Greetings from the Buckeye State and the brothers of the Ohio Chapter of Illuman.

Ohio Illuman was formed about eight years ago. We are a smaller chapter. This is in large part because we do not host a Men’s Rites of Passage (MROP). Our focus in Ohio has been on seasonal retreats and local Councils. Not all Illuman chapters host the MROP, and I believe this is as it should be.

Growing to adulthood, I accepted values that shaped my image of myself. With my two brothers and two sisters, I learned standard prayers, studying hard, working together, playing fair and being generous. That all seemed ordinary and natural, and I was happy and satisfied to act like that and be affirmed and counted on by others as being like that…

A while ago in one of Father Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations, he referenced a book entitled The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance by Dorothee Soelle. The title appealed to me and I purchased a copy, read it, studied it, and read it again. Dorothee Soelle (1929-2003) was a remarkable human being. She was a social activist, a theologian, and an erstwhile professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. And, oh, yes, she was a mystic! READ MORE