Something Rock & Rollish with Brian Stanford

In this episode, I had the honor of interviewing Father Brian Stanford of the Liberal Catholic Union.  Brian said to me, "I grew up in a Christian-ish household. My mother is a Christian and my father is an atheist. I never had religion foisted upon me and was encouraged to question and search. At the age of 14 I consciously entered the spiritual path when I discovered a copy of Donald Michael Kraig's book "Modern Magick" and the Dammapada. I began experimenting with ceremonial magick and meditation." Over the following years, Brian spent time with Hare Krishnas, lived in a Zen temple, got addicted to heroin, went to prison, came out transformed. He continued his spiritual Quest through chaos magick, Gnosticism and Vajrayana Buddhism. Years of Buddhist meditation and Vajrayana practice resulted in an epiphany which ultimately led him into Christianity, the Divine Feminine through Mary, and the Independent Sacramental Movement. After two years a Christian he found the Liberal Catholic Union and was recently ordained to the priesthood, having previously been ordained a deacon. His focus is investigating and practicing esoteric strands of Christianity, learning various aspects of Independent Catholic practice and training in the martial arts. He lives in Ashville NC and is currently working to build a community of people who are interested in engaging with Christianity in new and alive ways. You can find some of his writing at Seek the Mystery Blog. We talked about several things including: His elevator speech. As a new priest, we discussed his thoughts on the priesthood and priestly formation. He describes what Gnosticism and Esoteric Christianity means to him. He is a student of the martial arts. He discusses his training and how it impacts his ministry. He talks about his greatest challenge within the Independent Sacramental Movement. And finally, he talks about his greatest blessing since he started following a Christian vocation to ministry. This episode is sponsored in-part by Convergent Streams: The Premier ISM Magazine.  Check it out! This episode is produced by The Community of Saint George (The Young Rite).