A Little Lesson in Moral Theology

I am no moral theologian, but I understand some basics, and if more people understood the basics of Catholic moral theology they would understand (even if they did not agree with) the Catholic teaching on certain moral actions much debated in our society. The basic principle is this: every action is always either objectively right [...]

The Sin of Sodom

Sodom_and_Gomorrah

Where does the word “Sodomy” come from and what does it mean? The word refers to the city of Sodom–a city in the Book of Genesis which, along with Gomorrah, was known for the wickedness of its inhabitants. In Catholic moral theology sodomy is one of the sins that “cry out to heaven”.  These four [...]

Divine Mercy–Light in the Darkness

Divine Mercy

Recently I have been increasingly drawn to the Divine Mercy devotion. At the Catholic leadership conference in Philadelphia I met Fr Michael Gaitley–who is the director of the Divine Mercy shrine in  Massachusetts and listened to his powerful talk on the Divine Mercy. I have begun praying the Divine Mercy chaplet every day, and have [...]

My Conversion Story

Is now posted at the Why I’m Catholic website. Go here. You can also read other versions of my conversion story at the Archived Articles section of this blog here, and you can download audio versions of My Journey to the Catholic Church and the story of how I ended up as a Catholic priest [...]

Immaculate Deception?

immaculate_conception

I had been on the path to becoming a Catholic for nearly twenty years. Coming from an Evangelical, Protestant background I had become an Anglican priest, learned to pray the rosary, understood and accepted the Catholic understanding of the Church, the sacraments and the priesthood. I spent a lot of time in Catholic Benedictine monasteries [...]

Beam Down Athanasius

athanasius

Today we celebrate St Athanasius, and can somebody beam him down? The place is crawling with Arians again. The simple version is that Arius–a Bishop of Alexandria–taught that Jesus Christ was not fully divine. Nearly the whole church followed this new teaching. It made sense, after all for lots of reasons it was a bit [...]