I am a father of two wonderful boys living in Wisconsin, USA. I was born and am a Roman Catholic, but my faith journey has taken a very circuitous route. Despite having wonderful parents as role models and the privilege of receiving an outstanding Jesuit education during my college years, I drifted away from the church during my early adult years. It was not just that I had increasing concerns about the institutional Church (although that was true), I had serious doubts about the core doctrines of Christianity, beginning with the existence of God.
During these years of exile, which lasted almost 20 years, I focused on my career and worldly success. My belief system, to the extent I thought about it, varied from agnosticism to a vague Deism (with a dash of Ayn Rand’s objectivism thrown in for good measure).
As I approached middle-age, I had an increasing sense of anxiety. From an outsider’s perspective, I was living an ideal life: great job, great wife and children, good health, financial security. However, internally, I was exceptionally restless.
I went on a spiritual journey, studying the beliefs and practices of five major world religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism), starting with the most basic questions of: is there a God and if so, what is the nature of God? This quest has given my tremendous respect for all of the faith traditions, but ironically, I came back to my original Catholic faith, albeit in a much different light. Key influences in my ultimate journey back home were Jesuit writers and teachers, especially Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and a deeper understanding of Ignatian Spirituality.
Today, I am a proud Roman Catholic. I try to eschew labels as I consider them divisive. Hence, you will not hear me say that I am a (fill-in-the-blank) traditional, progressive, orthodox, liberal, conservative Catholic. I believe that Catholicism is universal, and demands a way of life that is inclusive (both/and, not either/or). If others were to label me, I would likely be accused of being too conservative for “liberal” Catholics and too liberal for “conservative” Catholics.
My ultimate goal however, is to move beyond labels. I still have problems with the institutional Church but I believe that Christianity, and especially the Catholic Church with its deep history, traditions and emphasis on reason, offers the best description of the ultimate reality (or as William O’Malley, S.J. describes it, the “least leaky boat”). I believe that Teilhard de Chardin had the right ideas of staying true to his faith, including his vows of obedience at tremendous personal cost, while pushing the Church to embrace new insights into the nature of God and Christ.
I have created this blog as a vehicle to share my personal journey, promote what the Church is doing for science and highlighting scientific and theological ideas that are consistent with orthodox understanding but also take into account new scientific and other discoveries.
I hope that you will join me on this journey and share your experiences and contribute your ideas.
W. Ockham
Teilhard de Chardin 
William,
I have recently discovered Teilhard via Fr. Richard Rhor readings.
Teilhard’s theology has impacted my life in so many positive ways.
I would like to thank you for your labors on your web site. Your site
has been of enormous help in my understanding of Teilhard and in
turn in my spiritual journey.
I will pray for your journey to be fruitful.
Blessing, Andrew
Andrew, thank you for the kind words. Richard Rohr has been a big influence on my spiritual journey and I am glad to hear that Fr. Rohr and Teilhard have been influential in yours. Thank you for stopping by and feel free to share your experiences.
Peace,
W. Ockham
I have just watched the 1 1/2 panel discussion about Teilhard. It was amazing – so well done and so much thought has gone into what was presented and into the subsequent exchanges which were very considerate and respectful even as they represented different fields. Thank you.
William, how are you doing? -Mike McFarland
Thank you for building this website. It is amazing and refreshing to find similar, but always uniques, pathway towards religious experiences through life. I am back to Catholic Church after 30 years. I Hope I Will post more of my personal journay and Chardin was a major influence on me , also because part of my existencial chrisis was crucial, I see now, for this New and great moment. In case you use wattsapp, we use a Lot in Brazil, Mine is 55 81 987819856
Your journey into and back out of exile is very similar to mine—and I suspect to the journeys of many thousands and millions. Through all my decades of seeking, Teilhard, whom I first encountered in my early 20s, remained as a beacon of reason and hope, sometimes dimmed but never failing in the darkness. What a thrill to come back to him now in my 60s, to rediscover his truth afresh in the light of a lifetime of experience, and to find so much interest in him online, including this excellent blog of yours. Thank you, and bless you for sharing. 🙂
W,
I don’t think that stands for George W Bush, does it?
