Passionate Holiness

About the Book

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Cape Town once said with regard to South Africa’s apartheid policy, “One of the ways of helping to destroy a people is to tell them that they don’t have a history, that they have no roots.” More recently, he described homophobic discrimination as “totally unacceptable and unjust as apartheid ever was.” Unfortunately, it has been particularly difficult for some gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Christians to remain connected to identify with their own faith traditions because some of these traditions not only treat them as people of secondary status but also teach Christian history as though no people of same-gender attraction or opposite-gender identity had any noteworthy place in it and made no significant contributions at all to Christian tradition. Passionate Holiness tries to remedy this situation by explaining why acquaintance with the stories of certain saints with whom gender minorities can identify can help them to connect with their own history and spiritual legacy and empower them to face a brighter future with a sense of optimism and inclusion.

About the Author

Dennis O'Neill was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1947. He received his education in the seminary system of the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and was ordained a priest in 1973. He graduated with a Bachelors Degree in English Literature from Loyola Universtiy in 1969 and a Masters of Divinity from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois, in 1973. In 1974, he received an S.T.B and an S.T.L. from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary. Since ordination, he has served in four parishes in Chicago and is currently pastor of St. Martha Parish, in Morton Grove, Illinois. He is author of Lazarus Interlude: A Story of God's Love in a Moment of Ministry (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1982). And he has written either the introductions of the texts for several books published by British Celtic Artist, Courtney Davis: the Introduction to Celtic Illumination: the Irish School New York: Thames & Hudson, 1998); co-authored St. Patrick: A Visual Celebration (London: Blandford, 1999); and Celtic Beasts (London: Blandford, 1999), and authored 101 Celtic Crosses (Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles, 2004).