Do Priests Rob Christ of His High Priesthood? Part 2 of a Series on Calvin’s Institutes IV.18

Last updated on: March 4, 2018 at 1:02 pm By Scott Eric Alt

"Satan,” John Calvin says in the Institutes, “has attempted to adulterate and envelop the sacred Supper of Christ as with thick darkness.” Those are high words. How has Satan done this? you may ask. Oh, it was “with most pestilential error,” Calvin tells us. For lo! “he blinded almost the whole world into the belief that the Mass was a sacrifice and oblation for obtaining the remission of sins.” Calvin has no patience for anyone who holds to any such idea as that. Read more

Does the Mass “Overthrow the Cross of Christ”? Part 1 of a Series on Calvin’s Institutes IV.18

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 1:25 am By Scott Eric Alt

The reason I write about the loopy Mr. Kevin Failoni is because he has a long history of making a blithering spectacle of himself across the apologetics blogosphere, from Out of His Mind to Jolly Green Baggins, Called to Communion to Creed Code Cult to Nick’s Catholic Blog. Should he spread his propaganda unanswered? Let him come here and defend his rantings, if he can. He should show they can hold up under cross-examination. The combox is open. But I digress. Read more

Which Came First? The Bible or the Church?

Last updated on: March 30, 2018 at 11:01 pm By Scott Eric Alt

Half the battle, in any discussion with any anti-Catholic is coming to an agreement on basic facts. If you cannot agree about the things that are true, it’s futile going further. Now, I would have thought that the answer to the question in my title was self-evident and long-since settled. But apparently not; we're still trying to take baby steps here. And a combox discussion with the loopy Mr. Kevin Failoni reveals why such simple points must be rehearsed. Read more

First, the Really Bad Argument Against Infallibility

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 1:29 am By Scott Eric Alt

The real flaw in the loopy Mr. Kevin Failoni’s thinking is the idea that infallibility somehow would mean that the pope does not sin. Now, if this were just the apostrophe-free ignorance of someone who trolls around blogs, it would hardly be worth bothering with. I could be watching the game, or reading a good book. But Mr. Failoni does not just make this stuff up; he actually steals it from people like Dr. John MacArthur, who should know better but doesn't. Read more

Anti-Catholic Agitator Ian Paisley Dies

Last updated on: April 7, 2018 at 12:36 am By Scott Eric Alt

Dr. Paisley "said he considered all Catholics to be members of the Irish Republican Army, which he branded as a collective of terrorists." He said that Catholics "breed like rabbits and multiply like vermin." He called Pope St. John Paul II "Antichrist." He said, "I renounce you." That is bad. And yet he softened later in life toward the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland. Now he is dead, and knows the full truth, and it must be a real shock to him. Read more

That Life Exists and Identity: Thoughts on Robin Williams & Depression

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 1:31 am By Scott Eric Alt

When "Dead Poets Society" came out, I was in college and struggling as a political science major. I saw it at a time when an easy summer job left me with a lot of time to read; and what I was reading, that summer, was Dickens, Hugo, Hardy, Cervantes. Robin Williams cast a spell on me in his role as an inspiring English teacher who taught his students to follow their passion, to always look at things in another way, and that “words and ideas can change the world.” Read more

Once More, Regarding the Monophysites & the Crusades

Last updated on: April 7, 2018 at 12:38 am By Scott Eric Alt

It may chance that Mr. Bugay knew he had blogged his way into a spot by claming that the Catholic Church is responsible for ISIS. For lo, in answer to a rather mild put-up-or-shut-up challenge in his combox, he has posted a follow-up. In it he tries, with his usual mad pluck and dash, to co-opt a few historians in support of his dumb and quixotic ravings. But he must leap on a trampoline to get from what they say to what he wants us to believe. Read more

Polemical Rogue John Bugay Blames Catholic Church for ISIS

Last updated on: April 7, 2018 at 12:40 am By Scott Eric Alt

Dear reader, the man in Pittsburgh has officially lost it. If there were doubt before, there can be no longer. Now, I don’t make a habit of taking offense at much, particularly not the feverish ramblings of a hate-filled, bigoted, smarmy anti-Catholic like John Bugay. More often than not, the poor man deserves laughter, eyerolls, and pity. But this crosses a line that ought not be crossed, and Mr. Bugay should be ashamed of himself. Because even he should know better. Read more

The New Evangelization, Sans Puns: Scott Hahn’s “Mission Manual”

Last updated on: March 14, 2017 at 12:39 am By Scott Eric Alt

The title of Dr. Hahn's new book might make one think that it is all about whipping pick-and-choose Catholics into shape. Certainly Dr. Hahn includes this very harrowing figure: "Statistics tell us that 85 percent of the young people who are confirmed will leave the Church within the next fifteen years. Most of them will leave the Church in college, where 70 percent of the students who enter practicing their faith leave not practicing the faith." Imagine that. Read more