There are plenty of people out there who want to dismiss the Catholic faith because of bad Catholics. “How can you follow a faith” they wail, “which has suppressed women, tortured and raped little boys and killed millions of people?” Every Catholic has to admit that there are bad Catholics. Really bad Catholics. Vile, evil, wicked and depraved people who are Catholics. However, since when do we judge any group or nation or religion only  by their worst examples and... Read more

Yesterday there was an atheist rally in Washington DC. that attracted about 10,000 people. (compare this to the March for Life with probably 30 times that number) I thought it might make an interesting exercise to turn the atheist’s guns back on themselves. Using the kind of rhetoric the atheists and mainstream media use against the Catholic faith, here’s how it would go: Nearly a thousand atheists gathered in the Mall in Washington yesterday for a rally. The dismal weather... Read more

Living in the Bible Belt has its moments. There’s a gritty reality to the religion in the South, and fairly often you feel like  you really are living in a Flannery O’Connor story. One of the crunchy parts of living here are the “separated brethren” who seriously ask, “Are Catholics Christian?” It’s a difficult question to answer, not because there is no answer, but because the answer is on the one hand so obvious, yet if the question is being... Read more

Someone commented on my blog saying that organized religion was for weak, shallow, frightened people because we are all spiritual beings all the time and we shouldn’t limit our higher awareness with petty rules and regulations. Such people are not fully evolved, and how could be be so sad and stupid? Apart from being just about the most arrogant and disdainful comment I’ve ever received, there are some serious problems with this way of thought, which is another version of... Read more

One of the favorite bats the anti-Catholics like to hit us with is the idea that Catholicism, because it is a dogmatic religion–must therefore stifle free thought and free speech. “How nice for you” the condescending Anglican will say to the convert, “Now you’re a Catholic you won’t have to think anymore.” Or, “It must be nice to be a Catholic and have such ‘certainty.'” This is said with a snuffling, cynical laugh because by ‘certainty’ they mean that you... Read more

When dogmatic belief dies all that is left is subjectivism, and when subjective belief (which is never more than mere opinion) dies all that is left is sentimentalism. Our society now is awash in sentimentalism. Most every argument is now a sentimental (or utilitarian) argument. Here is an example: Slaughterhouses kill animals so we can eat them. Vegetarians feel bad about this. Not only do they want to not eat meat themselves, but they don’t want us to eat meat... Read more

I’ve just finished re-reading Walker Percy’s The Second Coming. Whew! what a knockout last page! It’s the story of Will Barrett–an emotionally wounded, rich, late middle aged Wall Street lawyer who has retired to North Carolina. He has a mental breakdown after the death of his wife and is rescued by Allison, a loopy gal who escaped from the mental asylum herself. Beneath the story is the struggle for faith and meaning, a contemplation on the madness of miserable Americans... Read more

In Lent I repent. I say, “I’m a sinner.” I admit I am wrong, not right. I accept that I am flawed, that I am ignorant and arrogant and proud and willful and egotistical and I could go on and on. What is the purpose of this self denial and degradation? One of the practical purposes of penitence is that I am being realistic. My own high self image is very likely to be at very least distorted and probably... Read more