Archbishop Paul's Reflections

By Bishop Paul Last week, there was a referendum in Ireland to vote on discontinuing the country’s ban on abortions. In this “Catholic” nation, the referendum passed by an overwhelming majority as 1.4 million people voted to lift the ban on abortions while 724,000 voted against it (based on 68% of the vote). Now it is in the hands of … Read More

By Bishop Paul As many know by now, another school shooting took place at Santa Fe High School in Texas last week, during which 10 people were killed.  The student who committed this act had a shotgun and a handgun that he had hidden under his trench coat.  I issued a statement several months ago on the Florida high school shooting.  While I still stand by that statement, I realize … Read More

By Bishop Paul “And as He was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’  And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good?  No one is good but God alone.  You know the commandments: Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not … Read More

By Bishop Paul While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from … Read More

By Bishop Paul Jesus began His public ministry proclaiming, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  These words lie at the heart of living our Orthodox Christian Faith.  The call to “repent” is not a one-time event we experience, or had experienced, at one point in our life.  It is a call to change our minds, to turn from how we had previously understood … Read More

By Bishop Paul Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”  So God created man in His own … Read More

By Bishop Paul “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” [Mark 2:16-17]. These last lines from Mark, which I had quoted in last week’s entry, are important to help us understand what unconditional … Read More

By Bishop Paul As you may know, I have a strong interest in helping our families living in a secular, humanistic culture, which seems to show no interest in the Orthodox Faith. How do we go about addressing this? How do we learn to live in the world realizing that we are not of it? This is the tension that must exist if we are … Read More