Anyway, I don’t see a “contact us” type of link on this site so please contact me at greggMKE@gmail.com
BTW, am likewise from Wisconsin and went to Jesuit university, where I was able to take the “Theology of Teilhard de Chardin” course by Thomas King, SJ
Thanks and hasta pronto,
GreggMKE
Dear Mr. Ockham,
I was doing a web search today on Teilhard and ran into your blog. I noticed you referenced a homily I gave at my parish for Corpus Christi. That made me smile. I hope you are having a good day:)
Peace
Fr. Frank Schuster
The idea that a Catholic can entertain Rand’s ideas and the ideas of Jesus Christ is absurd.
For those having a hard time, especially in our modern society, just get a RED LETTER edition of Bible (or just New [now old] Testament), where Jesus’s words, copied by the evangelists (scribes) will fill you and make your life content with his teaching and following, Down through the ages much has been said, written, and done in the name of Jesus, Paul, Abraham, Moses, Solomon Augustine, Jerome, Constantine, Thomas, and others that have drastically changed the course of Christianity, Jewish, Islamic religions and the spirituality each follow. Peter had a son, the one Jesus loved, Mark John, and he was a scribe, writing at a early age and possibly also at a long accumulated history, the life and comings of the Man called Jesus. In Mark we see early point for point the facts and actions of Jesus, In John we see the sense and construct of the meanings of Jesus after the Jewish Sect called Christianity has taken roots. In Matthew and Luke we see commentaries on the life and times of Man called Jesus. So reading and listening to the RED LETTER writings we get a great insight into “The Man called Jesus”, his meaning, teachings and movement of His life as related to (The Father) under the rule and occupation of the Romans and Herodians.
William: There is another real great way to look at your being a Catholic, and also using the tools that the Jesuits gave you like the daily “EXAM”. Recall that much of the Jesus sayings in scripture come about from very hard questions that the Apostolic and Disciplic followers constantly asked Jesus. They seemed to be a group of very inquisitive fellows (and some women); and Jesus’s answers or discourses were quite intense, even to rebuking with very harsh words some of their answers back at Jesus “Get behind me Satan”. Questions like “who is the Father (God)?; recall Jesus’s answer, About the children? And very important, “What do we have to do to follow you into or to the kingdom?” recall Jesus’s answer turned the stomach’s of most of His followers and they then left His accompaniment.. When you see Jesus in the eyes of the Romans and Herodians, there was one enormous event (which if happened to you) turned Jesus and some of his followers into a (as Rome saw Him) one of Israel’s most dreaded and eventually wanted Terrorist, sought out by all the rulers including His own religious leaders. Pierre Teilhard de chardin SJ. was one of my teachers, and his focus on the ONE (omega point in time) that Jesus would present to His Father all of mankind, the world, the universe; gives us all a great modern concept and consciousness of Man and his God in creation.
Title available from Amazon.com catalog:
Tell hard de Chardin: the spirit and the letter.
Best regards
Wolkowski
Sorbonne universites upmc
Hi William
My name is Azriel and I work with UPLIFT, a non-commercial organization dedicated to sharing positive, inspiring news and stories with a global audience. You can see our site here: http://www.upliftconnect.com We enjoyed your piece “The Noosphere Part III:Future evolution of the noosphere” and were interested in re-blogging it for our UPLIFT audience.
We would credit you and provide links back to your website and the original article. Let me know if you would be OK with this or if you have any questions.
kind regards,
Azriel
azriel@uplift.global
Dear William…Thank you for this thoughtful website. Just wanted to make a comment about Barbara Marx Hubbard. I don’t think it was a mistake for the LCWR to invite her to speak at their meetings in 2012. She is very attuned to de Chardin’s thinking. But more than that — she is obviously a mystic n.b. her book Emergence. Very helpful for adults to consider Conscious Evolution as something important to consider.
