Annunciation (1608-1610), by Caravaggio (1571-1610) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (1-27-12) * * * Luke 1:26, 28 (RSV: non-Catholic version): . . . the angel Gabriel . . . [28] . . . came to her and said, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Luke 1:41-42, 45 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit [42] and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and... Read more
Official Vatican photograph of Pope Paul VI, 1963 [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * These are (slightly modified in places) follow-up comments I made on Facebook, under the cross-posting of my paper, Two Forms of ONE Rite (Pope Benedict XVI). * * * * * Abbreviations: OF = ordinary form of the Roman Rite Mass, or New Mass, or Novus Ordo Mass, or Mass of Pope Paul VI EF = extraordinary form of the Roman Rite Mass, or Tridentine Mass NO = Novus Ordo Mass *... Read more
Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011): one of the most famous of the “new atheists”; image by Surian Soosay (12-16-11) [Flickr / CC BY 2.0 license] * * * * * Alphabetical by Author ATHEISM, CRITIQUES OF Atheist Demands for “Empirical” Proofs of God (Dave Armstrong, 2015) Atheism: More Rational & Scientific than Christianity? (Dave Armstrong, 2015) On Critiquing Atheist “Deconversion” Stories (Dave Armstrong, 2015) The Atheist Obsession with Insulting Christians (Dave Armstrong, 2015) Atheism: the Faith of “Atomism” (Dave Armstrong, 2015) The... Read more
Original Title: Comprehensive Response to Protestant Robin Phillips’ Essay, “Why I am Not a Roman Catholic” Crepuscular Rays at Noon in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City; photograph by Alex Proimos (7-11-11) [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license] (1-31-12) Robin Phillips is co-director of the Reformed Liturgical Institute. he studied philosophy at London University and received a B.A. in Western Civilization from the UK’s Open University. He was a history teacher at the Classical Christian Academy in Idaho, where he developed a six year curriculum spanning... Read more
Portrait of Zwingli by Hans Asper (1499-1571) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] (9-30-10) Huldreich (or Ulrich) Zwingli (1484-1531) was one of the founders of Protestantism. Note: since he rejected the orthodox Christian doctrine of original sin, he cannot be said to have espoused Mary’s immaculate conception, because that doctrine presupposes original sin (in order to remove it from Mary by grace). [Zwingli’s own words are in blue] * * * * * 1) Hans Joachim Hillerbrand, Encyclopedia of Protestantism, Volume 3 (Taylor &... Read more
Pope Benedict XVI: 7 June 2006 [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license] * * * * * This exchange occurred on my Facebook page today, in discussion under my post about Michael Voris’ criticisms of the Novus Ordo Mass. Words of Michael Bradley will be in blue; words of James Layne in green. Abbreviations: OF = ordinary form of the Roman Rite Mass, or New Mass, or Novus Ordo Mass, or Mass of Pope Paul VI EF = extraordinary... Read more
The Rest on the Flight Into Egypt (c. 1510), by Gerard David (bet. 1450-1460-1523) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] The following is based on a chat on a blog with two Protestants (both Presbyterian, I believe, and one a pastor). It is, therefore, written in the first person. Their thoughts are paraphrased in blue. (2-28-04) * * * Nothing in the New Testament “even remotely suggests” the perpetual virginity of Mary. But there is nothing in the Bible that even remotely suggests the... Read more
[Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license] [from a Facebook post of 16 October 2014] * * * * * This is a question often raised by Protestant apologists, who misunderstand the reason why Catholics note these historical facts about the Protestant founders’ beliefs and aspects of “distinctive Catholicism” that they retain. * * * Primarily, it is a matter of historical fact or absence of evidence for same. Hence I wrote in the thread at CA where Tim Staples... Read more
Original Title: Michael Voris’ Denigration of the Ordinary Form of the Mass vs. Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 Decrees Pope Benedict XVI celebrating the Easter Vigil Mass on 7 April 2007 in St. Peter’s Basilica [Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0 license] (11-16-12) The following is a critique of Michael Voris’ video, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Pt. 1. Excerpts follow, with his words in blue. * * * * * 29:10 “In the meantime a New Mass is being engineered that almost totally downplays all Catholic worship in favor of a... Read more
Daguerreotype of Charles Darwin from 1842 (age 33), with oldest son, William Erasmus Darwin [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * * * * I. ADAM AND EVE / MONOGENISM Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel, and Noah as Historical Figures (Dave Armstrong, 2008) Fr. Robert Barron Denies that Adam Was a “Literal Figure” (Dave Armstrong, 2011) Defending the Literal, Historical Adam of the Genesis Account (Dave Armstrong vs. Eric S. Giunta, 2011) Adam & Eve of Genesis: Historical & the Primal Human Pair? (Dave... Read more
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