Church Fathers vs. the “Reformation Pillar” of “Faith Alone”

Excerpts from the second chapter of my book, Catholic Church Fathers, entitled, “Salvation, Justification, Penance, and Related Issues”. * * * * * Protestant Definitions of Justification by Faith Alone Justification, as thus defined, is therefore a declarative act, as distinguished from an efficient act; an act of God external to the sinner, as distinguished from […]

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Dialogue: Is Lutheranism or Catholicism Closer to the Fathers?

vs. Kristo Miettinen Who better represents (in terms of history of doctrine) the legacy of the Church fathers: Lutherans or Catholics? *** Kristo Miettinen (words in blue) offered a response to my challenge (whereas previously it was met with rancor and hostility and severe personal insult, when posted on a Lutheran board): I came across your blog and […]

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The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Hidden Identity

My annual family Christmas letter swelled from a single paragraph into a sixteen-page spread before I finally admitted at age thirty-seven—to myself, more than anyone else—that I wanted to be a writer, a desire that’d been brewing during a decade as a fulltime wife, mother, and dedicated church volunteer. I hadn’t always wanted to write. […]

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Building a Better Church: A Positive Resolution for the New Year

My monthly column for OSV Newsweekly. Pope Francis has challenged us to find more effective ways to bring Christ to the world. So this year,  let’s resolve — both as individuals and as a Church — to adopt a new approach to ministry that focuses on nourishing the seeds of faith instead of the current […]

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Analysis of “Gaudium et spes” Regarding Nuclear Strikes

Bombings such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki are clearly covered in the conciliar prohibition. *** I’ve been pondering this issue quite a bit. To me it seems obvious. Yet other perfectly orthodox Catholics, in good faith, and with concern for just war ethics, sincerely disagree. Out of mainly intellectual curiosity, then, I wanted to take a […]

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Dialogue: Why Did God Kill Onan? (Contraception)

God immediately judged Onan for the “anti-child” sin of contraception. ***** This discussion began as a result of a blog post from 9 February 2004: Why Did God Kill Onan? (The Bible on Contraception). I posted a section of my book, The Catholic Verses, and vigorous discussion ensued. I also make reference to the article (in both my book […]

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Faithful Families, Faithful Kids—What It Takes to Raise Children to Own Their Faith

According to recent research, 74% of surveyed adults said that they left Catholicism between the ages of 10 and 20 years old. With these harsh statistics, we might wonder if there is anything parents can do to effectively and joyfully raise our kids to be the next generation of faithful Catholics. The good news is, […]

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We Want Something Just Like This

“Something Just Like This” was one of the biggest hits of 2017. It reached number three on Billboard’s top 100. It was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. The single has sold millions all over the world. “Something Just Like This” is a collaboration between Coldplay and the more recent […]

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Pope Francis: Pro-Marriage & Contra “Marital Skepticism”

Guest Post by Canonist Pete Vere We must help revive the consciences of Catholic young people towards marriage and family. ***** Oh. My. Goodness! The Holy Father’s strategy behind Amoris Laetitia suddenly makes sense. And it takes Jesuit cunning to a new level–namely that of the Pope’s universal appeal as a Christian leader. Zenit just […]

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Pope Francis, Cardinal Newman, & Fresh (Orthodox) Presentations

Fresh new approaches to old Catholic truths are suspected to be intended heterodoxy. ***** I think of, for example, my hero, Cardinal Newman, who was accused for decades of being a liberal (supposed proponent of the heretical evolution of dogma), when he was not at all. He strongly protested any such notion when he received the Cardinal’s hat […]

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Phantom Thread : A Union of Psyche and Eros

Anyone blessed enough to receive a good classical education is somewhere along the way warned that he must not oversimplify—must not reduce everything to allegory or elevate it to archetype. The world is a complicated place, after all, and there are usually multiple causes and manifold effects. Phenomena do not fit forms so neatly. Nevertheless, […]

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Eric Svendsen: Catholics Raise Mary to the Holy Trinity

The anti-Catholics always readily supply Catholic apologists with nonsense and silliness . . . [Eric Svendsen’s words will be in blue; ecumenical Reformed scholar Paul Owen’s in green; James White’s in purple] *** As a Catholic apologist, I have a constant, readily-available supply of nonsense from the anti-Catholics; particularly their big “champions” and leading lights. […]

