Seasons of Grace
OK, I’m being trivial today. This, though, is hysterical. Take that, Mr. President! Read more
OK, I’m being trivial today. This, though, is hysterical. Take that, Mr. President! Read more
Is this strictly spiritual? Well, yes, in the sense that it fills your mind with wonder and then you slip off, thinking about the God of Manifest Humor, Who created even this—the howler monkey. At first, you think he’s cute, even gentle. Then he builds up steam, and he shakes the world with his ear-splitting howl. Read more
The Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, has a recommendation to Anglicans: Go to confession. Addressing the heads of other churches—including the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Most Rev. Vincent Nichols—Archbishop Welby admitted that confessing one’s weaknesses to someone else might not be a “bunch of laughs,” still he believes that unburdening oneself to a confessor is good for the soul. “It is enormously powerful and hideously painful when it’s done properly,” he said. “It’s really horrible when you... Read more
This week a sparkling new digital billboard went live on Times Square. On the corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, the large sign features white letters on a blue background reading: The animated billboard in Times Square joins several low-tech stationary versions in New York and San Francisco funded by Ken Ham, the founder, CEO and President of the creationist organization Answers in Genesis. Ham’s organization, which teaches young-earth theory and disputes evolution, also funded construction of a creation... Read more
So…. Here I Am! A while back, I did a telephone interview with Fr. Dwight Longenecker for his radio show, “More Christianity”. (Actually, not just an interview but a long, rambling conversation about two of our favorite things: faith and blogging.) Anyway, someone just told me I should post it; so I had to run over and dig it up on Fr. L’s radio site. Take a listen, if you’ve got a few minutes. We talk about the history of... Read more
He said it again: the Church does not grow by proselytizing but by attracting. Speaking to a youthful audience in Umbria on October 6, Pope Francis repeated his rejection of proselytizing as an effective means of communicating the gospel. A Church grows, he said, because the testimony of the People of God is attractive—not because of proselytizing. He urged the young people who sat at his feet to “come out of the self” and to go towards “the true peripheries... Read more
On October 7, Catholics remember Our Lady of the Rosary. The feast was actually instituted under another name: In 1571 Pope Pius V instituted “Our Lady of Victory” as an annual feast in thanksgiving for Mary’s patronage in the victory of the Holy League over the Muslim Turks in the Battle of Lepanto. Two years later, in 1573, Pope Gregory XIII changed the title of this feastday to “Feast of the Holy Rosary.” And in 1716, Pope Clement XI extended... Read more
Please join with me today in praying for Bishop Edward Braxton, bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Belleville. On September 13, following several days of intense pain, Bishop Braxton underwent surgery at Belleville’s Saint Elizabeth Hospital to remove a nonmalignant blockage between his large and small intestines. The diocese reported at that time that the bishop’s schedule would be adjusted for the next four to six weeks. Today, a friend asked for continued prayers for His Excellency’s full recovery,... Read more
Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black, like other Americans, does not much like this government impasse. He’s fed up with lawmakers’ inability to reach agreement on the vote to approve a budget, to raise the debt ceiling, and to keep our government operational. But while many citizens feel helpless to force the hand of our elected officials, Reverend Black knows he has their ear. And this week, he’s been using his pulpit to drive home his point to the U.S. Senate... Read more
Swiss theologian Hans Küng may be about to commit suicide. Since the Second Vatican Council, Küng has been fighting against the Catholic Church’s teachings—arguing for a married priesthood, a decentralized church, and birth control. When he stubbornly challenged the idea of papal infallibility in 1979, the Vatican stripped him of his license to teach Catholic theology. He was named professor of ecumenical studies by the University of Tübingen, and has continued to self-identify as a “Catholic priest in good standing”,... Read more
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