Lately I’ve been taking my cues for evangelization from philosophers. Maybe I need to get out more. But, in all seriousness, its been philosophers who have taught me some of the greatest lessons on evangelization that I’ve ever learned—and it’s really changed how I think about sharing the faith. So, I thought I would share what I’ve learned. And maybe it’ll change how you think about it, too. (more…) Read more
I don’t really believe in coincidence so when I recently came across the same obscure prayer, twice, in a matter of days I knew it had to have been for a reason. So I stopped in my tracks. The prayer is called the Litany of Humility and if you think that someone calling themselves the “Cordial Catholic” isn’t in dire need of humbling then you’re most definitely wrong. “Cordial Catholic” is a moniker I’m still trying to grow in to—and not... Read more
Earlier in March I had the opportunity to fly down to The Coming Home Network International offices to film an episode of The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi. The show itself was instrumental in my own conversion to Catholicism. I can vividly remember the first episode I watched with Scott Hahn—and the incredible realization that becoming Catholic was something that Protestants actually did. I wasn’t the only one. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders; maybe I wasn’t crazy... Read more
At the end of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, the Priest does the dishes. Sometimes a fellow priest who is present and concelebrating can do them, or sometimes it’s the deacon. But someone does the dishes. I’m of a generation, I think it’s safe to say, that’s returning to many of the traditions of our faith. I’m not alone, and statistics bear this out. Disillusioned with a doctrinal liberal and laissez faire approach to non-denominational Christianity, many Christians are... Read more
When my wife and I began marriage preparation classes almost 10 years ago one of the first questions we were asked was, “Do you think you’ll be more or less ‘in love’ after 10 years of marriage?” I’ll save you from wondering and tell you, right away, that I answered wrong. “Well of course we’ll be at least a little bit less in love,” I said, far too quickly. I assumed, back then, that those heady early days of marriage... Read more
As someone with a more than passing interest in the world of the paranormal and bizarre I’ve always had a particular fascination with the ancient Shroud of Turin. But it wasn’t until I became Catholic and shook off my Protestant superstition towards the physical dimension of my faith that fascination passed into a kind of devotion. That the burial shroud which covered Christ’s body still exists as something we can see and touch seemed incredible to me. That it would bear the image... Read more
As an eager Evangelical, I once wrote an article about tradition in the context of a Sunday morning worship service. Long before becoming Catholic, I was processing the idea that all Christian modes of faith come with a certain level of tradition, even if it wasn’t as the high liturgical ritual of a Catholic Mass. Here’s how a typical Sunday morning in my non-denominational church would look. We gathered in the pews before the service began catching up with friends before... Read more
Before we even begin to discuss Peter as Pope we need to get one thing out of the way: no church historian, worth their weight, would ever claim that Peter was the first Pope—in the exact way we understand it today. Like our understanding of the Trinity, the canon of the New Testament (what books make up our Bibles), and our doctrines surrounding salvation and the after-life these concepts, naturally, developed over time as the Church grew into its britches. The... Read more
I was once asked the question by a friend of mine, “Which is more important: The Bible or tradition?” As a good evangelical I knew that the answer to any question in Sunday School was either “the Bible” or “Jesus” and although I wasn’t in Sunday School any longer I knew tradition couldn’t be the answer. “The Bible,” I said confidently, congratulating myself for knowing so much about my faith. “But who put the Bible together?” My friend replied. “Wasn’t it... Read more
If you’re at all a Vatican watcher like me then you’ll have heard something of the remarks made by Cardinal Robert Sarah this past week. Cardinal Sarah, a Guinea-born priest, is prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The African priest, being a bit more conservatively-minded in his approach to the Liturgy, is often at odds with Pope Francis in that respect and, as a result, is often in the news. The media love a... Read more
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