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Dialogue with a Mormon on God’s Nature & Transcendence

The Bible teaches that God is absolutely transcendent. He is eternal; He is the Creator. Words of “Tom” will be in blue. *** My general opinion is that the Bible teaches that Jesus is divine. There is clearly a degree of subordinationism within the Bible (and the pre-Nicene Fathers). I do not think the Bible […]

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How Mormons Are Both Polytheists & (in a Sense) “Atheists”

Very interesting discussion from one of my blog comboxes . . . The words of “Ancalagon” will be in blue; those of “quantumleap42” in green, and Eoin Moloney’s in purple. I eventually chime in. *** Don’t Mormons believe that the Gods are basically super-human beings, made of some kind of physical material? My understanding is […]

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Assumption & Immaculate Conception: Part of Apostolic Tradition

(vs. Bishop “Dr.” [???] James White) James White runs the Alpha and Omega Ministries website, perhaps the most extensive anti-Catholic critique of Catholicism on the Internet, and has written several books against the Church, including The Roman Catholic Controversy (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1996). He earned an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. His words will […]

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Blessed Virgin Mary & God’s Special Presence in Scripture

From the first draft of my first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism (1994). Perhaps a bit more reflection on the nature of the ark, the tabernacle, and the temple is helpful at this point, in order to grasp the profundity of the parallelism between these “holy places,” where God is “specially” present (after all, He […]

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Poetry Friday: “Graveyard Prayer”

Robert Cording’s prose poem reminds me of my late Aunt Mary, who, at roughly the same age as the poem’s narrator, chose her gravesite for the sightlines it offered—in her case, a clear view of the horizon where the sun rises and where, she believed, Jesus would return on Resurrection Day. She visited regularly, each […]

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On the Relationship of Heresies & Cults to Protestantism

Heretical cults such as Mormonism are not theologically derived from Protestantism. ***** As a former evangelical counter-cult researcher and evangelist myself, I disagree with statements by some Catholics about the ecclesiological category of Mormons and other heretical groups. Mormons are not Protestants by any reasonable definition of the word because they deny the Trinity and divinity of […]

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No Salvation Outside the Church: Reply to Pastor Bill Keller

Catholics think that Protestants are fully incorporated into the Body of Christ by virtue of baptism. [Pastor Keller’s words will be in blue. I was responding to his article, so he wasn’t “there” personally, to respond] *** I have rebuked and rejected the extremists who made the claim that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true […]

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Teen Suicide: Parents CAN Make a Difference.

There is nothing more painful than losing a child to suicide, and many parents feel powerless to do anything to prevent it except hope that it doesn’t happen.  A new study by the University of Cincinnati reveals that parents can play a tremendous role in helping their teens avoid self-harm. “Parents ask us all the […]

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Pearl of Hope: Personal Shopper and the New Year

Near the end of 2017, I rewatched Oliver Assayas’s ghost story film Personal Shopper not long after my wife asked if I had any New Year’s resolutions. It occurred to me that Personal Shopper may be an interesting film to frame the answer to that question. For all its apparent ambiguity, Personal Shopper seems clear […]

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Reactionary Influence: Correctio & June 2016 Criticism of the Pope

Reactionaries are disproportionately influential in criticisms of Pope Francis. *** The document from 29 June 2016, signed by 45 theologians, priests, and other Catholic scholars, included ten known radical Catholic reactionaries [see definition] who were signatories of the Filial Correction (which I dealt with at length in my recent paper on that influence). The common reactionary signatories […]

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Radical Catholic Reactionaries: Overview of Their Essential Errors

Reactionaries are our present-day Pharisees and rigorist Donatists and Montanists. [see further information for the book above, and purchase details] What I do is refuse to wrangle with reactionaries (be sure to see how I define this term) over endless “legal”-type particulars. This is the game that they try to play: “the exception becomes the rule” or “death by […]

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The Shore after the Storm

The sun rises over the ocean where I live, two miles from the Atlantic. You can watch it set over the bay too if you’re lucky enough, at sundown, to be on the thin barrier island that separates the mainland from the sea. The water here in the mid-Atlantic region isn’t the spectacular aqua, teal, […]

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Dialogue with an Atheist: Are Mormons Christians?

