Question: What was the intended outcome of the Pope’s words (quoted or otherwise) on Islam? And, for all Christians, what should now be our response? GetReligion’s got links to links. Some may have to deal with the outcome more than others. Did you hear about the new church in Afghanistan? Are our views on the Muslim-Rage-of-the-Moment forming us or just scaring us? Then there’s this new cartoon controversy. One last question: How are the Evangelical-Enough-to-work-for-the-Apocalypse-Crowd dealing with this? (I mean,... Read more

Remembrance of wrongs is the consummation of anger, the keeper of sins, hatred of righteousness, ruin of virtues, poison of the soul, worm of the mind, shame of prayer, cessation of supplication, estrangement of love, a nail stuck in the soul, pleasureless feeling cherished in the sweetness of bitterness, continuous sin, unsleeping transgression, hourly malice.– John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent (LDA), p.87. Whenever we become obsessed by some past event in which we perceive that we have been wronged,... Read more

I think that all over America, in zip codes blue and red, evangelical megachurches should get organized and have thousands of people pile into church buses and head over to their local NBC affiliates with signs and bullhorns and march around and around in a peaceful, non-violent manner, chanting: “God made you special and he loves you very much! God made you special and he loves you very much! God made you special and he loves you very much!” What’s... Read more

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict’s recent pronouncement has many in the Christian world — and beyond — up in arms. He said, and I quote: “The Protestant Reformation has split the church.” Reaction was swift among Protestant leaders. Elsewhere … “Lyndsay Moseley was no longer inspired by the evangelical Christian faith of her youth. As an environmental activist, she believed that it offered little spiritual support for her work and was overly focused on opposing abortion and gay marriage.”Source.HT: THUNDERSTRUCK... Read more

by Fr Alexander SchmemannOn September 14th, for centuries, when the feast of the Elevation of the Cross was celebrated in cathedrals, the bishop would take his place in the center of the church and, surrounded by a great assembly of clergy, would majestically raise the cross high over the crowd and bless the worshippers on all four sides of the church while the choir thundered in response, “Lord have mercy!” This was the celebration of Christian empire, an empire born... Read more

“The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war,” the pope said. “He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.’ “ The story. Thanks to FWD from Fr Josiah Trenham. Read more

Houston is known for its hospitals. Like, say, Texas Medical Center. Hospitals have elevators. Houston has lots of — many, many, many — elevators. In the past year, I have become a quick study of elevator-ology. Assuming it’s all spiritual warfare, please pardon my diversion to and fro a few floors of logic here — perhaps even a good word or two — while I speak of elevators. Push the button, up or down. And wait. Sometimes you wait a... Read more

 Read more

Part OnePart TwoPart Three In this, our final model on the nature of the Church, we visit the Fourth Gospel, that of St John the Evangelist. This Gospel, due to its doctrinal teachings, is considered the First Gospel (in honour) by the Orthodox Church. Herein we read: Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them,... Read more

Under the new rules, you can be called a hypocrite for upholding old standards of virtue that you don’t exemplify perfectly; but you can’t be called a hypocrite for sinking into utter moral squalor, as long as you profess to believe there’s nothing wrong with it. So the defender of traditional morality is kept constantly on the defensive, since only he can be accused of hypocrisy. MORE. Thanks to FWD from Fr. Miguel Grave de Peralta. Read more