There is an increasingly silly notion going around that Jesus never really existed, and if he did the stories about him in the New Testament are sort of like Johnny Appleseed legends and have as much to do with the historical Jesus as the Disney film has to do with a real life Native American called Pocahontas. At Christmas especially the stories get all mixed up in people’s minds with all the other charming tales we tell the children. Shepherds... Read more

The charming story of Christmas night is that the shepherds were a bunch of country bumpkins who were dozing around the fire on the hillside when some angels appeared in the sky and sang “Glory Hallelujah” and the farmers rubbed their chins and said, “Ye know Festus, I speck we oughter go down there to the village and see if we can find this here pretty baby.” Or some such. There was more to it than that. Much more. The... Read more

When will the silly nonsense stop? Once again this year we will hear from internet atheists about how “There is no evidence that Jesus ever existed. His “birthday” was simply the fact that the early Christians took over the Roman mid winter feast of Saturnalia and the birth of Sol Invictus -the unconquered Sun.” First let’s use some common sense. The early Christians were Jews. They couldn’t stand the pagan Gentiles. The first Christians would rather die than offer even... Read more

I’ve always been amazed at the power of the blog. You can write an article and post it instantly for worldwide publication. Podcasting has become easier and easier and over at my main blog I have now started several different podcast series. You can listen to a twenty three part series on church history called Triumphs and Tragedies or Stories of the Unexpected –true stories of the marvelous, miraculous and weird. Some of the series are for Donor Subscribers to my blog. Others, as... Read more

Have scientists proven the story of Noah’s Ark? A most interesting article popped up in the news feed this morning. The headline asks whether some great cataclysm happened before Adam and Eve. The story goes like this: In one of the most provocative and misunderstood studies of the year, scientists in the U.S. and Switzerland have made an astonishing discovery: All humans alive today are the offspring of a common father and mother – an Adam and Eve – who walked... Read more

I couldn’t help noticing the irony that the terrible shooting over the weekend took place in a synagogue named “Tree of Life” My blog post today over at my main blog explores the heart of darkness in yet another senseless killing in America. So in a calm weekend in suburbia another gunman loads his weapon and starts the killing. The fact that our country is faced weekly with outbreaks of absurd and horrible murders indicates a serious sickness in the... Read more

What if there were a terrible scandal in the church and the leading cardinal archbishop of the nation decided to accept the blame and wrote this resignation letter? Go here to read it   Read more

Pope Francis’ ruling that the death penalty is inadmissible in all circumstances has raised the temperature on this debate in the Catholic Church. I’ve written on the subject over at my main blog here and on the hierarchy of truth in the Catholic Church here. My own views? I think it is a good decision from a moral point of view, but am concerned about the philosophical foundations of the decision, and have explained this in my two blog posts.... Read more

What is to be made of the increasing moral confusion and seeming collusion of the Catholic bishops in the new wave of sexual scandals? Ed Condon at Catholic News Agency outlines the problem here. He points out that the case of Cardinal McCarrick is just one of a number of scandals on the level of bishops, archbishops and cardinals. Commenting on the Pineda resignation and the McCarrick scandal he goes on to say, Many had hoped that Church was seeing... Read more

The Washington Post reports here about a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary that is weeping perfumed olive oil. The image is a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe–itself a miraculous image that is venerated in Mexico. As usual, Catholics take a common sense view of such phenomena. We are encouraged to look for all natural explanations first, but not to rule out the supernatural. We are to be skeptical but not cynical–believing but not gullible. When these things happen... Read more