Seeking Authentic Voice

I have always been interested in the how the body works and fascinated by cellular biology in particular. Perhaps, if I were going to college now, I would study epigenetics, which looks at how life’s stressors change one’s DNA, altering what is passed down to subsequent generations. These are not changes to one’s actual DNA code, but rather they influence how our genetic material functions by triggering what part of one’s gene’s get activated or not to fight off physical or mental disease. For example, scientific evidence shows that people who have been subjected to trauma, like starvation, incur changes in their genetic material which is passed down to later generations, possibly causing obesity. Instead of becoming a scientist I’ve spent most of my life as a parish priest. However, I think that in many ways this vocation is directly linked to my ancestors. Rooted, perhaps, in some spiritual transference of inspiration from my Mormon pioneer relatives who took great risks crossin...

 A reflection on the readings for Epiphany 3A: Isaiah 9:1-4, 1 Cor 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23 Hannah Mills, my great grandmother, five generations back, was born in 1839 in Lancashire, England. Her father, Isaac, worked as a dyer at a local cotton mill. My great grandfather, five generations back, came to live with Hannah’s family following the death of his parents when he was a small child. Not being blood relatives, Jonathon and Hannah were married when she was nineteen and he was twenty-three. In the late 1850’s Hannah and Jonathon converted to Mormonism. From family genealogy it appears that the rest of Hannah’s family remained members of the Church of England. This assumption is based in part on the fact that Hannah and Jonathon were married in the Manchester Cathedral December 20 , 1857. The Manchester Cathedral, part of the Church of England, dates back to the 1600’s, and perhaps as early as the 700’s. The Mormon Church excommunicated Hannah and Jonathon for having their wedding i...