Christianity has an objective meaning, and it is trinitarian. Words of Richard Cranium will be in blue. *** So Mormons aren’t Christians? I think that would be news to a Mormon. No they’re not. They deny the Trinity. They’re well familiar with Christians saying they are not Christians: on this basis and others. Just because […]

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Dialogue w Mormon Apologist: God & Doctrinal Development (Pt. 2)

Mormonism holds to “another Jesus” (2 Cor 11:4) and many gods (polytheism). (vs. Dr. Barry R. Bickmore) PART TWO GO TO PART ONE *** IV. Mormon Historian Lance Owens’ Hypothesis Concerning the Occultic, Kabbalistic, and Gnostic Origins of Mormonism It is the Mormon conception of God, not the Christian one, which is derived from non-biblical […]

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The Love Song of Pepper Smith

The day of Pepper Smith’s funeral, it was a stiff fifteen degrees—ironic weather for a boy from Gulfport, Mississippi. Pepper was my dear old friend for twenty-three years; we had traversed some odd and complicated decades and had ended up living not far from one another in the D.C. area. We talked all the time, […]

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Mormonism & Joseph Smith’s Polytheism (Many gods)

Mormonism holds to polytheism (many gods rather than One). The polytheism of Joseph Smith is evident in his own writings. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith was compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith (10th president of the LDS and Joseph Smith Jr.’s great nephew), and printed in 2009 from a 1924 copy. I did a search for […]

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Dialogue w Mormon Apologist: God & Doctrinal Development

Mormonism holds to “another Jesus” (2 Cor 11:4) and many gods (polytheism). *** Part One Go to: Part Two *** Dr. Barry R. Bickmore holds a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Virginia Tech, and is the author of Restoring the Ancient Church: Joseph Smith and Early Christianity. Currently he is a professor in the department of geological sciences […]

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Frustrated With Your Kids? – 3 Tips for More Joyful, Effective Parenting

Parenting is a tough job. Kids really know how to push our buttons.  Often, we just feel lucky if we can make it through the day losing our minds.  The good news is that there is a way to reclaim your sanity as a parent, to get a handle on all the chaos, get your […]

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A Hearth for Our Home

A week before Christmas my husband and I hired professionals to install a wood stove in the fireplace of the 150-year-old house we just bought.  All seemed well at the initial inspection, but when they began the job they found a chimney full of rusted nails, crumbling tiles, and a funny flue. They sent a […]

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Mormonism Isn’t Christian / Definition of Christianity

Mormonism denies the Trinity, which is essential to Christianity; therefore it is not Christian. I’m not scared to say it, but then, I am an apologist, whose job is to say unpopular things, and note that someone or something is in error. We can’t say this in public now because it isn’t “PC” and is […]

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Dialogue w Jehovah’s Witness on Christology & Trinitarianism (IV)

Very in-depth discussion on whether Jesus is God or not. PART FOUR GO TO PART ONE GO TO PART TWO GO TO PART THREE 13) JOHN 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father {is} in me, and I in him. And Christians are also […]

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Dialogue w Jehovah’s Witness on Christology & Trinitarianism (III)

Very in-depth discussion on whether Jesus is God or not. PART THREE GO TO PART ONE GO TO PART TWO GO TO PART FOUR   11) JOHN 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. EGW EIMI is without significances, as it was a common phrase in Greek. For example, the […]

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Poetry Friday: “Sometimes I Am Permitted”

On my first reading of this poem, I felt disoriented by all the non sequiturs, all the disconnected images leaping here and there. But then I thought: isn’t this how my own attention works (or doesn’t work)? The poem skips in a breath from winter snow to the red line train to the speaker’s sins […]

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Poetry Friday: “The Music before the Music”

It is often hard to find the language to describe the sounds and impact of a piece of music. In “The Music before the Music” we encounter horns that “plow and plant Beethoven’s/great fields,” “the brash cymbal,” “the wigged-out chug of a bass viol.” In this loud and layered poem, Jeanne Murray Walker uses precisely […]

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Dialogue w Jehovah’s Witness on Christology & Trinitarianism (II)

Very in-depth discussion on whether Jesus is God or not. PART TWO GO TO PART ONE GO TO PART THREE GO TO PART FOUR   Worship of angels is condemned (Col 2:18), and angels refuse worship (Rev 19:10 and 22:8-9). Therefore, Jesus could not be an angel, let alone lower than an angel. This flat-out contradicts Scripture. He is contrasted with […]

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Dialogue w Jehovah’s Witness on Christology & Trinitarianism

  Very in-depth discussion on whether Jesus is God or not. My opponent (who wished to remain anonymous) replied systematically to one portion of my paper, Jesus is God: Biblical Proofs. His words will be in blue. The paper is designed to flow back and forth in order to give a sense of the issues being debated […]

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On Monks, Conversion, and Radio Astronomy, Part 2

On my second day at the abbey, I bounced around, trying to listen, to feel, to be in the moment like Carmen advised. It was a tough slog. “Waste time. Waste time,” I told myself, checking my watch. At lunch with the brothers, I casually mentioned that I was in the RCIA (Rite of Christian […]

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2nd Live Chat w Matt Slick. Oops! He Cancelled….

Pre-debate negotiations revealed one party utterly unwilling to be flexible. We just agreed to do a live chat (typing in an Internet chat room) last night. I have previously engaged in a written “dialogue” with Matt Slick: head of the large and influential (anti-Catholic) CARM discussion forum. And I have described our first live chat […]

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My PalTalk Runaround w Anti-Catholic Matt Slick (CARM)

Account of a farcical live spoken “debate” with a well-known anti-Catholic. On 28 August 2003 I engaged in a more or less spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment “debate” (as others describe it; not me) with Calvinist apologist Matt Slick (head of the large CARM discussion forum) on PalTalk: a popular Internet venue which allows people to talk (with a […]

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Of Monks, Conversion, and Radio Astronomy, Part 1

In the middle of life, I fell in love. For my forty-ninth birthday, my wife Lauren gave me a three-day visit by myself at a monastery in South Texas. I went there simply to read for a while and relax. I wasn’t a believer in much of anything, I wasn’t religious, and while I was […]

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Merit and Cooperating with God for Salvation

Merit is, as St. Augustine said, “God crowning His own gifts.” My understanding of Catholic soteriology is not that we are somehow coming up with a “righteousness of our own” at all. The Catholic Catechism cites this very utterance. We understand God’s grace and our appropriation of it, as of a piece (not opposed to each other), according […]

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“If You Died Tonight”: Debate w Matt Slick of CARM

“If you died tonight, why should God let you into heaven?” [see the earlier, extremely lengthy version] Matt Slick, a Presbyterian pastor oversees the very large Protestant discussion forum called “CARM.” His words will be in blue. *** [5-20-03 at CARM] I consider official roman catholic doctrine to be apostate and Roman Catholics to be the […]

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Wrestling

My son has always been the smallest kid in his class, often mistaken for being much younger than he actually is. But it isn’t only his size. His voice is high. He loves stuffed animals. And when given the choice at recess, he’s one of the few boys who would still rather fight dragons and […]

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Jackie Robinson & Branch Rickey: Methodists & Conservatives

The political and religious views of these two great men are little-known. As anyone in the least familiar with the history of baseball or race relations in America knows, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American in Major League Baseball in 1947, with the Brooklyn Dodgers, due to Branch Rickey, the team’s President and General Manager. […]

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Dialogue w Protestant: “One True Church” vs. Ecumenism?

Catholics believe their Church is the one true one (i.e., contains the “fullness”). The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has released a document (on 6-29-07) called Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church. It has caused some consternation among some Protestants. I have tried to clarify some things, in […]

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Practically Perfect in Every Way – Three More2Life Hacks for Overcoming Perfectionism

In the age of social media, self-criticism and perfectionism are more prominent than ever. We continue to become increasingly focused on being “perfect”: having the perfect physique, having the perfect job, or keeping the perfect house. In reality, however, this striving for “perfection” simply makes us increasingly unhappy as we lose focus of what we […]

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Race Relations: A Personal History

It is Martin Luther King Day, and I muse about how my relation to African-Americans has been shaped over the years. When I was a child, my father would sometimes take me into work with him on Saturdays. He was a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he ran a research lab (with […]

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Did Cardinal Burke Criticize Pope Benedict’s Resignation?

It seemed clear enough to me that he did, but in today’s “hyper-charged” atmosphere regarding anything papal, there must be controversy, and several of my friends have strongly disagreed. Karl Keating asked me: “just what is it you suspect Cardinal Burke to be saying? Be plainspoken about it. Don’t nod toward it without naming it.” I’m happy […]

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Sophistry: Reflections on “Debating” Anti-Catholic Polemicists

A series of ruminations, from correspondence about this general topic . . .* * *Sophism: a clever and plausible but fallacious argument or form of reasoning, whether or not intended to deceive. Sophistry: unsound or misleading or specious but clever, plausible, and subtle argument or reasoning. Many (most?) anti-Catholics are sophists, pure and simple, and […]

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Did a Bishop Say Pope St. John Paul II was God?

All Christians are to identify with Christ in His sufferings on our behalf. This is quite biblical. A statement made by a bishop about Pope St. John Paul II is being seized upon as an alleged proof that popes think they are God, and that Catholics agree with such blasphemous nonsense. It was published in […]

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Poetry Friday: “Sabbath”

Sabbath as beloved bride and queen: familiar tropes in Jewish liturgy and thought. Now, thanks to Dan Bellm’s “Sabbath,” a subtle poem of loss and longing, a promise and a vow, we have another metaphor: Sabbath as mother. The Sabbath, a fixed period of time, stands outside of time. Jews are commanded to keep and […]

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Luther (Unlike Lutheranism) Taught Double Predestination

Lutherans deny this, but it’s evident in Luther’s “Bondage of the Will.” I recently re-posted my 2010 paper, “Luther: God Predestines Reprobation of the Damned.” Nathan Rinne, a Lutheran apologist with whom I have engaged in several constructive dialogues, showed up in the combox, disagreeing with my take, and writing: I’ve been reading and re-reading […]

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Luther: “Ex Opere Operato” Eucharistic Principle is True

Martin Luther: “a thing is not destroyed simply by being misused.” Ex opere operato is the notion that the Eucharist, provided the proper words of consecration are uttered, is valid and real whether the priest celebrating the Mass is wicked or a perfect saint. This sort of error (the denial of the above) is what […]

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Reynolds Price and Me: The Tale of Two Rhodes Scholars, Part 2

I found myself returning to the work of Reynolds Price in 2011, the year he died. Price passed in January and that summer I served as hospital chaplain.  Within a week of starting at the hospital, I went looking for one of Price’s books. After A Palpable God, Price had mostly left religion alone, writing novels, stories, […]

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St. Catherine of Siena Received Communion in the Hand

Will anyone dare to accuse a Doctor of the Church of irreverence? [or so it sure seems . . . if so, how will that go over with those who think any reception other than on the tongue (my own practice in my parish, by the way) is inherently irreverent or at the least greatly inferior? […]

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Holy Eucharist: Replies to a Protestant Inquirer

Questions are good! Apologists are happy to answer, as best we can. The words of the Protestant inquirer will be in blue. *** The Eucharist, as taught today by Catholics was not present in the early days. The Eucharist was instituted at the Last Supper and became the central focus of early church gatherings: Luke 24:35 […]

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Reynolds Price and Me: The Tale of Two Rhodes Scholars, Part 1

Reynolds Price slithered onto the American literary scene in 1962. “Just with his body and from inside like a snake,” Wesley Beavers drove his motorcycle and his girlfriend Rosacoke Mustian into the 189-word sentence that opens A Long and Happy Life. The title of Price’s first novel was prescient for an author whose career spanned five […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/01/reynolds-price-tale-two-rhodes-scholars-part-1/

Luther: God Predestines Reprobation of the Damned

Luther: “he damns the undeserving, . . . they cannot prevent themselves from being ungodly.” *** All the cited words below are Luther’s own, from various translations of The Bondage of the Will (his own favorite work). Sources are non-Catholic ones: with one noted Catholic exception. * * * * * Summary of English Versions of The Bondage of […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/luther-god-predestines-reprobation-damned.html

