists as a psychological need-fulfillment. It is a never-ending series of (similar) movements that are born and die when their usefulness to social groups has passed.
Mary Marrocco: Boldly go inward before stepping outward
By Mary MarroccoSitting on a patio having coffee, Fr. George was watching people rush along in the shadow of the big bank towers. He was silent, contemplating them.
Mary Marrocco: What is the measure of our listening?
By Mary MarroccoIs it getting harder for us to listen?
Mary Marrocco: Learning how to turn betrayal upside down
By Mary MarroccoHow 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?
Martyrdom is about much more than suffering
By Mary Marrocco“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
Faith: Being in silence teaches us God’s voice
By Mary MarroccoIn an emergency ward, in another country, I lay on a table awaiting the physician. Lightning flashes of pain shot through my body, weak from days-long inability to take in water and food.
Faith: We find God in our quietest moments
By Mary MarroccoIn a fantasy movie, two fallen angels are on a quest. As often happens with quests, violence ensues. They battle it out, angels and humans, blood and wing-feathers flying. Towards the end of the movie, when it’s too late, God wakes from a long nap and wanders in, yawning.
Faith: A good birthday question for Canadians: Who are we as a people?
By Mary MarroccoBrian and Adin married and lived in Canada. She was originally from the Middle East, he from the British Isles. Over the years, they had to sort out where their differences came from: from different family backgrounds, personal differences or the different nations they’d belonged to.