A friend asked me today to check into resources for Catholic online graduate education, i.e. distance learning programs, regarding a Masters degree in theology or philosophy. Do any of you have any opinions or advice? Specifically: – Several programs my friend has looked at offer the same course work on campus as online. Are online degrees still looked down upon when looking for a job (e.g. a teaching position) in a Catholic context, or is the “I got my degree... Read more

I’m a long time fan of your writing. I really appreciate to hear a voice of reason in what I see as a society full of extremes with no moral compass. I often have discussions on Facebook with a friend of mine who is of the Sikh religion. He tries repeatedly to show that Christianity has changed drastically over the ages and that it’s not a dependable source of truth. In response to a discussion we were having regarding reincarnation,... Read more

A reader writes: First off, I truly enjoy reading your blog daily, it is easily one of my favorites. I also wanted to let you know that I am working my way through your Mary trilogy of books and have found them both informative and a great read. Secondly, I am a theology teacher/campus minister at a Catholic high school in Michigan. We have a really solid theology program here; as a matter of fact this year we started using... Read more

This story, press on to think about the meaning of Israel’s dietary laws and the concept of “pollution” in the Old Testament and the New. Turns out sin, while the responsibility of the sinner, also has a social dimension. Who knew you could learn so much from a pig or a maggot? Read more

There’s a new devotional out that gives you a little nugget of wisdom from her every day. It’s called, not coincidentally A Little Daily Wisdom: Through the Year with Saint Teresa of Avila Teresa is one of the most down-to-earth of the saints, which is impressive since she sometimes levitated at Mass. Read more

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra and the even funnier The Lost Skeleton Returns Again. If you have a tender spot for terrible 50s scifi, these are the movies for you. Wonderfully funny! Read more

Long one of the coolest features of This Rock, Jimmy Akin puts together a very handy book which introduces a modern reader to the greatly neglected world of the patristic writers and helps us to get a real feel for what early Christianity looked like (hint: Catholics and Orthodox will not be surprised at what they find there) and how the Church that emerged from the apostolic period thought about life, the universe, and everything. If you want to have... Read more

Offers this brave defense of “Dr.” Gosnell’s worldview and makes a stunning “How nature says, ‘don’t touch'” case for his particularly fetching version of Evangelical Atheism: [T]he standard bullying tactics of waving bloody fetuses might cow the squeamish, but I’m a biologist. I’ve guillotined rats. I’ve held eyeballs in my hand and peeled them apart with a pair of scissors. I’ve used a wet-vac to clean up a lake of half-clotted blood from an exsanguinated dog. I’ve opened bodies and... Read more

…Marian apparitions.If you want a full meal deal discussion of the fascinating problem of private revelation (of which Marian apparitions are one species), check out Chapter 3: Private Revelation, Marian Apparitions, and Sundry Tales of the Unexplained in Volume 3: Miracles, Devotion, and Motherhood from my Mary, Mother of the Son trilogy. (There’s also an Appendix which discusses the major Marian apparitions approved by the Church). I’d order the whole trilogy if I were you since a) it’s cheaper than... Read more

Ponder Leaving Hometown in IraqMission accomplished (assuming the mission was the destruction of a Church that has been in Iraq for two millennia). But who cares? Salvation really comes through democratic capitalism and American military power in the mideast, not through Jesus Christ. So if the Church is annihilated there, it’s not that big a loss. And besides some of Saddam’s goons were Christian, so the Church had it coming. The point is, the war was a triumph and not... Read more