In retirement, our father had a unique spirituality: Almost daily Mass – during which he prayed for the (preferably painful) deaths of the world’s dictators, the rosary, and readings. Eventually, he abandoned the idea that the Virgin Mary could miraculously “sneak” bad guys into Heaven. But he was firmly - chiseled-in-marble - convinced that there is “a special place in Heaven” for adoptive parents.

For the sake of Father Tobin’s grandchildren…

For the children and grandchildren of my friends…

America must never become a christian nation!

Getting a solid grasp on the hodgepodge that is Doug Wilson’s and CREC’s “theology” is akin to herding cats, molding warm Jello with your hands or ridding the Everglades of alligators and mosquitos.  

It’s an old joke.

It begins with the question “Do you think women will ever be ordained priests?” 

The man in the Roman collar responds, “I don’t think I’ll live to see the day, but I’m certain my grandchildren will.”

I never got “the call.”

At this writing – at the insistence of Father Tobin – and approaching 18,262 days – fifty years - since my May 22, 1976 ordination to the priesthood, I’ve still not received “the call.”

THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT 
OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Some of these soldiers fought and died
for a country that did not always
see them as equals.

At least in the beginning, this one’s just for fun.

Hopefully yours.  

Certainly ours.

“The fact that millions of people share the same vices
does not make these vices virtues,
the fact that they share so many errors
does not make the errors to be truths,
and the fact that millions of people share
the same form of mental pathology
does not make these people sane.”
Social Psychologist and Psychoanalyst Eric Fromm

I apologize.

Weeks short of fifty years as a priest, I still cannot explain The Resurrection.

I believe.

That’s it: I believe.

“People speak sometimes about the
‘bestial’ cruelty of man,
but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts;
no animal could ever be so cruel as a man,
so artfully, so artistically cruel.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

I often tell counseling clients “The only time to worry is when I look worried and, since I’m not worried, you don’t need to worry.”

So, even though my doctors can’t explain it and are incredibly confused, don’t worry, ‘Cause I’m not.

The numbers – more than 1,500 men, women and children in twenty-five years - were staggering, but not surprising.

It was ecumenical – but not interfaith.

When officials from a Chinese medical school asked if “Dr. Flynn” could give a lecture on a subject way out of my field, American Maryknoll Father (and medical doctor, expert on HIV/AIDS) Scott Harris responded, “Give him a day to prepare and he can talk for two hours about the sex life of chopsticks.”

AuthenticHealers has received a preview of the 2026 International Society for the Promotion of Common Sense “What Are They Thinking?” Survey. 

We apologize…

To the Mark Twain fans who believe he was the first to make the cogent argument about figures, statistics, lies and liars.

Who knew?

We’ll admit, we were halfway stumped.

Halfway…

He was (probably never to his face) called a “pit bull” and “Rottweiler.”

Nonetheless, “the Rottweiler” would certainly have words for legislators in Texas, Louisiana, Florida and a handful of other states who are knocking themselves out (and exhausting many of us) demanding the placement of posters of the King James Bible version of the Ten Commandments in classrooms across the nation.

In a nationwide radio broadcast, Oscar Armulfo Romero y Galdamez signed his own death warrant.

“Do not fret because of evildoers
or be envious of the wicked, 
for the evildoer has no future hope
and the lamp of the wicked 
will be snuffed out.”
Proverbs 24: 19-30