The Author

A long time ago a man wrote "when I want to find out about a fellow I do not ask how he is greeted in the market place by his peers. I ask how he is greeted at home by family and friend around the hearth."

So here are comments from Lawrence's family and friends around his hearth...

My dearest Husband,

I finished reading "A Cry From The Heart" and want to commend you for the perseverance you employed to give your thoughts a voice. Your depth of knowledge of religious and civil history as well as literature is truly impressive and gives credence to your conclusions. This endeavor, which has taken a lifetime, is a legacy to your children, grandchildren, and to all the others who love you for your essence and personhood. The act of sharing these innermost thoughts and "beliefs" is truly courageous. My hope is that you will in some way feel catharsis in having said it and encouraged as you experience feedback from those who choose to engage and wrestle with the thoughts you present for their consideration.

~ Love, Raffy

My Dad is a warm, kind and gentle man. He has been my rock, patient teacher, mentor and loving source of comfort and encouragement through out my life. He has always inspired me with his words, intellect, ability to problem solve and an occasional recipe or two. This book has been a driving force for him for many years. He desperately wants to share with others what he finds to be true for himself. His life has been a journey of humility and a journey to love and be loved. I'm proud of you, Daddy, for getting your words onto paper and for sharing your heart. Peace be with you!

~ Angela

After a lifetime observing the human condition, Marine-attorney-philosopher Lawrence McGrath notes in this essay the conflicts in our civil society and spiritual relationships. "Why," he asks, "does one individual or group seek to impose their will or (way of doing things) on another"? Should we expect agreement in our civil and religious practices or should we work to respect a variety of beliefs and practices? How do we teach our children to live in peace with others when faith and civil authority are geared to enforce locally prevailing beliefs and practices? Are we to love only those like ourselves? Is there room to respect those we do not understand? Reared a Catholic, McGrath has chosen to "peel the onion" of that faith finding at the center only more questions. A Kansan by birth and a world citizen/traveler, the author has experienced both the narrow and the broad world view. From his experiences in the American mid-west to the sands of Saudi Arabia, McGrath brings to this commentary questions which will plague us for generations to come unless we learn love and tolerance for our new world wide community.

~ Chuck and Barbara Morgan, Kentucky neighbors

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My uncle is an amazing man; a student of life. He has revealed numerous life lessons to me, from the importance of making real mayonnaise, to the fact that you don't have to shout to make your voice heard. His messages always resonate with me because he lives what he believes. Our paths have crossed often over the years - and always, it seems, during times of transition. The light of his wisdom, support, encouragement, love and sense of humor has illuminated a number of dark moments. He is deeply passionate about the message in this book and I am so pleased that this process is allowing him to share it with you. It has been a joy and a privilege to be along on his journey and a blessing to have him in my life.

~ Teresa Brimacombe

My dad, Lawrence McGrath, asked me to tell you about him. I choose to share my perspective in the form of a missive. Dearest Pops, It appears to me that your longing to find what motivates people to love and acceptance has passionately fueled the lifetime of philosophical pondering and vocalizing about God that I have watched you live. During your search, I have seen ever changing discourse platforms and individuals with whom to discourse. My perspective sees your essay as a culmination of a life work that I have watched. I have been uncomfortable both watching and participating in this discourse all these years. This is why: I do not see the source that motivates people to love as you see it. God made me in His image and likeness. Every cell in my being is stamped with the knowledge of Him by no doing of my own. God and His ways are beyond my comprehension. All words, in the original Greek and Hebrew languages, of the Bible were not merely spoken by God, they are God. It is inconceivable how His words could be alive in the first place, or in the second place be alive in me with no action on my part. God is beyond finding out, yet I will keep searching for Him in His word because He is love and acceptance. He is my love motivation. Since you and I cannot build our love motivation conversations on a mutually shared foundation, we have agreed to disagree. We purpose not to discourse about the motivation for love and acceptance any longer. I am so grateful we can joyfully share many other less intensely personal topics. We can choose to graciously respect one another as we indeed are doing. All that stated, I want to again thank you and express my debt of appreciation to you that you have not forced your personal philosophy on to me. For this noble and consistent attribute, I honestly and robustly praise you around the hearth.

Ps 119:165     "Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them."

