Closing Churches Closes Faith
Architect Michael Tamara comments here on the closure of historic churches in the Northern cities of the US. His main point is that the churches were built by our ancestors who were much poorer than we...
View ArticleWhy is Pope Francis’ Visit to Philly Important?
This report says that while the Vatican has yet to confirm the date, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia has indicated that Pope Francis will visit the city for next September’s World Meeting of...
View ArticleIs Proselytism Solemn Nonsense?
Pope Francis has been criticized in some quarters because he has said, “Proselytism is solemn nonsense.” He has also told Evangelical Christians and an atheist interviewer that he “doesn’t want to...
View ArticleCan the Convergence Movement Converge with the Ordinariate?
Bishop Tony Palmer–the friend of Pope Francis who died last week in a motorcycle crash–was representative of a new movement in non Catholic Christian circles called the “convergence church movement”....
View ArticleAmerican Christianity: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism?
Some time ago I read a blog post identifying the degradation of American Christianity into what was termed Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It’s given me much pause for thought and the analysis seems to...
View ArticlePittenger and Lewis
This week’s article for The Imaginative Conservative recounts a meeting I had while chaplain at Kings College, Cambridge with the theologian Norman Pittenger. One afternoon I was sitting in my room...
View ArticleThe Inseparable Four Marks
I get an increasing number of requests to assist Protestants who are interested in the Catholic Church. One came in today in which a Presbyterian has come to believe in the Apostolic Succession but...
View ArticleGood Non-Catholic Christians – Is There Salvation Outside the Church?
The sudden death of Tony Palmer–the friend of Pope Francis–has raised the question whether he could be saved even though he never converted to the Catholic faith. Some Catholics would shake their head...
View Article10 Things to Remember About the Assumption of Mary
During the twenty years it took me to convert from a Bob Jones University student to a Catholic I considered many of the Marian dogmas to be pious opinions. It was okay for Catholics to believe them,...
View ArticlePowerful St Patrick
Some time ago I had a dream in which I saw a young boy swimming in a river. As he was swimming happily downstream I saw that around the bend was a large crocodile. I watched in terror as the boy swept...
View ArticleEaster and the Atheists
The last few years have seen a shelf load of worthy books de-bunking what is called the New Atheism. I’m sure it is a mighty good thing to explain and expound the five proofs of God’s existence, but it...
View ArticleAngels, Elephants and Aliens
Here is my latest post at ZENIT…it discusses the fallacy that the apparent vast size of the cosmos must mean that there are extraterrestrials. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed a seemingly...
View ArticleJesus Says Love Your Enemy….But What If He’s a Muslim Terrorist?
Over bacon and eggs I quizzed the fifteen year old, “So let me ask you. Our Lord says we must love our enemies. What if that enemy is a fanatical Muslim who is ready to cut off your head?” Slurping...
View ArticleSt Patrick’s Day Parade: What Would Jesus Do?
Some Catholics are up in arms over Cardinal Dolan agreeing to be the Grand Marshall of the St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York which has been infiltrated by homosexual activists. Elizabeth Scalia has...
View ArticleHow to Use the Lord’s Prayer as a Spiritual Weapon
I once attended a seminar on the deliverance ministry conducted by the author and psychiatrist Kenneth McCall. During the questions and answers three rather excitable women told Dr McCall that there...
View ArticleTen Things to Remember When You’re Fed Up With Other Catholics
Maybe it’s just me, but I seem to hear an increasing amount of grumbling from about the state of the church. Some folks complain about the new generation of priests, “All these guys seem to care about...
View ArticleThe Truth and Charity Trap
In observing the Christian world in which I live and move and have my being it occurs to me that we too often fall into one of two different traps: we are charitable without truth or we are truthful...
View ArticleDrill Sergeant Wanted
It never ceases to amaze me how soft and spineless we are when it comes to our Catholic faith. Everything else takes precedence. “It’s the annual retreat for your sons and daughters. Your kids have to...
View ArticleThe Marriage Mess
Some Catholics are worrying themselves over whether the pope will allow Catholics who are divorced and remarried to receive communion. I am as concerned as anyone else about this issue and feel that...
View ArticleShould the Catholic Church be Up to Date?
Should the Catholic Church adapt herself and get up to date? Holy deacon Kandra reports here on a survey on why Catholics stop going to Mass. four major reasons why some Roman Catholics stop going to...
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