Hemant Mehta (aka the Friendly Atheist) and I will be hanging out tomorrow Monday 3/31/13 at 4 pm EST. We will be talking about how faith and religion impact the world we live in. Tune in to watch live. Post questions and comments here and we will try to get to as many as we can! I look forward to hearing from you!     Find Hemant Mehta here: http://friendlyatheist.com https://twitter.com/hemantmehta     Read more

Last night I went and saw Noah, and I have to admit I was more than a little skeptical. The Story of Noah is one of the Bible stories that has fascinated, and dare I say, haunted me for my entire life. It is an incredible story that raises all the big questions about evil, God’s justice, violence, ecology, mercy and sacramentality. I was skeptical because I have never seen the story adapted well by anyone. Generally people adapt the story in one... Read more

  UPDATE: Apparently World Vision has reversed their decision. I have made a few edit’s below to reflect that change. Edits in bold!   So this morning I logged onto twitter and saw this: Shocked to see World Vision hiring employees in same-sex marriages. My dear friend Bob Pierce would be heartbroken. — Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) March 24, 2014 It turns out World Vision is letting gay people join their staff has reversed their position allowing Married Gay people to join their staff. This apparently is shocking to some people. This... Read more

The following prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, drafted for a homily by Card. John Dearden in Nov. 1979 for a celebration of departed priests. As a reflection on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop Romero, Bishop Untener included in a reflection book a passage titled “The mystery of the Romero Prayer.” The mystery is that the words of the prayer are attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken by him. Since yesterday was... Read more

I got a big kick out these reactions to this performance on the Italian iteration of the voice. I thought you all might enjoy it too. Sister Cristina Scuccia is a young 25 year old woman, originally from Sicily but living permanently in Milan. She is an Ursuline nun of the Holy Family. Since childhood she dreamed of being a singer. In 2008 she began to practice the art of singing when she found by accident the Ursuline nuns who... Read more

  The first time I went to a Catholic church I felt pretty confused. People were standing, bowing, genuflecting, crossing themselves, dipping their fingers in holy water, lighting candles, raising their hands up, Standing and kneeling and standing and kneeling and standing and kneeling. There were prayers in English, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. I was amazed that everyone seemed to know what they were doing… “Wow!” I thought, Catholic Worship is COMPLICATED! I didn’t even know the half of it!... Read more

In Jonathan R. Wilson’s recent book God’s Good World, Dr. Wilson tries to form a doctrine of “creation,” through which he frames the whole of the cosmos, and human beings in particular within a theological framework. This is not a “new” project, in fact theologians and philosophers have been thinking and writing about this for a very long time. At other points in time cosmology was a main focus of preaching and teaching and learning. This however, has been lost over the... Read more

This week I was asked: I would like to get Baptized, how do I do it? In the Catholic Church we do it through a bit of a complicated process which we call the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. You can break down the process into nine steps: Step One: Go to your local Parish Step Two: Find out when their next RCIA program starts Step Three: Begin exploring the faith as you go through the period of evangelization Step Four Go through the... Read more

This is possibly my favorite video of all time. I think that I will be posting it every year as a tradition on Saint Patrick’s Day! Read more

This lent I have been using the daily reflections in N.T. Wright’s Lent for Everyone for my personal study and reflection. It’s a book that follows the lectionary sort of. It hits most of the major lectionary texts for the year (this year is Year A), but also makes an effort to trace the overall arch of the book of Matthew (which is the Primary Gospel of Year A). It’s been a huge blessing to read. Wright has an amazing ability to take... Read more