William: Just an additional thought, Take the time to read, concentrate on, digest, pray over, and Exam the detailed contents of Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Freedom “Dignitatis humanae”, that powerful document a doctrinal belief system of the Catholic Church will help you focus on the daily freedoms of belief and faith.
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Hello William,
I have just discovered your blog whilst trying to track down a quote attributed to Teilhard. I am hoping you could contact me and help me out with my query.
Also – thank you for your blog. Fr Rohr and Fr James Martin are instrumental in bringing me back to my roots of RC (I have a similar tale to yours of having left the church and now making my way back).
Annie
Hi, William,
I am Fr. Paul Han, SVD, a Catholic priest in China, where Fr. Teilhard de Chardin spent 23 years. I am very happy to visit your web from time to time and enjoy your blog articles. I also have a personal blog (blog.sina.com.cn/blessedone) with many articles talking about Fr. Teilhard and I have the advantage to visit many places he had lived and worked in China. Let’s keep in touch and share more about Teilhard’s great wisdom!
Peace in Christ!
Paul
I’m another one who found your blog while looking up a Teilhard quote. I very much enjoyed wandering around your site. There is a great deal of “insite” there. However I noticed your last post was sometime in 2015 and I am wondering what happened? I hope you are well and I have simply moved on to other things. If you are just resting, I hope you will eventually come back. This hurting church desperately needs voices like yours – – and Teilhard’s, of course!—to carry us forward. Blessings on your good work.
How do you reconcile de Chardin’s lack of belief in original sin with Church doctrine on the truth of original sin. That is to say, when one doesn’t have belief in such basic doctrine, then how can one follow true Catholicism?
Teilhard doesn’t really lack belief in original sin. It’s just that the body of his major work (Le Phenomene Humain) is science; the body of this book stays away from theology. In his Appendix to that book, he does allude to original sin, making original sin seem plausible given what he has written. Not considering himself a theologian, he does not write about original sin in his greatest work, except to write in its Appendix:
“In other words, is it really sure that, for an eye trained and sensitized by light other than that of pure science, the quantity and the malice of evil hic et nunc (“here and now”), spread through the world, does not betray a certain excess, inexplicable to our reason, if to the normal effect of evolution is not added the extraordinary effect of some catastrophe or primordial deviation?” In writing this, he alludes to original sin.
I welcome you if you are not a member of our Teilhard de Chardin Facebook page. I am one of the admins
Very interesting background. I too include a touch (maybe a bit more but no more than that at this point) of Ayn Rand’s objectivism in my overall universal view. Teilhard is one of my ultimate heroes. His concepts strongly parallel my thinking on “fundamental issues” and his presentation of evolutionary direction has contributed significantly to my conclusions regarding that critically important subject. Although I do not embrace Teilhard’s inclusion of “Christ” elements in the grand scheme of things. I do believe that his overall approach to the subject of (big word coming …) eschatology, is otherwise dead on. Thank you for your website.
– Marcus (EXUSPOINT.ORG)
I know years have passed since the comment concerning James Martin and I was wondering as a Catholic do you support his views on active “Gay Love” and his comments concerning errancy of Scripture? It seems strange to me that a Catholic convinced of his Faith could support James Martin. Although broken watches may be right twice a day (and I have heard both Martin and Rohr expound on other issues) overall, without judgement, I find their views on sexuality troublesome. I worked 20 years with the Franciscans during the AIDS pandemic and of course in the process made many Gay friends. We never preached or judged. I have seen many reverts follow the laws of the Church and live chastely. The regs are the same for both gays and straights, no sex outside of marriage. Or is this too conservative for you? This question is not about what you or I think about the lifestyle but about how one who believes the Magisterium, Gospels and Epistles are clear on the matter. could accept the views of Martin.