Chris Ferrara vs. Pope Benedict XVI (The New Mass)

Last updated on: April 22, 2017 at 6:13 pm By Dave Armstrong

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later, Pope Benedict XVI), on 12 May 2001. Upside-down version of photograph by Manfredo Ferrari [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license] * * * * * Sure enough, in the combox of my post, Trad Misuse of Ratzinger “Banal” Quote, notorious radical Catholic reactionary leader Chris Ferrara (of “Remnant” fame) showed up to misrepresent him again (thus illustrating my very point before our eyes)!: Let’s see you explain away POPE Ratzinger’s declaration, at the end of his pontificate, that the liturgy... Read more

Implicit (Extra-Empirical) Faith, According to JH Newman

Last updated on: April 22, 2017 at 6:19 pm By Dave Armstrong

[purchase the above book at Amazon; also my own book of Newman quotations] * * * * * I have long been interested in developing arguments for what might be variously described as “tacit knowing” (philosopher Michael Polanyi), or implicit, innate, interior knowledge; the “illative sense” (Newman), or “properly basic belief” (Alvin Plantinga). Not all “evidence” or knowledge is empirical in nature. Religious faith is of this type, at least in some key respects. Polanyi is thought to have effectively... Read more

Why I Collect Lots of Scholarly Articles for Atheists

Last updated on: April 22, 2017 at 6:21 pm By Dave Armstrong

Various decorative depictions of the “L10a174” link of mathematical knot theory (i.e. a closed 5-link chain), including interlinked circles and pentagons, and interlaced “yin-yang” type shapes [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * In my post, Exchanges w Atheist on Hell & Skepticism, I made the following comment, after being asked by my atheist friend, “what is your best evidence for God’s existence?” Here are some of the best arguments I could find: 1) God: Historical Arguments (Copious Resources)... Read more

Traditionalist Misuse of the Ratzinger “Banal” Quote

Last updated on: September 9, 2020 at 11:23 am By Dave Armstrong

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later, Pope Benedict XVI), on 12 May 2001. Photo by Manfredo Ferrari [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license] * * * Fr. Angelo Geiger of Mary Victrix fame (I love his stuff) — who celebrates the Tridentine Mass –, has written about the famous Cardinal Ratzinger “banal” quote and folks ignoring what Pope Benedict XVI stated as pope (he’s even been called an ultramontanist as I have, innumerable times). He wrote in the comments for his article, “The Spirit of Summorum Pontificum“ (11 March... Read more

Exchanges with an Atheist on Hell & Undue Skepticism

Last updated on: April 22, 2017 at 6:27 pm By Dave Armstrong

Photo by “kummod” [public domain / Pixabay] * * * These occurred in the combox of my post, A Defense of Hell. Korou is an atheist who claims he would become a theist / Christian, if only there were any evidence at all for it. He believes there is none. I stated in the combox that I didn’t have time to debate further a very complex topic such as hell, but he kept making short replies, thus tempting me to come... Read more

Dialogue: Receiving Communion (vs. Traditionalist)

Last updated on: April 9, 2020 at 10:56 am By Dave Armstrong

Former title: “Traditionalist” Argument from Liturgical Development: Method of Receiving Communion (vs. David Palm ) Notre Dame Cathedral, Montreal. Photo by Paul Mannix (8-31-06) [Flickr / CC BY 2.0 license] (6-25-08) This article has been re-uploaded under the title, Dialogue on Method of Communion & Liturgical Development. *** Read more

Worshiping the TLM vs. Worshiping God Through It

Last updated on: April 24, 2017 at 12:51 pm By Dave Armstrong

Not all idols are made of stone. Ancient idols in Azerbaijan. Photo by Urek Meniashvili (9-15-13) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] * * * * * God help those who worship [the] TLM and God bless those who worship God through it. — Dan Burke, Executive Director at EWTN [on Dr. Taylor Marshall’s FB page] The first is rank idolatry and the second is being a good Catholic with a perfectly permissible and laudatory liturgical preference. To rework a... Read more

Did Jesus Have to Learn and Discover That He Was God?

Last updated on: April 24, 2017 at 12:54 pm By Dave Armstrong

Christ on the Cross (1540), by Michelangelo (1475-1564) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * [from my book, The One-Minute Apologist (2007); my original manuscript version is edited presently, to expand upon the actual book portions. So here you get a “deluxe” two-minute response, rather that a one-minute one.] THEOLOGY OF GOD Jesus had to grow into the understanding that He was God He was limited in His awareness and in His learning abilities because He was a man, like the... Read more

Michael Voris on Benedict’s “Immoral” Resignation, Questionable Illness

Last updated on: November 20, 2021 at 3:40 pm By Dave Armstrong

Pope Benedict XVI at a General Audience, 16 January 2013 [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * In a post written by a former employee of Church Militant, Voris’ organization, the following statement was made: The video, released just before the Synod had ended, was titled Benedict’s Fingerprints. . . . In the video, Michael blatantly accuses Father Benedict (as he has asked to be called) of faking his illness to escape the papacy. “He... Read more

Loving Ourselves According to How Much God Loves Us

Last updated on: February 14, 2020 at 12:55 pm By Dave Armstrong

[public domain image from “Clandestino” / Pixabay] *** This article has been re-uploaded under the title, Loving Ourselves (Since God Loves Us So Much!). *** Read more