Trying to stop the meltdown of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury has produced an agreement that promises peace in our time… UPDATE: The Africans aren’t happy. Halting homosexual ordinations isn’t enough. They want the Episcopalians to repent. Whaat? Don’t the Africans understand? These are Episcopalians. ‘Repentance’ isn’t a word they like to use. Perhaps, “We accept that our actions have been misunderstood by some of our brothers and sisters, and we are sorry that they are upset…” There.... Read more

With Jeffrey on vacation, somebody has to post the pretty pictures… Read more

This comment on my post ‘signs and wonders’ is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever read about the renewal movement. Don’t get me wrong. I’m been helped by the renewal movement in my own life, and do not wish to condemn it lock stock and barrel, but the comment certainly makes you think twice. Here’s what Sealion wrote:As a lifelong Catholic I can see how the charismatic movement meets a need in the Church (although it does not... Read more

The Curt Jester records a fascinating exchange between the sad alcoholic Christopher Hitchens and the saintly and heroic convert from Anglicanism Fr George Rutler: Read more

An interesting discussion has been developing in the combox of my most recent post. One commentor said he left the Catholic Church because it was legalistic and he became a non-Catholic charismatic because that’s where the miracles are happening. That’s funny. I left the Protestant church and became a Catholic for the same reason: Protestant fundamentalism was legalistic, and I went to Medjugorge, saw the sun spin, heard about the visions and then learned more about miracles in the Catholic... Read more

The crisis in the Anglican communion is coming to a head. Mgr Graham Leonard, (the former Anglican Bishop of London) writing in The Path to Rome has said, “There is a realignment occurring between those one the one hand who believe the Christian gospel is revealed by God, is to be heard and received and that its purpose is to enable men and women to obey God in love, and through them for creation itself to be redeemed. On the... Read more

A skein of Canadian geese flew in,circled around and settled on the lake.They were a somber band, dressed all in blackwith patches of white at their throat. Like foreignagents, or soldiers of an élite corps;they were leaders of the resistance,bound by a solemn oath of obedience,and a secret code of honor learned at war. After grazing they gathered to confer.I watched them clear for take off, then they flewoff on their secret mission—God knows where.They flew by strict formation. How... Read more

On the drive to Myrtle Beach and back, then up to the mountains, I listened to talking book of Dean Koontz’ The Taking.Seriously cool stuff. The heroine wakes up one morning to find nature has gone awry. The wild animals are scared. Strange torrential rain is falling and terror lurks in the night. As the story develops there are terrifying creatures, extra terrestrials that haunt the world, taking over the planet and removing millions of people. Are they planning to... Read more

It seems some Protestant churches are offering confession to their faithful. Here’s the report from London’s Daily Telegraph. Before I became a Catholic I can remember a good Protestant lady once saying to me, “Well, you know those Catholics just go and confess their sins, and then turn around and do the same thing again and again.” I paused for a moment and said, “But isn’t that what you do too?” I hope more of our separated brethren do start... Read more

Here is a poem written on retreat We wrestle with the mystery of words,hammering from the vast inchoateuniverse, the pointed spears and sharp swordswith which we marshal the inarticulatechaos of the soul. With precisionwe discuss, dissect and delineate;then define and decide. Each decisionis set in stone—not open to debate. But beneath the dogma something rebels.We sense lost treasure buried in a field,or secret meanings glimmering like jewelsin the dark caverns of the soul. They yieldtheir bright reward only to those... Read more