~ I rejoice that God created you.
   I delight that He assigned you the role as my father.
   Respectfully pondered,
   Your Firstborn Melissa

Larry McGrath started Navy flight training with me in 1954 and our paths have crossed and intermingled repeatedly since. I have been more than an interested observer during his struggle to determine how to write the message he offers in A CRY FROM THE HEART. No man is more sincere or suffered more emotional and intellectual agony than he during the journey to free himself from the tethers of dogma and tradition. He also surfaced from the journey with unerring insight into humanity's primary flaw and how to deal with it. I am proud of his effort and amazed by the finished product. If there is a god, I'm sure she will be infuriated with the human race for our miserable inability to live together in peace, a condition Larry observes and describes brilliantly.

~ LtCol Larry Cunningham USMC (ret)

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A Man of Wisdom and Knowledge, always eager to share, My Dad! I have loved my Dad for many reasons, but one thing is for sure, he has ALWAYS been there for me! He is a great thinker and has such a broad perspective on life. He so eagerly shares his lessons of life with me. I have been blessed by our conversations. I am very thankful that he has been in my life because he has opened my mind to be able to share with my children and to be able to hear what they are asking.
I have to be honest - I want to understand what he is saying, but I hope that there is a Cliff Note version!!

Love ya Dad,
Luci

For more than 10 years I have been privileged to observe the progress of Lawrence McGrath as he strove to develop his thoughts and capture them in words. Over that time we have spent long hours in deep discussion, and have exchanged countless emails covering many thousands of lines. We have known each other much longer than that; one of his children has been what one might call a part-time son to us for at least 30 years. But the deep, meticulous and at times merciless discussions started with Larry's work on what has now become A Cry From the Heart. If I were asked to use just a single vignette to describe Larry I would note that his appreciation for what I wrote him has always been most gracious and most explicit for my most critical comments.

What Larry has chosen to share with me has proved immensely valuable: it has challenged me to read critically, and to strive to express clearly what struck me - and at times bothered me - about his thoughts and his writing. Now Larry's work has come to fruition: soon his essay will appear in print. It seems proper to me to maintain the style and flavor of our past correspondence, and to express some thoughts on A Cry From the Heart, of which I have been privileged to read the manuscript.

That manuscript leaves me with the impression that Larry's struggle reveals a deep and persistent conflict between what many of us absorb in our early years as 'given' and what we may come to believe as we gain the capability and opportunity to think critically and independently. I submit that such conflict is intrinsic to humanity: as newborns we probably do have the capability to learn to think and reason, but not the knowledge we need to think about, nor the base from which to reason. Thus as parents - and also as educators - we have the challenge of encouraging young people to learn how to think, without dictating to them what they must think. Inevitably, the transition from absorbing knowledge - and belief - to forming an adult worldview will be turbulent. I see it as a tribute to humanity that most of us can and do pass through that turbulence and emerge as valuable people. I see Larry's writing as a reflection of his passage through that turbulence.

I also see another aspect. In several places, Larry is quite explicit at laying his agony at the feet of 'the leaders of organized religion' who, in his view, stand guilty of imposing their manmade dogma on him.

I suspect it is not that simple. It may be useful to draw a distinction between three notions: observables, (chosen) beliefs, and axioms. By definition, observables are accessible to all observers, and independent of who makes the observation. I propose to limit the use of 'belief' to only that which cannot be falsified. Finally, axioms are in one sense observables, but they stand apart because by definition an axiom neither can nor needs to have an explanation. One might say that axioms exist even in the absence of creatures who might observe them or think about them.

Then how should one retain the distinction between axiom and firmly held belief? It is in the nature of such belief that one considers it beyond challenge. Yet in the absence of challenge, belief can easily acquire the absolute flavor of axiom. Understandably, we are unlikely to allow external challenge. Then the indispensable challenge will have to come from inside, and that by itself is a formidable challenge. Thus it should come as no surprise that A Cry From the Heart makes no claim to stilling the cry: it reveals the cry, in stark terms.

It speaks for Larry's discipline and ideals that he will now share the - at times bitter - fruits of his personal challenge with friends and others; that has made Larry into a very valuable friend.

Maarten van Swaay, Professor Emeritus, Kansas State University

Lawrence McGrath is a father of six, with fifteen grandchildren. He is a former marine fighter pilot, trial lawyer, prosecuting lawyer, realtor, and abstracter. Lawrence was also a college professor and college president. In business he presided over two savings and loans and managed six other companies with sales of $1–120 million. He and his wife Raffy live in Sandestin, Florida.

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