The Rev. Pamela Dolan
Praying like a mom, or like Jesus
A mom helps her young son prepare for his bone marrow transplant by drawing on her own experience of cancer. It reminds me of the way Jesus prepares a place for us, and prays us there.
May 21, 2012 | 2:00 pm
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Mammogram van visiting area church this Saturday
The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd (my parish) is hosting a Mercy Digital Mobile Mammography Van this Saturday, May 19, from 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM. We are located in Town and Country, near the corner of Clayton and Mason, not far from Highway 40.
May 16, 2012 | 1:30 am
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Things adults can learn from kids in church: or how I learned to stop worrying and love glitter glue
I’ve never really considered myself a “kid person.” My preference is to hang out with people who listen to NPR and read The New Yorker, people who like restaurants that don’t serve chicken fingers and who can appreciate 1980s popular culture without referring to is as “the Olden Days.”
May 11, 2012 | 11:05 am
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Free screening of 'The Lazarus Effect' on May 9
"The Lazarus Effect," though, is not about hate. It is not about fear or pity or guilt, either. It is about hope; as one promo puts it, it is about "an epidemic of life" sweeping through Africa.
May 07, 2012 | 10:00 am
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Church can be like dancing - once you join in, you're in
I want church to be a place populated by friendly, welcoming people who aren’t worried about getting it right, but rather about being in joyful communion with one another.
May 03, 2012 | 4:38 pm
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Fun, uplifting concert this Sunday at Good Shepherd in Town and Country
I have a tendency to get a little earnest. Every story has to have a lesson; every activity has to be for a good reason. Sometimes I need reminders to do stuff just for kicks. And it's not only since I've become a priest. I remember being in grade school and thinking how wonderful it would to get…
Apr 27, 2012 | 3:14 pm
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Holy Week, the blood libel, and repentance
I didn’t like feeling responsible for Christ’s death, even by proxy. It made me sad and anxious—and eager for an explanation that would put the burden somewhere else.
Apr 04, 2012 | 9:38 am
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Love the world or hate it? What's a Christian to do?
We are created in the image of God, and everything that God created is good. We are sinful, weak, and in dire need of conversion. My heart leans one way, but my experience tells me that both are true.
Mar 30, 2012 | 9:45 am
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Confessions of an overburdened traveler
Truth be told, I always pack too much, and I drag my worries and half my medicine chest along with me wherever I go, and I still manage to forget at least one crucial item on every trip. And have I mentioned I'm deathly afraid of flying?
Mar 11, 2012 | 9:00 pm
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An Inquiring Stranger Goes to Rome
When I first started telling people I was going to Rome to witness a Vatican Consistory, I was met with two questions. First: “Are you related to Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York?” Second: “Are you going to wear a clerical collar while you’re there?”
Mar 07, 2012 | 3:24 pm
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Prayer doesn't have to be spontaneous to be authentic
For me the issue is not so much about following the rules as it is about practicing obedience and humility, and trusing that the prayers of the Church can speak to me and through me and can shape my parish's hearts and minds over the years.
Feb 16, 2012 | 10:00 am
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On boats, nets, and not hiding from the world
There is a traditional prayer among fisherman that goes something like, "Be merciful, Lord. The sea is so wide, and my boat is so small." When you think about that prayer as an individual, it makes perfect sense. We often do feel like very fragile vessels in a very large and threatening ocean. Th…
Feb 09, 2012 | 3:00 pm
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What Harry Potter teaches about vocation
My feelings about the Harry Potter series are different than the ones I had about Narnia as a child, but my daughter's question did help me realize one point of connection:I believe the boy wizard's story illustrates in a lively and entertaining way the whole idea of call or vocation, which is pa…
Feb 03, 2012 | 11:15 am
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Fending off intrusions in sacred spaces
I'm not saying screens are never appropriate in certain places-places I consider sacred, like church, or others that have a near-sacred function, like art museums and theaters. I'm simply saying that we ought to resist a too-easy acceptance of them.
Jan 20, 2012 | 10:08 am
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Resolving to help others all year long
We live in such a strange world--a world so full of cheap and filling food that many people have trouble keeping extra weight off, and also a world that cannot figure out how to make sure that all children start their school day with a full stomach. How does one find a healthy balance in such a w…
Jan 12, 2012 | 8:00 pm
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What's in a name?
While people around the world were recovering from their New Year's Eve celebrations, those of us who managed to straggle into church this past Sunday got to celebrate the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. It's a feast that many overlook--unless it happens to fall on a Sunday, as it did this year.…
Jan 06, 2012 | 10:00 am
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Moving forward in faith, whatever the season
At some point, most of us grow wise enough to realize that the only real constant in life is change. But if we are even wiser, wise like children and shepherds, we know a deeper truth: the only real constant in life is God.
Dec 28, 2011 | 4:00 pm
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It's time to expect more from Christmas
Have we already decided what Christmas is, or are we open to the possibility of God breaking into our lives and doing something new and unexpected?
Dec 20, 2011 | 3:15 pm
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On baseball, Pujols, and picking our heroes wisely
Baseball is the great American pastime...but what I have never ever been able to get is why we turn people who play sports into "heroes" or "idols."
Dec 14, 2011 | 6:15 pm
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Learning to live with death
We must not fear death: how that phrase has stayed with me! The Church has something to say about death that our world desperately needs to hear, but I wonder how effectively we are saying it.
Nov 17, 2011 | 12:36 pm
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Should clergy set an example in areas of health and wellness?
The way I see it, the healthier I am inside and out, at least as much as it's in my power to be, the better I am able to fulfill my duties as a priest. Not to mention my responsibilities to my two daughters, who are also looking to me as a role model and guide.
Oct 20, 2011 | 2:12 pm
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Grace made visible: the genius of the sacraments
There is a side of human relationships and of church life that can be neither replicated nor replaced by social media. In our everyday relationships we might think of it as a human touch. In our church life we call it the sacraments.
Oct 12, 2011 | 11:31 am
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Do you pray on Facebook? Real relationships and spirituality can happen online
Does social media “redefine incarnational ministry,” as I heard one youth ministry leader put it? Only two or three years ago I would have scoffed at the idea as delusional hype. Today, I’m leaning toward a tentative “yes.”
Oct 07, 2011 | 9:30 am
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Animal blessing and nature film in honor of St Francis--this Sunday in Webster Groves
Last year was the first year I was able to officially bless animals. It was exceptionally touching to see parishioners I've known for years with their pets in tow. It reminded me of seeing friends just after they've become parents.
Sep 30, 2011 | 9:45 am
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Magdalene speaker reveals the power of love and community
Magdalene is an intentional community of women all recovering from years living in the trap of prostitution and addiction. The women there receive all kinds of medical care and counseling, but it's clear from their stories that the most important component of their healing is the community itself.
Sep 21, 2011 | 10:45 am
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The Rev. Pamela Dolan
Pamela Dolan serves as rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Town and Country. Raised in Hawaii and California, she holds degrees from UC Berkeley and Harvard Divinity School. Pamela is currently working on her D.Min. in preaching at Sewanee, the University of the South School of Theology. She sometimes hangs out in coffee shops and expounds on her unfinished doctoral dissertation on weeping and injustice in medieval poetry, but more often she is found enjoying life with her husband, their two daughters, and their dog Abbey.
