Welcome!

“Do Not Be Afraid … You Are My Dearest Friends”*

Toxic Fear is perhaps life’s greatest hostage-taker. One psychiatrist calls it a “disease of the imagination.” Fear and disabling Worry can start off like a tiny seed and, watered by thoughts that emphasize worst-case scenarios, grow into a virus-like fiend that ends up dominating our mental state. It then holds us back from our ability to enjoy nearly every dimension of our life: our talents, our work, our love, our play, and our approach to a life in the Spirit.

This website is dedicated to three major Defense Systems that can be effective in helping us overcome the insidious nature of fear, as well as other mental health demons like depression. It will also focus on how we can better live out our lives free of those persistent foragers that roam throughout the corners of our minds… relentlessly haunting us.

Those three Defense Systems are: Spirituality, Psychology and Addiction. All three of these provide newly developed means of delving into the root causes of fear and depression and other mental health disorders, and assisting people in finding improved pathways to freedom, joy, and peace.

“Do not be afraid” – a phrase found 365 times in Sacred Scripture!

*Luke 12:32; translation found in The Bible in Contemporary Language, Eugene H. Peterson

Recent Posts

  • Should the Church Cause Trouble?

    On the 24th of last month, many Catholics, and perhaps some others, observed the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Many of you may never have …

  • How Does God View Human Failings?

    One of the most embarrassing things that has happened to me occurred years ago when I took my father to his doctor’s office. He was probably in his early nineties, …

  • What We Really Want, and Need

    My wife, Amparo, and I were at a restaurant recently when a family that included a teenaged girl entered. She and family members were walking to their table, accompanied by …

  • Compassion as Weakness

    While in Colombia a week or so ago, I had an interesting conversation with a taxi driver. He was sympathizing with America’s “immigration problem,” comparing it to the onslaught of …

  • Knowing Right from Wrong

    One of my all-time, favorite movies was produced in 1989 and was entitled, “Do the Right Thing.” Produced, written and directed by Spike Lee, “the story explores a Brooklyn neighborhood’s …

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mm Tom Carney

What “Organized Religion” is Doing

Nov 28, 2019

Remember when the Amazon forest was on fire? It was only a few months ago, but so many things have happened since – more school shootings, mass demonstrations in...

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Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Nov 23, 2019

“This is the King of the Jews.” Lk 23:38 Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church adopted many of the trappings we associate with people of power. As a consequence,...

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How to Ruin Your Life

Nov 21, 2019

My lifelong friend, Fr. Gerald Waris, about whom I’ve written before in these blogs, used to tell people considering a trip to El Salvador, where he has supported various...

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Thirty – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Nov 15, 2019

“ … not a hair on your head will perish. By your endurance you will secure your lives.” Lk. 21:19 It’s that time of the church year again –...

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A Man and His Daughter at Mass

Nov 14, 2019

It’s no secret that many people have stopped going to church. At most churches, you can observe what national polling data have reported. Many say they get nothing out...

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Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Nov 10, 2019

“he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for him all are alive.” Lk 20:38 After the untimely death of his four-year-old son, Eric Clapton wrote...

mm Tom Carney

Is Kindness Dead?

Nov 07, 2019

I recently came across an online video that moved me. A sanitation worker – among people I’ve noticed who are always in a hurry – shows patience, kindness and...

mm Tom Carney

How Jesus Became Uncool

Oct 31, 2019

I have a friend who recently posted a beautiful quote online from a famous eastern mystic. I liked it, but it occurred to me that he would never post...