Links

This large site, originated by former Religion editor at the Detroit Free Press, David Crumm, has a wide focus that is interfaith in scope and seeks to report on the best of the world's faith traditions, showing how their tenets are being lived out in our times. Part news, part interviews, part essays, this is a site to deepen ones knowledge and appreciation of the positive aspects of major and minor faith traditions. A good counterpoint to the mis-perception that the religious right typifies Christianity and that extremists of other religions accurately characterize theirs.

Hartford Seminary in Hartford Connecticut is the institution in which Sister Miriam Therese Winter is a faculty member. This unusual seminary has an approach which mirrors the values and perspectives of Another-Fine-Mess. We encourage you to check out their statement of values, available on their site. We share them.

This is the site of The American Association of Pastoral Counselors. Members of this group have advanced training in theology and psychotherapy and pay attention to the ways in which each discipline informs and deepens the other and how this view can shed light on the issues of living which their clients present to them. Pastoral Counselors see individuals, couples and families and typically address a wide range of presenting problems, from mood disorders to difficulties in relationships. Pastoral Counselors seek to provide the highest possible level of psychotherapeutic care in the most affordable way to persons regardless of gender, race, nationality, or sexual orientation. Pastoral counselors do not proselytize and see persons who claim no faith, as well as those who are attracted to many different faith traditions. There are Pastoral Counselors throughout the United States.

We include a link to this site because Cheryl Unruh, the site's creator, is a writer who describes daily life in a smallish town (Emporia, KS, pop. 25,000) in the middle of the middle of our country (about 150 miles from the geographic center!) . . . a place where people "flyover," and their "jets scratch the sky." Yes, Cheryl is a poet as well. She is a writer with a keen sense of the importance of small things, small events, and places that otherwise might be overlooked (to continue the 'flyover' metaphor.) She is clearly in love with all-things-Kansas and writes to say "thank you" for it. In addition to "gratitude" you may notice that one of the other values we try to lift up in the Dialogues Upon Sundry Occasions, is the importance of remembering and including the overlooked, the marginalized . . . a theme central to Jesus' teachings. While her site is certainly not dedicated to religious or spiritual themes as such, if you read her pieces in the Emporia Gazette, her other essays and poetry, you'll find the extraordinary shining through in the midst of the ordinary that we so often "flyover." And that has genuine spiritual value. So give her site a visit. Mercifully, she writes with a greater economy of words than is typically found around here!

Alcoholics Anonymous is the well-known 12-step organization whose purpose is to educate about alcohol abuse and addiction, and to assist those who are addicted to alcohol in finding recovery from that addiction. A visit to their website will acquaint you with their programs and sources of information about alcohol addiction and recovery. Another source of information about alcohol dependency and addiction is the Center for Disease Control. A visit to the following link will help you understand the nature of alcohol addiction. http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm