Hat tip to Radical Catholic Mom for this link to a witty ecumencial dialogue for Ash Wednesday. Check out this conversation between Baptist, Catholic and Pentecostal. It reminds me of a story I heard about a Baptist pastor who was exploring more liturgical stuff with his congregation. Before Christmas he introduced them to Advent, had some candles and a procession, then he heard about Ash Wednesday. This attracted him, but things got messy because he just took some ashes from... Read more

  Who’s directing whom? Ruth Gledhill of The Times of London gets to the heart of the matter in the communique from the Anglican Primates meeting in Tanzania. Despite the gooey language, the Anglican Communion has rapped the knuckles of the Episcopal Church and called for action. Gledhill’s article includes the whole communique. I have to hand it to them, the Anglicans have a genius for holding things together. They are like a group of sailors bailing desperately on a... Read more

Just what did Jesus mean when he said there was to be “one flock and one shepherd”? (John 10:16) This is in the context of his extended parable of the Good Shepherd, and Jesus Christ himself is clearly the Good Shepherd. He says so in verse 14. What interests me about this passage is that Jesus is clearly pointing out, not only that he is the Good Shepherd, but as the Good Shepherd he is making a Messianic claim. References... Read more

Ruth Gledhill of The Times reports that the Anglican and the Catholic churches are just about to unite??!! Read the whole story here: (Hat tip to Jay) It’s an inflated headline. When you read the full story, it turns out that the report suggests ‘ways forward’ and calls for continued work. Fr Christopher comments pretty sharply on the whole idea, and dismisses it as so much diplomatic wind. So does Jimmy Akin. Check it out. High level diplomacy is surely... Read more

  My first entry into liturgical, historical Christianity was in a little Episcopal breakaway church in Greenville, South Carolina called deliciously, The Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church. The little congregation of conservative former Episcopalians belonged to a denomination based in North Carolina founded by Bishop James Parker Dees. The Anglican Orthodox Church was regarded as a throwback, a group of conservative grumps who pulled out because they didn’t like the new prayer book. Dees has gone to his reward, but... Read more

OK. This is a day late, and I know these kind of articles are a little bit, well, gooey and greeting-card-sweet, yeah, it’s schmaltzy but go ahead and read it, and see if your eye stays totally, utterly and completely dry. See if your lips stay totally, utterly and completely down turned. If not, it’s worked some magic. Check out Happy Catholic’s post: True Love Which quote is your favorite? Read more

Our man in Toldeo (that’s Ohio, not Spain) who already produces the beautiful, witty and unmissable blog Roving Medievalist also produces an equally wonderful blog called Triumphant Baroque. This continues the reverent, enthusiastic, jolly, crunchy and cheerfully grumpy tone which the blogger projects so well. It’s all so thoroughly Catholic and full of juice. Put it on your list and check it daily for a dose of real Catholic Culture. Even if you just skim through the pictures it will... Read more

Here’s your Valentine’s card. The devotion to the sacred heart of Jesus is pretty hard for a convert to understand. I once visited the Monastery at Conyers in Georgia, and a nice Catholic lady was showing me around. She told me a story about the time she was showing one of her Southern Baptist friends around the monastery and church. The Southern Baptist was very friendly and open minded. Then they got to the image of the Sacred Heart. “I’m... Read more

Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury who pushed women’s ordination through the Church of England in the early 1990s has been in North Carolina for some weeks now. The story is that he is globe trotting, quietly ‘ministering’ to the morally conservative Anglican Evangelicals. This is code for ‘rallying all the Evangelicals’ to fight against the insidious homosexualist agenda. Within polite Anglicanism this is definitely a ‘no no’. Retired Archbishops of Canterbury aren’t supposed to run about undermining their... Read more

Can anybody resist George Herbert? An intellectual with the highest connections who decided to be a humble country parish priest. You can still visit the little church in Bemerton, near Salisbury in Wiltshire where he lived, ministered, wrote his simple, beautiful poetry and where he finally died, and where he is buried. You can’t visit it, but the ancient rectory where he lived still stands across the road from the little church pictured here. He was one of the inspirations... Read more