Dialogue on Luther’s “Getting to a Gracious God”

Martin Luther struggled with accepting God’s grace, his entire life.   “CPA” (a Lutheran historian) wrote a piece: “How Do I Get a Gracious God?” in the Intertestamental Era (5-29-06). I also replied to comments of his in discussion, in my paper, Luther’s Projection of His Depression & Crises Onto St. Paul. Presently, I wish to reply to […]

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Invisible Man

What made me pick up Ralph Ellison’s classic 1952 novel, Invisible Man? Had I ever even read it before? I don’t think so, and when I recently noticed a reference to it somewhere, I immediately thought: now is the time. To refresh your memories: the novel is narrated by a nameless protagonist, a young black […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/01/invisible-man/

Ethics of Internet Discourse: Some Basic Observations

We don’t need new ethics to properly talk online. The NT is quite sufficient. At The Coming Home Network (“CHNI”), as a staff moderator for their Internet forums [2007-2010], I had to abide by company policy. The goal was to cultivate new or potential Catholics, not to have a rugby match or mud bath every day. […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/ethics-internet-discourse-basic-observations.html

Now I’m a Radical Feminist and an Anti-Catholic?!

I am characterized as “anti-male, anti-family, anti-Catholic feminist” in this bizarre “discussion”. Just when I think I have been called every conceivable, imaginable name and epithet, here comes someone else to up the ante! It is entertaining, at least, as well as exasperating. It all started when I made a simple comment underneath a post on […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/now-im-radical-feminist-anti-catholic.html

The Crown and Victoria: Tales of Two Queens

Over Christmas break, I was marshalled into watching two televisions series to which I wouldn’t have been drawn ordinarily—The Crown and Victoria. The former was something I would have been suspicious about, doubting the fairness and authenticity of any dramatic effort revolving around the life of a person—Elizabeth II—who, though not literally unable to defend […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/01/crown-victoria-tales-two-queens/

Dialogue on (Supposedly Fallible) Pope Honorius

Pope Honorius possibly was personally a heretic, but infallibility isn’t involved. My evangelical Protestant friend’s words are in blue. Consider the following excerpt from [Pope] Leo II’s public confirmation of III Constantinople: …also Honorius, who did not illuminate the Apostolic See with the doctrines of the Apostolic tradition, but by profane prodition attempted to subvert the immaculate faith; and […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/dialogue-supposedly-fallible-pope-honorius.html

Science, Logic, & Math Start with Unfalsifiable Axioms

Science, logic, and mathematics all begin from unprovable axioms. In other words, one must exercise a sort of faith to accept those without initial evidence, and then proceed: scarcely different in these respects from religious tenets. For science: The universe: 1. is rational and logical 2. is contingent (has cause and effect) 3. is objective (it exists […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/science-logic-math-start-unfalsifiable-axioms.html

Jehovah’s Witnesses: A Biblical & Historical Critique (Pt. II)

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christians. They deny that Jesus is God, and the Holy Trinity. Part Two * Go to Part One *** Scripture verses are from the Authorised Version (King James Version) of the Bible, unless otherwise noted. All primary works from the Jehovah’s Witnesses were published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Brooklyn, New […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/jehovahs-witnesses-a-biblical-historical-critique-pt-ii.html

Jehovah’s Witnesses: A Biblical & Historical Critique

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christians. They deny that Jesus is God, and the Holy Trinity.   Part One * Go to Part Two *** Scripture verses are from the Authorised Version (King James Version) of the Bible, unless otherwise noted. All primary works from the Jehovah’s Witnesses were published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/jehovahs-witnesses-biblical-historical-critique.html

Poetry Friday: “Birth/Rebirth”

In advent and the beginning of a new year, I tend to think a lot about birth and the many rebirths we experience as we accept the sacred in our lives. At first glance I almost thought this was a prose poem. However, the subtle line breaks create an interesting form and cadence that compliment […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/01/poetry-friday-birthrebirth/

