In my previous column, we examined how the words of Pope Francis found echo in Pope Leo XIII. A lot of Catholics were also “scandalized” by another statement from Pope Francis. When an atheist asked if the point of their meeting was to convert him, the Holy Father Stated: Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes […]
In dialogues with Non-Catholics, most of the subjects you discuss won’t get you that far. Instead, they will frequently tell you something along these lines. “Jesus Christ didn’t found a religion, he founded a Church. That Church is based upon confessing Christ as your Savior. Catholics add to this and to the Bible with their […]
“But this I have against you, that you have forgotten your first love.” (Apocalypse 2:3) When it is asked what the biggest problem in the Church is, people respond in a variety of ways. Various Catholics cite the loss of the sense of sin, loss of the dignity of the human person, the dictatorship of […]
To feed the Israelites during their wandering time in the desert, the Lord caused to appear on the ground a flaky substance that tasted like pancakes with honey. At its first appearance, the people quite sensibly asked what everyone asks upon seeing something new, “What is it?” And that very question became their name for […]
We talk a lot about technology in the New Evangelization, and rightly so: “The commemoration of this half millennium of evangelization will have full significance if, as bishops, with your priests and faithful, you accept it as your commitment; a commitment not of re-evangelization, but rather of a new evangelization; new in its ardour, methods and […]
A great opportunity to share the Catholic faith with Protestants is when they bring up the ceremony that they call ‘Baby Dedication’. This is a ceremony in which the child’s parents, and sometimes their entire family (usually grandparents), make a public pronouncement and commitment before the Lord to raise their child to serve God, according […]
Among all kinds of cultural, political, and interfaith dialogues, the one between Christianity and Islam is arguably the most interesting. Many of my friends from the Western world regard Islam as some kind of a mysterious, exotic, almost “unknowable” religion. However, some scholars, such as Hillaire Belloc, view Islam not as a totally separate religion, […]
If they really want to help with these misunderstandings, the first thing they must do is the thing they will be least inclined to do: drop the moniker “radical traditionalist” and “radtrad” entirely. At best the phrase is a relic of a time that is no longer relevant. At worst, the term is creating animosity and perpetuating a growing sense of tribalism within Catholicism, especially in America.
The problem with reincarnation is that the belief that our souls are enfleshed again in different forms dismisses any uniqueness of personhood. Not only does reincarnation treat the body as a shell or a cast-off and the soul as recyclable, but it completely ignores the part that our gender plays in our personhood because it […]
What Catholics typically call “the First Pentecost” was actually a New Pentecost itself.
In this column I have frequently referenced findings about the dismal way in which many Catholics look at the sacraments. I think the problem is more than just the usual ranting and ravings about a liberal church, how horrible things are after Vatican II, true as all these clichés are. Instead the problem stems from […]
What is apologetics, and how is it related to catechesis and evangelization? Apologetics sounds a bit like “apologize,” and the two words do share a common root. Stated simply, apologetics means to give an account or defense, or perhaps an explanation. The Christian idea of apologetics can trace itself back to Saint Peter, who advises […]
If we want to solve the crisis of the confessional, we need to begin actually teaching these principles, and begin applying them in our own confessions. In many cases, this will require a fundamentally new outlook in the way we approach this sacrament. Yet it is only fitting, as the sacrament provides us a new way to live our life.
One of the greatest obstacles to presenting the Sacrament of Confession is exposing perfectly good Catholics to a worldview they are completely unfamiliar with.
Make no mistake about it: The Church in our day is in the midst of a terrible, and in many ways unprecedented, crisis of faith. This objective reality, however, is largely lost on the overwhelming majority of Catholics, both clerical and otherwise. While some Catholics, with deliberate intent, actively promote the various agendas that underlie […]
It is the incoherence of the faithful and the pastors what undermines the witness of the Church. The apostles were simple people, but they were not afraid of anything or anyone. Those were the concepts at the center of Pope Francis’ homily during a Mass at the Church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls earlier […]
I would like to look at the matter from a different angle. I don’t really want to focus on a biblical rationale for every aspect of the sacrament of confession, not yet at least. Instead, I’d like for us to ponder why it is fitting that God chooses to use priests in the forgiveness of sins through the confessional.
I’m not wildly enthusiastic about showing my children pictures of me between 16 years old and 26, a full decade when I was the walking epitome of what not to be when you are young, single, and clueless about your Catholic faith. I didn’t exactly punk-out Duran Duran style in the eighties but I did […]
In my last column, we began covering the sacrament of confession by stating that modern Catholicism suffers from a crisis of the confessional. Here on this site, on social media and in emails, readers have shared their thoughts with me on why this is so. According to the wisdom of the crowds, the biggest problem […]
“The true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer. This holds true both for the individual and for society. A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through “com-passion” is a cruel and inhuman society. […]
When the sacrament of baptism is discussed, much attention is placed upon the fact that we share in Christ’s offices of Priest and Prophet. Little attention is paid (especially here in the land of democracy) to the third office we are enrolled in: that of King. This truth should be a source of great shame […]
On February 10, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI announced his intention to renounce the papacy due to his waning strength in the face of a world “subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith.” Many, including me, understood him to mean that navigating the obstacles (some […]
In addition to sharing in Christ’s priesthood in baptism, the Catechism also tells us that we share in Christ’s prophetic office. The purpose of a Prophet (and hence Christ’s Office of Prophet) is something that is frequently misunderstood within Christianity today. The average answer will be that a prophet is essentially a divine fortune teller […]
On February 17, 2013 — the First Sunday of Lent — I was enrolled in the Rite of Election to come into full communion with the Catholic Church. It was not a decision I entered into lightly; after all, as a Protestant minister, this decision amounts to essentially walking away from my career up to […]
