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On the Trinity

I always struggled with the notion of a Triune God.  I accept the Trinity as mystery, but my head always wants to make that mystery accessible. If you grew up in the era of the Baltimore Catechism, as I did, you remember the picture.  The Father is seated on a throne with long white hair and beard.  There is a golden arrow connecting the Father to the Son, who is standing with his hand held up in blessing so that you could see the wound and his Sacred Heart there for all to see.  (By the way, Jesus wasn't a white dude with blue eyes.)  Then there is another golden arrow connecting the Son to the Spirit, which is represented as a dove.  And then another golden arrow connecting the Spirit to the Father. Patrick of Ireland likened the Trinity to a three-leafed shamrock.  The essence of the Trinity suggests that if all of those persons did not exist, the nature of God disappears and the attainment of salvation is impossible.  This teaching has bee...
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Welcome!

Hi there!  My name is Dan and I want to welcome you to my new blog, "My View from the Back Pew".  I hope to post something at least once a week, so please enjoy and know that the views I'm expressing are about how I am seeing my relationship with the Divine, the church, and faith.  A little about me so you have some context (and if you know me, you may know most of this, but read it anyway)... I grew up a Roman Catholic.  Let's say I was a devout Roman Catholic.  Daily Mass (at Divine Redeemer Hospital in South St. Paul, MN), altar server, lector, etc. all before I left high school.  For as long as I could remember, I had wanted to be a priest.  That stayed with me through high school and followed me to Saint John Vianney college seminary in Saint Paul.  As I grappled with the notion of celibacy, I had to decide if I wanted to be called "Dad" or "Father".  Dad won and I left the seminary. I finished college with a Bachelor of Arts deg...
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