An Evangelical friend of mine we’ll call Tom, was engaging me in debate some time ago, and whenever he raised an argument he thought particularly convincing he would ask me to explain and add, “But maybe it’s just a mystery.” So, for example, he’d say, “Tell me Dwight, how do you explain the use of indulgences? Can a Catholic priest really take away a certain number of years from purgatory for a dead person, or is it just a mystery?”... Read more

Brothers and sisters:You have approached Mount Zionand the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,and countless angels in festal gathering,and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,and God the judge of all,and the spirits of the just made perfect,and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel. Hebrews 12 Read more

Thanks to the Roving Medievalist for a link to an interesting article from Touchstone Magazine asking why Evangelicals don’t produce good literature. The author, who is an Evangelical, asks good questions and appreciates Flannery O’Connor’s insights on faith and art. He also laments the lack of good art or even a theological theory of art amongst Evangelicals. I am sure there are Evangelical exceptions my theory, and I am open to being convinced otherwise, but I don’t know any great... Read more

The Daily Telegraph reports Pilgrims to Lourdes have had their holy water confiscated by airport officials who feared that the bottles shaped like the Virgin Mary might contain terrorist bombs. What I liked most about this story is that the Vatican has now got its own airline. This seems far more of a news story than the holy water scare. What next? Nuns for stewardesses? St Joseph of Cupertino pray for us. Read more

A comment on my last post questions my words, “Indeed, I wonder if it is really up to God as well. Yes, being the all powerful one, and the Almighty judge, he is the one who consigns souls to hell, but it is also true that we choose Hell.‘ The reader is concerned that I’ve taken things out of God’s hands too much, and am too close to a God who is uninvolved in our world. He asks me to... Read more

My post on universalism was pretty black and white because in many ways the best sermon to preach about hell has only two words, “Fear Hell.”However, the whole question is more subtle and interesting than that. I said I wanted there to be a hell for the brutes who abduct, torture and rape children, then dump them in a ditch and are never sorry. A commenter rightly observed that they too might be forgiven, for God’s forgiveness is unlimited. He... Read more

Universalism is the sentimental false doctrine that everybody will be saved. It is widespread not only among the liberal Protestants, but amongst many Catholics. I’ve never understood how anyone with half a brain can subscribe to such a goofy creed. Doesn’t ordinary human decency demand hell for the depraved beast who stalks little girls, abducts them and chucks their bodies in a ditch when he’s done and never has any remorse? Forgive me if I retain the possibility of hell... Read more

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see!” Read more

When I was studying script writing I came across a quote from a film script writer that could well apply to worship. He said, “I want to move the audience so much that they leave the cinema thinking.” He understood that emotions are what motivate most of us most of the time. In fact the words ’emotion’ and ‘motion’ and ‘motivate’ and ‘move’ are all from the same root. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are motivated... Read more

The gospel reading for the Queenship of Mary is the story of the Annunciation, and what struck me at Mass today was the fact that the royal status of Mary was established on earth historically before it was established in heaven. First of all it was established because Mary was the wife of Joseph, who, Matthew’s geneology tells us was descended from King David. Secondly it was established through the message of the angel. Mary’s son will receive the throne... Read more