“Soul Sleep”: A Thorough Biblical Refutation

The false doctrine of soul sleep relies on the distortion of a few passages of supposed “proof.” A member on the CHNI [Coming Home Network] discussion forums, asked some good, probing questions. His words will be in blue. * * * * * Man, you are a question machine! But that’s good: inquisitive minds will find […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/soul-sleep-thorough-biblical-refutation.html

Apologetics: Best Antidote to Atheism & Secularism

 Without apologetics, Christians are more likely to fall prey to secularism or atheism. [see book and purchase information for the above title] There is more than one way to accomplish the task of fighting secularism. When we personally wrangle and dispute with atheists (even if the discussion is congenial), we virtually never convince them to change. […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/apologetics-best-antidote-atheism-secularism.html

“A Pair of Silk Stockings” and Other Frivolous Pleasures of Mothers

After a harrowing weekend of yelling at my children, I decided I needed to take drastic measures. I’d been getting sleep, eating well, exercising, and, yes, praying, but I still found myself on the razor’s edge of tension, slamming utensil drawers and screaming, “Stop!” if my son so much as edged one tine of his […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/01/pair-silk-stockings-frivolous-pleasures-mothers/

Lawler vs. Pope Francis #5: Jerusalem Council vs. “Ideology”

This is one of a series of my reviews of the book by prominent Catholic journalist, editor, and author Philip Lawler, entitled Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock (due to be released on 26 February 2018). Phil was kind enough to send me a review copy, and he and others have encouraged me to read […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/lawler-vs-pope-francis-5-jerusalem-council-vs-ideology.html

Lawler vs. Pope Francis #4: Communion / Buenos Aires Letter

This is one of a series of my reviews of the book by prominent Catholic journalist, editor, and author Philip Lawler, entitled Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock (due to be released on 26 February 2018). Phil was kind enough to send me a review copy, and he and others have encouraged me to read […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/lawler-vs-pope-francis-4-communion-buenos-aires-letter.html

Blind Epiphany

Over Thanksgiving, my sister and I spoke of transitions. We’re both susceptible to periods of high and illogical anxiety. She said how, as a teen, she was able to make the anxiety wax and wane through transitions: going home from school for the summer or for vacations, returning to college, starting her summer job. These […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/01/blind-epiphany/

Lawler vs. Pope Francis #3: The Pope Annihilated Hell?

This is one of a series of my reviews of the book by prominent Catholic journalist, editor, and author Philip Lawler, entitled Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock (due to be released on 26 February 2018). Phil was kind enough to send me a review copy, and he and others have encouraged me to read […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/lawler-vs-pope-francis-3-the-pope-annihilated-hell.html

Lawler vs. Pope Francis #2: Homosexuality & “Judging”

This is one of a series of my reviews of the book by prominent Catholic journalist, editor, and author Philip Lawler, entitled Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock (due to be released on 26 February 2018). Phil was kind enough to send me a review copy, and he and others have encouraged me to read […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/lawler-vs-pope-francis-2-homosexuality-judging.html

New Year, New Mindset – How to Effectively Practice New Years Resolutions

It’s that time of year again where we are starting to work on our New Year’s resolutions. While resolutions can bring hope for a happier, healthier year ahead, they can also cause unnecessary stress. We might start out strong for the first few weeks or so, but as we get back to our normal, busy […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/faithonthecouch/2018/01/new-year-new-mindset-effectively-practice-new-years-resolutions/

Mirrors, Monsters, and Art

Often when Aomame finishes showering and prepares to dress, she stands naked before a mirror and considers her body. It is an athletic body, toned, if thin. She always wishes her breasts were larger, but thinks, quite practically, “You’ve gotta work with what you’ve got.” Haruki Murakami’s character in 1Q84 is not vain so much […]

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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/goodletters/2018/01/mirrors-monsters-art/

Lawler vs. Pope Francis #1: Critique of Introduction

This is one of a series of my reviews of the book by prominent Catholic journalist, editor, and author Philip Lawler, entitled Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock (due to be released on 26 February 2018). Phil was kind enough to send me a review copy, and he and others have encouraged me to […]

from
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2018/01/lawler-vs-pope-francis-1-critique-of-introduction.html