Adela Torchia, Author at Faith Tides

The best of times, or the worst of times?

Adela Torchia — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 20:02:16 +0000

You may have recognized this title as being from Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities. And like much of Dickens’s work, it remains relevant for our times. Here are the opening lines of the novel: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age […]

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Book review of Rest is Resistance – A Manifesto

Adela Torchia — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 19:13:14 +0000

Since naps have been essential to my survival, I was immediately attracted to this 2022 New York Times Best Sellers book in which the author, Tricia Hersey, calls herself the “Founder of The Nap Ministry,” and even the “Nap Bishop.” I learned about this book from Reverend Ruth Dantzer who’s the Anglican Spiritual Care […]

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Barbie, memento mori and liberation

Adela Torchia — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 17:09:13 +0000

Just as one envisions a skull in a classical monk’s cell, as a memento mori – a reminder of one’s mortality — so too the pink utopia of the seemingly perfect Barbie World is disrupted in the movie — by a question about death. Barbie Land does not usually deal with such serious subjects since […]

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Seeking sanctuary — my home, their homes, our homes

Adela Torchia — Mon, 01 May 2023 17:31:07 +0000

In the church, we are used to thinking of sanctuary as the holiest part of our church buildings. It is where the congregation gathers to worship and the clergy preside over liturgies. But many millions of desperate migrants around the world seek a simpler form of sanctuary — a place of basic refuge, safety and […]

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A Fool’s Journey to Easter — Trickster Jesus

Adela Torchia — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 22:30:42 +0000

After wondering for some time about how the indigenous understanding of Trickster could be linked to the biblical Christian story, I was intrigued to stumble across this article on Trickster Jesus on Easter Day 2018: https://godspacelight.com/2018/04/01/a-fools-journey-to-easter/. It was written by the Rev. Rachel K. Taber-Hamilton (and published online April, 2018) who was an ordained priest […]

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Halfway back to the light

Adela Torchia — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 15:00:51 +0000

A new Irish public holiday begins this year in honour of St Brigid as one of the country’s patron saints https://www.officeholidays.com/holidays/ireland/st-brigids-day. It’s the first such holiday named after a woman; and will be on Feb. 6 — the Monday closest to her traditional feast-day of Feb. 1 to Feb. 2 coinciding with the old Gaelic […]

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Christian themes in the Harry Potter book series

Adela Torchia — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 20:29:53 +0000

Having recently finished reading the seven volumes of Harry Potter (British Bloomsbury edition) for the first time at age 70, I was struck by its great relevance to Christian themes, among other things. This is not a new idea since the author has stated that she used them in the series, and countless people have […]

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Polarization, neutrality and the Tower of Babel

Adela Torchia — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 17:28:04 +0000

Many of us are horrified at the extent of polarization in our world, like that found in our neighbours to the south, or in the UK where Brexit was voted in by similar tiny margins like we often see in American politics and in many other countries. Polarization usually leaves both sides feeling entrenched, isolated […]

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Interconnection and healing from colonization

Adela Torchia — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 16:16:49 +0000

Book Review: Indigenous Healing: Exploring Traditional Paths by Rupert Ross. Toronto, Penguin Canada, 2014. After hearing Martin Brokenleg, a priest and prominent psychologist specializing in Indigenous trauma and resilience, recommend this book, I ordered it and was surprised to find that it’s written by a retired assistant Crown attorney, who is non-Indigenous. Ross is also […]

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Celtic teachers show us the divine in all matter

Adela Torchia — Tue, 31 May 2022 19:01:27 +0000

Book Review: Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul by John Philip Newell. New York, NY, HarperOne, 2021 “We’re in for quite a stretching,” said an Irish midwife sister after hearing Newell speak in Dublin about the new thing that’s trying to come forth given the decline of traditional Christianity — what are the yearnings for new birth […]

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