I hope you found the recent cathedral quiz amusing. The mixture was supposed to show that the brutalist school of architecture produces church buildings that are not dis-similar to parking garages, concrete bunkers and shopping malls. The problem with many modern churches is a problem with the underlying philosophy of architecture, and underlying that is a problem with the philosophy of life, and underlying that is a problem with theology, remember Chesterton’s quip that ‘every argument is a theological argument’... Read more

Mikael is a fellow from my RCIA class at St Mary’s. He, along with 22 others, was received into the Church on Easter Eve. Mikael is a big burly guy with shaved head and goatee. He’s a truck driver, veteran of the first Gulf War, and a former Baptist. He also makes the most amazing pipes (for smoking not for plumbing) for a hobby. Mikael sent me his testimony, and doesn’t mind if I share it with you: Any baptist... Read more

The angel and the girl are met,Earth was the only meeting place,For the embodied never yetTravelled beyond the shore of space.The eternal spirits in freedom go. See, they have come together, see,While the destroying minutes flow,Each reflects the other’s faceTill heaven in hers and earth in hisShine steady there.He’s come to herFrom far beyond the farthest star,Feathered through time. Immediacyof strangest strangeness is the blissThat from their limbs all movement takes.Yet the increasing rapture bringsSo great a wonder that it... Read more

I love the image of Divine Mercy, but I wonder if our own society isn’t in need of the counterbalance: i.e. Divine Justice. Doesn’t American Christianity, (and that includes American Catholicism) already reassure everyone of the Divine Mercy–even to the exclusion of Divine Justice? What I’m talking about is the tendency towards universalism–that belief that everyone will one day get to heaven. The problem with universalism is that it is simply too good to be true. To be more precise,... Read more

A post here got me thinking about the ‘progressives’ and ‘conservatives’ in the Catholic Church. Thulcandra opines that the progressives are all about the ‘horizontal’ aspect of the church. For them it’s all about people. Remember the 1970s ‘up up with people!’ campaign? That’s them. For them the church is about us. Its about hugs. Its about peace and justice and making the world a better place. For the conservatives the Church is about the worship of God. It’s about... Read more

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Here are some spoof excerpts from a recent politically correct Stations of the Cross. Actually, one of the paragraphs below is the real thing. A prize for the readers who can spot the authentic eco station. In the station ‘Veronica Meets Jesus on the Way to the Cross’ Isobel Florsheim portrayed Veronica as a native Amazonian woman emerging from a hardwood tree. Veronica’s face is seen within one part of the tree trunk and it then merges into the image... Read more

Fiery fundamentalist anti-Catholic preacher Ian Paisley has softened in recent years. He said some time ago that he ‘loves Catholics.’ He has compromised to share power with his former enemies in Northern Ireland and here he says that he preaches about St Patrick every year and thinks St Patrick’s Day would be a good public holiday for all of Ireland. Paisley was good friends with the late Bob Jones Jr. and used to preach at BJU every year when I... Read more

What do I miss about England? Being in London for the day and taking a few minutes to pop into the National Gallery to see this picture. Read more

Don’t you love learning about the saints? All of them are so different, so unexpected, so surprising. Here’s a slave, who goes to Mass every morning, becomes a hairdresser in New York City, counsels rich ladies about their spiritual lives as he does their hair, ends up being granted his freedom, makes a lot of money and uses it to help the poor. A devout Catholic, he never misses the opportunity to share his faith with others, and witnesses with... Read more