Welcome Congregants of the Blogosphere!
Nun Tuck’s Almanac is a sometimes serious, but always real attempt to return religious vocabulary back to its rightful roots. And if the roots are rotten, we’ll creatively reimagine these words so that they work for us, now in the 21st century.
This blog will also include, but not be limited to:
>Providing you with brief but accurate and researched information about particular aspects of the world’s religions to fodder discussion.
>Sharing my own personal musings on the sacred journey or items related to the collective spiritual journey.
>Religion is a word that has been used and misused ad nauseum. Its definition, its meaning, is very simply that which binds us together. The religion of this blog is: compassion, an openness to others’ beliefs and ideas (or at the very least, let’s not get nasty) and exploring ways to engage in the simple daily practices of spiritual fitness.
What about the name?
I am Nun Tuck, because I can’t be Friar Tuck. I’m a girl, and while I’m not a Catholic and only play a nun on this blog, the Good Friar and I share some important things in common:
1. I too would much prefer the company of a community of outlaws enforcing a little social justice to a band of self-satisfied complacent Sunday morning hypocrites.
2. Now while stealing from the rich to give to the poor may sound to some as Anti-American sentiment (can you say “Bolshevik Plot”) many of us are sufficiently outraged by the unadulterated avarice of the past several years/decades to think this perpetually populist idea particularly poignant (take that, Peter Piper).
3. Both of us enjoy a variety of carnal indulgences served with any generous volume of carbohydrates. We continue to live simply and faithfully (lots more on future blogs regarding this) but alas, the flesh is weak.
4. While friendly and gregarious (we are in the business of saving souls after all), we are fiery by temperament. Friar Tuck was expelled from his order due to a lack of respect of authority, and I chose to leave my childhood denomination as the chasm between the choices made by the church’s hierarchy and true care and concern for its people became too great. If authority wants to be respected, it has to earn it.
The almanac is simply a nod to another historic figure, Benjamin Franklin (one to whom I give Rock Star status) and his version of an 18th century blog of sorts, Poor Richard’s Almanac.
My real name is Katherine McHugh. I am a writer, theologian, mother, and runner (thank God with all the calories I eat!) And what I am trying to do here is simply something “worthy, not respectable” (in the words of William Henry Channing).
Ever since I was a kid, God and all kinds of thoughts about God, have moved and shaped me. With a Master’s Degree from Andover Newton Theological School in Religion and Public Life, I continued by curiosity, focusing on how the major world religions incorporate their faiths in daily living. My hope is that, with this knowledge, I can include more people in the conversation, encouraging those of various traditions to talk openly with one another. Understanding that while theologies can be different, a unity of spirit and good will can move mountains.
This blog springs from an earnest desire to bring the aspects of religion and spirituality that appear bizarre, confusing, or just plain nonsensical, out of the clouds, the scholar’s towers, the cleric’s pulpit, and into the world. With a Master’s in Theology, my passion to study theology in greater depth came from the profound conviction that I have held for most of my life, that the mystical aspects of religion or spirituality are not simply hocus pocus, filled with strange stories and extraordinary people. We should not be checking our brains at the door. Instead, I hope to explain the religious vocabulary and cultural metaphors of various traditions that are maps, that point to real pathways for even the most average of us to arrive at a more contemplative stance with life and a sense of wholeness.
A noble aspiration! Wishing you the best!
Thank you so much Katharine. I’m going over to visit your blog right now. Can’t wait!. Warmly, Nun Tuck
OK, you’re now on my blogroll. Looking forward to seeing who / what you put on yours, when you get it up and running!
Katherine, thanks for sharing the Easter sunrise service at Farm Pond with us on your blog. I felt as if we were there with you. You have inspired and challenged me with your words of wisdom!!
Kim
Thank you so much Kim. Wishing you much luck with your passion! Love, Nun Tuck
Oh, thank you for sharing this with me. It is precisely what I needed this day. How do things like that happen?
I feel honored to be part of this. Many thanks and peace.
Ah, another Franklin afficianado! Do you know of Herschbach’s lectures?
Interesting site, to say the least. I am intrigued. Please pass on to everyone that my book, “The BP Oily Pelican Brief” is in e-book format with Barnes & Noble. It will soon be in paperback edition. I was a “first responder” to the BP oil spill and tell a side of the story that was not told on the national news. It is a simple accounting of the spill response farce that BP used to dump 1.8 million gallons of toxic chemicals into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and let them evaporate into and onto the population of the U.S. Gulf Coast. Simple book written by a simple common man. Thanks,….Capt. Mark Noya
I live in New England and have always loved both the Yankees and the Red Sox. I passionately love baseball, and lived as a child in NYC during the late 70’s when the NYBOS rivalry was at a high pitch. Now that I am raising 4 amazing daughters (11, 18, 20 and 24 — all under roof) who also LOVE baseball, I have come to root for my hometown Yankees and my beloved Red Sox. Some people say that being a baseball fan is a spiritual quest of loving the moment, each one, and also reflecting about great moments, but most important for me, it is sharing that love with loves of your life. This summer I have the privilege to coach my youngest daughter “summer baseball” team (she is the only girl in the league, and one of it’s best players — pitcher, catcher, 1st base) and nothing brings me more joy to enjoy her homegrown passion for the game, our ability to share that love together and see her older sisters, (who still all play) cheering her on!
Thank you nun tuck for telling this story of one of the many ways I learn to love each moment as precious. Thank you for providing this “clearing” for others to be inspired by you and the space to share themselves.
I stumbled upon your blog through twitter somehow and I have been sitting here reading entries for over an hour. Your thoughts are so wonderful! I miss you and your whole family. I look forward to catching up with you soon! Love you all!
I find it interesting to learn about you through your own words.
I am glad you find my musings interesting.