How Learning About the Rosary Blew My Mind

Last updated on: August 3, 2015 at 4:02 pm By K. Albert Little

For all good Protestants, myself included, Mary is the ultimate stumbling block on a journey into full Catholic communion. This wasn’t so for the first 1,500 years of Church history. Martin Luther one of the earliest Protestant reformers held strong and fast to Marian doctrine even doctrine, like her perpetual virginity, which couldn’t be strongly backed up by his sola scriptura theology. I didn’t have such a hard time with Mary. Thankfully I was introduced, early on in my journey, to... Read more

When the Priest Does the Dishes

Last updated on: August 3, 2015 at 4:02 pm By K. Albert Little

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 doctrinally liberal and laissez faire approach to evangelical Christianity, many Christians are... Read more

A Protestant Deep in History

Last updated on: August 3, 2015 at 4:02 pm By K. Albert Little

In my day job I’m a Kindergarten teacher. I hang out with 3 and 4-year olds and sometimes learn a little bit along the way. Sometimes they learn a little bit, too. While talking about where babies come from (don’t worry!) I asked a couple of the kids, “Where were you born?” I was surprised by their incredulous looks, like I’d ask them to explain Pythagoras’s theorem. “I don’t know,” each one, in turn, replied. It was a question, I could... Read more

Papal Infallibility and Why Some Popes are Evil

Last updated on: February 10, 2016 at 7:44 am By K. Albert Little

The idea of papal infallibility is something that I’ve come to understand is widely misunderstood outside (and inside) the Catholic Church. After writing about why I love the Pope (and you can too!) I had a groundswell of reader feedback and questions about papal infallibility. What does it mean to be infallible? What did I mean when I said that infallibility doesn’t mean impeccability? Weren’t some Popes evil? If aliens existed, would the Pope baptise them? On that last question,... Read more

The Catholic as Pharisee

Last updated on: August 3, 2015 at 4:02 pm By K. Albert Little

So I sat down to write something entirely different but then I read Pope Francis’s homily from this morning and completely changed my mind. Today’s gospel reading, according to the Lectionary, is about Jesus’s encounter with the Pharisees. It’s one of the famous encounter, you’ll recall, where the Pharisees question the authority of Jesus. They question Him and His disciples who are plucking grain and traveling (or working) on the Sabbath, the Jewish holy day, and healing and performing miracles. They... Read more

Why I Love the Pope (and You Can Too!)

Last updated on: August 26, 2015 at 8:38 am By K. Albert Little

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you to learn that I love the Pope. You, my dear readers and friends, are a long-suffering bunch and nothing should really come as a surprise to you anymore. But, I do love the Pope, and I’m going to tell you why. The Pope is an audacious person. The present Pope, perhaps not so much, but the office of the Pope in and of itself is an affront to our modern culture and... Read more

A Fish in Water

Last updated on: August 3, 2015 at 4:02 pm By K. Albert Little

There is a danger in the draw of authority. There is a deep danger is just being told what to do, and doing it. That danger is real. That danger has led to countless conflicts and abuses across the pages of history. That danger leads to abuses and conflicts today. One of the common concerns I hear, when someone finds out that I’m becoming, of all things, a Catholic, is that Catholicism is a faith in which one is just told what... Read more

Why I Spent My Lunch Hour Worshipping a Cracker

Last updated on: August 3, 2015 at 4:02 pm By K. Albert Little

OK, I’m being facetious, I admit it. I snuck out today, on my forty-minute lunch break, to spend some time sitting in church. Our local parish church is beautiful. It was a built in the 1800’s by a famous church architect who was so popular that he was later hired, in an ecumenical reach across the aisle, by Baptists to rebuild some of their churches too. At any rate, it’s a beautiful building that I’m still discovering and learning to appreciate.... Read more

The Church is Universal, And It’s Not

Last updated on: August 3, 2015 at 4:02 pm By K. Albert Little

As a Protestant converting to Catholicism the idea that the Catholic Church is universal has enormous appeal. The idea that I can attend the same Mass in Waterloo, Toronto, Boston, or South Africa is incredibly attractive. The Church, universal in that sense, is pretty incredible to a Protestant like me. At the same time, the Catholic Church isn’t the same everywhere and as I learn more about unique identities within the Church I’m glad for this, too. (more…) Read more

What Sucks About the Catholic Church

Last updated on: August 27, 2015 at 8:02 am By K. Albert Little

Some days I don’t want to be a Catholic anymore. Some days I’m not even sure God exists. So far in my conversion story I’ve painted what’s probably a pretty sunny picture of the Catholic Church. I don’t want to be a downer, but that’s far from the whole truth. In reality, there are days when I don’t want to be a Catholic anymore. When it falls apart on me and I have to begin, with the help of the Holy... Read more