Roomin' House Blues

I've been getting a lot of new readers from St. Blog's Parish, http://stblogsparish.com/  along with old readers from my Facebook friends, Mark Shea's Catholic and Enjoying It!  http://markshea.blogspot.com , Scriptural Rosary  http://scripturalrosary.blogspot.com  and several other places.  It's no secret that a large number of my readers are Catholic, which I am myself, but are are welcome, devout atheists included.  Fr. Daniel, my pastor at Blessed Sacrament always says we need a welcoming parish.  I am trying to write a welcoming blog. Please feel free to leave comments after articles,even comments from the peanut gallery, it's open comment here. I have a Dorthy Day edge as my friend Mark Shea observed, and if you don't that's okay, we have to engage in a lot of respectful dialog to build a sense of community. But remember, of course, Dorothy Day is Servant of God, 1st leg up on canonization, and while she didn't want to ...

My life has been touched by the suffering of the mentally ill.  My mother suffered severe mental illness and was committed to Western State Hospital in Washington State.  A coma induced by insulin shock treatment caused some permanent brain damage, yet the depression lessened over the years.  She is still alive in a nursing home. My paternal Grandmother suffered from bipolar disorder (before it was given that name) and kept going off her medications. Sadly, she committed suicide rather than continue in a depressed state. I had read some of the works of R.D Laing, especially "Insanity, Madness, and the Family" who was an advocate of using the small group home, the trusting carrying community, as a form of treatment for mental illness.  I had often dreamed of someday being a part of a community dedicated to this. When  I returned to the Seattle area after many years in California, seeking a return to the church I had left when I was...