[Ancient Faith Radio; June 21, 2007]
Frederica: I’m sitting here on the sofa in the blue room in
my house with my son Stephen, who has a red wristband on that says
‘Bonnaroo.’ Does it say ‘Bonnaroo 07’ or
just ‘Bonnaroo?’ 2007. And on the other
sofa is Jocelyn, I think fast asleep.
Yeah, she’s fast asleep. They’re
exhausted because last night at this time they were just getting in the car to
leave the Bonnaroo music festival and they had an 11-hour drive and have done
laundry and a number of other things in between. Steve, when was the first time you and
Jocelyn went to Bonnaroo?
[Review of Faith and International Affairs; Summer 2007]“It was during this part that the majority of us tried to kill ourselves.”
They buried my spiritual father last November. I have never seen a body in a casket look so not-there; the indistinct pale husk he left behind looked like something a breeze could lift up and carry away. It was the contrast, I suppose. Few people in life are as radiant and vigorous as Fr. George Calciu, or as full of joy. He was a few days short of his 81st birthday, still full-time pastor of a church in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, still traveling world-wide to those who sought him as a teacher and spiritual father, still diligently reaching out to the poor and unchurched around him.
[Ancient Faith Radio; June 15, 2007]
Frederica: Here we are.
I’m at a beautiful outdoor café, what was the name of this place? I’ve forgotten already. Tree, something, Italiano, I think. [Laughs] I’m looking around, I’m trying to see if
there’s a sign. Anyway, I’m in Malibu Village
in Malibu, California on an overcast day. It’s pleasantly cool; it’s just perfect here,
as it so often is. June gloom, I’m
told. I’m sitting here with my friend,
Barbara Nicolosi, who is a screenwriter, who is a teacher of screenwriting and
has a number of other talents and one of the things that frustrates her is
Christians that think they’re going to write a screenplay and convert the world
to Christianity with a script that is pretty unprofessional. But let me let you speak for yourself; just
start in anywhere. Hit it, Barbara. They can’t see you moving your hands and
making faces; you’ve actually got to – [laughs]
[Beliefnet, June 14, 2007]
“If I marry Bill it must be with open eyes,” a 21-year-old Ruth Bell wrote in her diary. “After the joy of knowing that I am his by rights and his forever, I will slip into the background.”
[Ancient Faith Radio; June 8, 2007]
This movie theater here: the Muvico 24, is just south of Baltimore and it’s such a
hoot. I don’t know too much about this
company, this chain, Muvico theaters, but they build their theaters to have
these grandiose themes, and this one is Egyptian temple, that’s the theme we
have going on here. As you approach this
24-auditorium theater, there are these huge columns with big capitols on top. Everything looks like it’s destroyed, like
it’s in ruins. It all has cracks painted
into it, Egyptian figures going around these columns. I’m guessing there’s about 20 columns with
black bases and then the sandstone rising up above that. Huge multi-colored panels and snake heads and
all kinds of crazy things.
My podcast, “Frederica Here and Now,” is carried by AncientFaithRadio; for it, I record short pieces based on conversations and ideas I have as I move through the week. Here’s the link to subscribe: just scroll down.
[Ancient Faith Radio; June 1, 2007]Frederica: Let me introduce it: I’m in a car with my husband and we’re going to lunch with some friends in Washington, so we’re driving along here and my husband, Father Gregory Mathewes-Green, pastor of Holy Cross Orthodox Church outside of Baltimore. We’re talking about catechumens, the catechetical process and how people coming over from another kind of Christianity often have more re-thinking to do than they expect, certainly it was more for me than I thought I would have to do. It took many years, I think, to realize the depth and the range of how Orthodoxy was different. So of course my husband takes in many catechumens and counsels and prays and talks them through to Chrismation, and I wanted to get his feedback about what are some of the flags that you see going up that tell you that things are going well or are not going well.
[National Review Online, May 25, 2007]
What a perfect confection the first “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003) was, droll and thrilling, marvelously fresh. The unexpected enthusiasm it received demanded a sequel or two, and the people obliged to supply them have my sympathy; it’s hard to do a sequel on “fresh.”
[Christian Vision Project email newsletter, Spring 2007]As a writer and culture critic Frederica Mathewes-Green has landed stories on National Public Radio, in the pages of major magazines and newspapers, and in bestselling books on culture and Christian spirituality. Like all public figures who challenge the assumptions of mainstream culture, she has had to learn how to stay focused and humble in the midst of both success and hostility. There are few Christians who model grace and creativity better than this grandmother of four. In this interview she describes two basic spiritual disciplines that lead to a life of integrity in a fragmented culture.
[ExploreFaith.com, May 2007]
We sat down recently with Frederica Mathewes-Green to talk about spiritual practice…
Explorefaith: Your spiritual journey has taken you from growing up Catholic, to practicing Hinduism in your twenties, to Anglicanism, and finally, conversion into the Orthodox Church. Would you say it was primarily belief, or practice, that drew to you to Orthodoxy?
FMG: Strangely enough, I had finished most of those changes by the time I was 21; the “wilderness wandering” was brief but intense in my teens. When I came home to Christianity my husband and I went to Episcopal seminary and enjoyed being part of the “renewal” movement in that denomination. In the late 80’s we were concerned about theological drift in that church, and that is why we set out to examine alternatives.
