I guess it’s time for me to do what I often do, and make everybody on both sides of a contentious issue angry with me. The argument in question is the one concerning Pope Francis’ recent directive concerning the Latin Mass. When Pope Benedict first issued the directive allowing broader celebration of the Latin Mass, my reaction was … Ok. I have zero problem with people who want to hear the mass in Latin. I don’t get it myself, but... Read more
Words are prayer. Music is prayer. Work is prayer. Love is prayer. Suffering is prayer. Joy is prayer. Everything you do, every use you make of this great gift of your life is either a prayer … or a curse. You decide which it will be with each action, thought, purpose you take. You are your own prayer … or you are a curse. You decide. Read more
I’m guessing that the Catholic bishops were surprised by the public reaction to their plan to excommunicate the President of the United States. I say that because they’ve been making a lot of huffy statements that they never meant any such thing. The new truth, according to some of the bishops, is that all they were doing was putting together a document on the Eucharist that would reaffirm its significance and meaning in Church life. They never, nohow, no way,... Read more
I debated about posting this video here. I’ve decided that those of us who love the Church, and who are not going to run away and leave it, need to see it so they can understand a bit of what is actually going on under the floorboards of our faith. This is a video of Fr James Altman, ranting and yelling because Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit asked him not to make a speech to a group in his diocese.... Read more
The following is a very short, off-the-cuff list of Catholic politicians that the Church did NOT excommunicate. I’m sure if I researched, it could be a lot longer. So far as I know, none of them favored freely available abortion. Adolph Hitler. As dictator of Germany, Hitler initiated World War II which killed between 50 and 60 million people and is responsible for the holocaust which murdered 6 million Jews, as well as homosexuals, Gypsies, the elderly, mentally ill, and... Read more
The Catholic bishops voted to move ahead with a document that could lead to excommunicating pro choice Catholic politicians, including President Biden. As a matter of principle, I have no objection to withholding communion from pro abortion politicians, assuming that it is done based on incontrovertible evidence that this is in fact where they stand, and that it is prefaced with a long period of private and compassionate discussion and attempts to deal with their viewpoint in better ways. This... Read more
Simon was a sorcerer, a rather famous and successful sorcerer. Evidently, Simon was also at heart an honest man. When he encountered St Philip, preaching the Gospel and doing great works in Jesus’ name, Simon didn’t, as the idol maker for the goddess Diana later did to St Paul, rile up a crowd and try to get Philip killed. What Simon did instead, was convert. But Simon’s conversion was much like yours and mine. It was incomplete and lacking in... Read more
Clergy sex abuse scandals are not limited to Catholic priests, bishops and cardinals. The Southern Baptists have been grappling — and failing to deal with — their own clergy sex abuse. I can attest from my time in several denominations through the years that the problem is a real and present danger in all of them. It would be simple to take the militant atheist view and claim that religion itself, or maybe just Christianity, is the cause of the... Read more
Pope Francis is worried that so many young people are avoiding marriage, and rightfully so. There are many reasons for this, quite a number of them having to do with economics, while other reasons are more cultural and social. Pope Francis’ prayer intention for June is directed specifically at this reluctance of young people to choose the home/life/community building commitment of Holy Matrimony. Is it true, what some people say—that young people don’t want to get married, especially during these... Read more
“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Jesus Christ Jesus said quite a lot about politics, but religious leaders tend to ignore all of it. I think they ignore it is because it doesn’t fit with the fact that, however much religious leaders may try to deify themselves, they are just fallen human beings, living in a fallen world. As such, they are prey to all the same desires, ambitions and... Read more
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