A reader writes: Mark, will you do me a favor please and share this fundraiser on your page? It’s my godchild’s family. She has major health issues and they’ve been served with eviction papers for daring to demand that their landlord remediate the black mold growing in their house. I’d sure appreciate it. Thanks! You guys are always so generous to the needy. I appreciate it. And God will remember on That Day. And please pray for them! Read more
…for coming completely on board with the Church’s position on the death penalty. He now completely rejects it: My position for as long as I can remember has been against the death penalty, except in the case of mass murderers and terrorists. I was more generally in favor of it in the past (not sure how long ago that was). Thus, in more recent years I have been basically opposed to it, with only relatively rare and extraordinary exceptions to the “rule.”... Read more
…in an age of Christianist contempt for the poor and vulnerable: If you do not see Christ in the beggar at the Church door, you will not find him in the Chalice. – St. John Chrysostem Read more
Yr. Obdt. Svt. on the Church Marian dogmas over at Northwest Catholic: A great deal of confusion surrounds the four Marian dogmas, not only concerning the meaning of Mary, but also concerning the meaning of dogma. Dogma does not mean the forbiddance of thought, but the conclusion — it’s what you get when you have thought something through to the end. So, for instance, when the question of just exactly who Jesus was arose in the fourth century (archangel? little-g godlet? big-G God? something else?), the church... Read more
…in which we finish up the series looking at Christ and the Canaanite Woman. Last time, we saw that the Church to which Matthew writes has been grappling for decades with the question of the relationship of Jew and Gentile in the early Church, particularly in the Holy Land where Jewish ethnocentrism encouraged the idea that Jewish believers sit in first class while Gentile believers are second class and the proposition that “in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek”... Read more
Christianism is a political cult centered on the worship of Donald Trump and his party of thieves and liars. It functions by using the forms and imagery of Christianity while in fact making war on the Faith. Paul calls it “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). So it has no problem telling lies and only cares about lies insofar as they work, not insofar as they are lies. Consequently, it has no problem with Trump... Read more
He looks at what is happening at Mass: So what is the Mass? What happens during this paradigmatic prayer? Why is it the beginning and culmination of what it means to be a Christian? In the course of this brief article, I will share just a couple of basic insights. First, the Mass is a privileged encounter with the living Christ. Christianity is not a philosophy, ideology, or religious program; it is a friendship with the Son of God, risen from the... Read more
I’m speaking tonight at 7:00 at St. Andrew parish in Sumner on the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Tomorrow, I will be speaking again at 10 AM and 7 PM on The Four Marian Dogmas. The morning talk will be in the sanctuary and the evening talk will be in Building B. I look forward to seeing you! Read more
A great collection of interviews by Eve Tushnet: Mr. Brandkamp described the similar vulnerability and fear he experienced on the day in 1986 when, at age 21, he lost his first job, developed bronchitis and was evicted along with his mother: “We spent three days and three nights on the streets [of New York] wandering from donut shops to doorways to park benches. Our stuff was stolen while we were on a park bench trying to get some sleep. In... Read more
A reader writes: You’ve spoken eloquently on the Church’s opposition to racism. One thing I’m curious about is your opinion on what’s happening in Eastern Europe. From what I can tell, countries such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovakian republics are restricting immigration to maintain themselves as “ethno nationalist states.” Some of this is concern over Islam, but is the concept of an ethno state something that the Church opposes? The bulk of European states have been nothing... Read more
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