This time it is the Scottish Episcopalians. As this article relates details about the Epiphany service at St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow. The congregation at St Mary’s cathedral heard the Muslim version of the Virgin Mary’s conception of Jesus, from the Koran’s Sura 19, sung by Madinah Javed. The passage explains how Mary gave birth after an angel told her God would give her a child. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, and that He was a precursor to Mohammed... Read more

Love, by its very nature, is outgoing and in search of another. We are built to love and so God’s command to love him and to love our neighbor is a command that would be similar to saying to a car, “You must provide transportation.” That’s what a car is designed for. The command is superfluous. Likewise, human beings were created to love and be loved. First we are to love God. Second we are to love another person. The... Read more

Edward Pentin writes here about the possibility that “in special cases” Protestants might be admitted to receive the Body and Blood of Christ at a Catholic Eucharist. The debate specifically over intercommunion with Christian denominations follows recent remarks by Cardinal Walter Kasper who, in a Dec. 10 interview with Avvenire, said he hopes Pope Francis’ next declaration will open the way for intercommunion with other denominations “in special cases.” There are several things which are troubling about this news. The first is the... Read more

I am re-reading Margaret Barker’s  Temple Theology: an Introduction  and am quite delighted by the way the new temple of Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenville echoes the symbolic furnishings of the Old Testament temple. Barker believes the furnishings of the temple represented the six days of Creation. So the Holy of Holies stood for the presence of the Most Holy Uncreated One. It also stood therefore, for the first day of Creation in which was the beginning. Day... Read more

          Sometimes my mind makes big jumps, and I think this might be one of the clues to why and how I write. My mind makes connections that surprise and usually delight me and sometimes disturb me and sometimes all three. A case in point was my tooling along in the car the other day listening to some Christmas carols from Kings College Cambridge. I should say that the carol was on lodged on my iPhone... Read more

Some atheists, Muslims and Christian fundamentalists like to grumble and gibe that the celebration of Christmas and Easter are “pagan.” They are right and they are wrong. They are right inasmuch as the wellsprings of our Western culture are deep in the pre-Christian cultures of Europe. They are wrong because the early Christians, like the Hebrews before them, saw their religion as a contrast and a corrective to the prevailing pagan culture. A few years ago I wrote this article... Read more

The Holy Father’s favorite scold is against Catholics who are “rigid”. In this he is echoing Jesus and the gospels. Jesus’ big problems were the Scribes and Pharisees. Legalists without mercy, they famously sweated the small stuff–always taking the splinter out of someone else’s eye while ignoring the plank in their own. They burdened people with little laws, great guilt and notorious negativity. In the end they are the ones who plotted to kill Jesus. Definitely bad news. The Pope’s... Read more

I came down the steps this morning and caught the dog jumping down from the sofa. Anna knows she is not allowed on the sofa. She was guilty and she looked it. She glanced over her shoulder at me and went scooting off to her bed. She was afraid of being punished. She knew she had done wrong and felt ashamed. It made me think about me and you and sin. I’ll talk about me so you do you don’t think... Read more

Catholics are expected to go to confession at least once a year. Maybe a good New  Years resolution we should resolve to do at least that, but also to try to attend more frequently. Here are – things to remember about making a good confession. Examine Your Conscience – The first thing to remember about confession is that you should make a good examination of conscience. The best way to do this is to ask yourself some questions, and the... Read more

Invariably the Memorial of Holy Innocents gets swamped with post-Christmas celebrations. We’ve got a house to clean up, kids to amuse, relatives to visit, gifts to return AND most of us are supposed to get back to work. Priests usually take a few days off. At our parish the office is closed this week and Father is maintaining a skeleton service of the sacraments. Its a shame because this Memorial of the Holy Innocents is more important than ever. We remember... Read more