When I was an Anglican priest I used to walk from my apartment over to church for evening prayer every day. On the way I would walk past the house of a Jehovah’s Witness. This particular JW was the sort of man who always had his hair combed, the car washed and probably went to be wearing a necktie. Well he began to watch my daily walk and took to standing by his garden fence to try to engage me... Read more

I have been busy today about parish business, but I wanted to write a bit more about this story I contributed to CRUX. The story recounts how Rudolf Hoss, the commandant of Auschwitz and the one who actually devised and put into action the gas chambers and crematoria had been brought up as a strict Catholic. Then before his execution he issued this confession and expression of remorse: My conscience compels me to make the following declaration. In the solitude... Read more

Did you know that Rudolf Hoss– the Nazi commandant of Auschwitz returned to his Catholic faith at the end? Read the story here. Read more

Some time ago I was speaking to someone about religion and happened to mention the possibility of going to hell. “Oh, I don’t believe in hell!” said this person. The implication was that because she didn’t believe in hell there was no such place. I’ve had the same thing with Protestant Christians who say quite firmly, “I don’t believe in Purgatory!” Has anyone else scratched their head and stroked their beard over this peculiarity? It would seem that these people... Read more

Today is the Memorial of St John Vianney, the patron of parish priests, and it is a good time to be reminded of the parish priest’s priorities. If he is to be an alter Christus then he will try to do what Jesus did, and Jesus’ ministry consisted of four clear priorities. He taught the truth. He battled Satan. He healed the sick. He forgave sins. St John Vianney did all these things, and that is pretty much ALL that he did.... Read more

From emails and conversations I have had, I am aware that there are a good number of conservative Catholics who are confused, bewildered and distressed by the current state of affairs in our country and in our church. They see the disastrous presidential candidates our system has produced and they wonder what on earth is going on. They see the violence in the streets, the threat of jihadist terrorists, the looming financial crisis and the church in which they felt... Read more

  With the announcement today that Pope Francis has set up a commission to explore the possibility of women deacons, here are some thoughts on the matter. Throughout his pontificate the Pope has called for women to be granted more prominent roles in the church and for the Catholic church to continue to develop a positive “theology of women.” It emerges that Phyllis Zagano is one of the members of the commission. Unfortunately, Professor Zagano is not an objective participant. for... Read more

After writing an opinion piece about Catholics voting for Hillary Clinton, someone asked me to write a similar article about Donald Trump. Can a Catholic vote for Donald Trump? Let’s think it through. What I find curious about supporters of Donald Trump is that they are eager to tell everyone Hillary’s terrible past. We are told how she was incompetent, corrupt, dishonest and unreliable. We’re told of her husband’s infidelities and her cover up, her bullying, threats and general unpleasantness.... Read more