Showing results by author "James Nugent" in All Categories

During the winter of 2004 I had a medical surprise - I found out that I was very sick. I was 43 years old and it looked like I might not make it to live past my father's age at his early death - only 49 years old. Here is my story.

This is an attempt to bust myths. There is a myth that we have no control of our personal happiness. The myth is that we are subject to the forces around us much like a stick in the tidal currents. We cannot control other people and things; and so we falsely believe that our personal happiness is just a matter of good fortune. So we falsely believe that some people are fortunate and have reasonably happy live and others are just destined to be miserable.

I am a devout Roman Catholic. There are at least 21 different sects of Catholicism which claim a union with the Pope. This means that they accept the Pope as the final authority as Christ's representative on Earth. Roman Catholics comprise about 1.2 billion people. I was baptized as an infant, raised in a Catholic home, pray daily, and will die with the Last Rites. It has been a good sacramental life filled with the joy of knowing my savior (Jesus) and the promise of spending an eternity with our loving creator.

My wife and I began this voyage of self-discovery about two years ago. Our kids were gone and we wanted to use our living space a little differently. We wanted to clean out some of the clutter we had accumulated from raising two teenage boys and generally clean out our home. Little did we know that before we were done, we would change our view of material belongings, and actually begin rejecting our cultural addiction to owning more stuff.

This is a story about what it is like to spend 40 days of your life with the "forty days for life movement." During the 40 days of fasting and praying out in front of Planned Parenthood; I tried to be there for some part of each day. Work and other distractions kept me away 6 days; but even when I wasn't downtown at the corner of Adams and Legion in Olympia WA, the pro-lifers were on my mind and in my heart from 8:00am to 8:00pm.

This is my story of how I became a Right Wing Fundamentalist Roman Catholic and of course a Republican. I eventually became politically incorrect, and finally at peace with my church and my politics.

Here is a frank discussion about sexual behavior and the consequences of that behavior. It is an argument for saving sexual intercourse for marriage. This short book proposes abstinence as a radical solution to the problems inherent in the now defunct sexual revolution.

With the popularity of the first book, The Good News About Being Catholic, I was destined to produce a second book. The first book was inspired by conversations I had during a two-week trip to a southern university in the US. The lack of accurate information and the bigotry I encountered by the well-meaning Christians and others along the way was shocking to me.

Be that as it may, I decided to write this short piece on the psychological healing aspects of the Sacrament of Confession, now called Reconciliation.

A recreational scuba diver visits Jules' Undersea Lodge in Key Largo Florida. Reflections and adventures begin.

Imagine you are having the time of your life. You have a wife of ten years whom you adore, two grown and independent step-sons, and a teaching career that looks quite promising. Then you wake up one morning with a congested head and swollen tongue. A day later you see a doctor at urgent care. You find out you have had stroke and you are a walking dead man with blood pressure too high for the machines to read but they do show at least 224/118. A normal reading is 120/80. This is bad, very bad.

There are many guides and books that give excellent wisdom for those who would seek to make an offering of their lives to God. Still there is little practical information about how about how to go about the day to day business of being a Benedictine Oblate. This audiobook is an attempt to give practical suggestions to the beginner and the "expert". However, if what you do, gets you closer to God every day, then don't change a thing. But if you need new materials, new practices, new ideas or attitudes; then just consider listening to this audiobook.

There is too much intentional and mistaken misinformation in our present culture about the purposes and practices of modern Catholicism. This had led to endless bigotry and needless hate speech and deeds against Christ's original Church. This little audiobook is an attempt to explain to fellow Christians what it really means to be Roman Catholic. It is not a debate. It's an honest attempt on my part to share. It is not an attempt to convert you to joining the more than 1.2 billion Christians who call themselves Catholic.

In Catholic tradition, there are numerous forms of prayer. All of them are valid and productive and suited to the temperaments of different people. There is a common denominator in many of these holy methods and techniques of prayer. We are spending time with our loving creator. We are trying to have a sacred conversation. And when we manage to slow up enough to listen; prayer becomes a two way conversation.

When one is doing what God wants us to do; God will turn all our problems into positive events. These converted events will actually support the mission that God has desired for us. When trouble befalls us, we must return to the Father and trust His bounty and love. We must trust that He will not waste the efforts of even one of His servants.

Then the economy turned on the middle and upper middle class. Then suddenly, it wasn’t possible to always find a job that provided a suitable amount of money to maintain our chosen lifestyle. After that millions of our generation became the new poor. A strange thing happened after coming to accept the new economy. The new poor had little or no poverty survival skills. Things that might be obvious to a child of poverty eluded the new poor.

For twenty years I searched for my perfect true love. I failed miserably until I asked God to help. Miracles do really happen!

The far southern reaches of Puget Sound are a beautiful region for sailing, boating, and small craft adventure. Still, people who live there and work there are among the few who get to enjoy it. This alternative guide to the waters of five inlets tells you how and why you might choose to visit these sparsely visited treasures of natural beauty.

Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands are composed of an estimated 300 islands and 2,000 miles of shoreline. James Nugent takes us on a voyage into this complex and beautiful playground.

For a modern culture that does not highly value life, it is paradoxical that we don't want to talk about the dying process or the possibility of an afterlife. Catholics sometime suffer from the same hesitation about talking about death. Yet the Roman Catholic religion and culture are a constant preparation for that moment when we must trust Jesus for our salvation. All the rituals and sacraments, prepare our minds and hearts for that thing from which there is no escape.