I was brought up in an Evangelical, fundamentalist home. Those are my roots, and my coming into full communion with the Catholic Church is a fulfillment,  not a negation of my devout, Bible based heritage. Therefore, what do I look for in a new pope? What are the foundational principles of my Christian perception which affect how I view the papacy? I don’t offer these thoughts because they are in any way authoritative, but because they reveal one Catholic’s unique... Read more

A reader asked for the sources for a couple of my statements in a post recently about celibacy and sex abuse. Namely the assertion that most abuse is perpetrated by married men not single men–therefore marriage for Catholic priests will not solve the sex abuse problem. The reader also questioned my assertion that most of the cases of sex abuse by priests were carried out by homosexuals, and that marriage was unlikely to solve their problem also. I should therefore... Read more

What has contraception to do with celibacy? The quick witted might observe that celibacy is the most effective contraception. It’s also a sure fire way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. However, that’s not the point of the headline. Instead I’ve been thinking about the way artificial contraception has radically changed the whole  idea not only of sex, but of celibacy, and especially the celibate priesthood. Artificial contraception has changed celibacy because it has separated sexual activity from procreation, and once... Read more

I can speak from experience. I was a celibate Anglican priest for seven years. Then I got married. I was a married Anglican priest for three years. Then we joined the Catholic church. I was in the married state as a layman for ten years. Now I am a married Catholic priest and have been for six years. This week the question of mandatory celibacy for Catholic priests is in the news again. The question is a real one–especially in... Read more

For a Lenten penance this morning I read some mainstream articles about the Catholic Church. It’s amazing how, at this historic time, the Church is under full blown attack. Cardinal O’Brien resigns after allegations of “inappropriate behavior” by fellow priests, a “top-secret” dossier in the Vatican (which we all know must be full of terrible scandals!!!) will only be seen by Pope Benedict and his successor! Cardinal Mahony should stay home and not take part in the conclave! There aren’t... Read more

Today’s headline in the Daily Telegraph informs us that Keith Cardinal O’Brien of Scotland has resigned because of allegations by four men of “inappropriate behavior” from as far back as 1980. The problem with these allegations is that they are so vague, and yet this new term of universal damnation: “inappropriate behavior” seems to stick. “Inappropriate behavior”?? What on earth does it mean? Who defines what “inappropriate behavior” is? The vagueness of the term combined with it’s seeming harmlessness is particularly... Read more

As a convert you come across some unusual practices within the Catholic faith (said he, making the understatement of the year) One of them for me was to find that there was a feast day for a chair. What was I–poor Bob Jones graduate that I was–to make of such an odd celebration. There it was in the ordo as large as life–the Feast of the Chair of Peter. What was a feast for a chair and what was the... Read more

Go here for a longish article on the early papacy. Were the first popes “monarchs”? If so in what way? Did the papacy only start with Emperor Constantine? Was Leo the Great the first “real pope”. Read this article to correct Protestant misunderstandings and attacks on the papacy on today’s Feast of the Chair of Peter. Read more

I like a good conspiracy theory as well as the next guy. One of my favorites is the story of the Boy of  Bisley which purports that Queen Elizabeth I of England was really a man. The story is that the princess died in childhood and a red haired boy was substituted to avoid the King’s wrath. Anyway, what’s intriguing about conspiracies is that there is always just enough shred of interesting fact combined with partial evidence, rumor and half truths... Read more