After we experience the touch of Jesus, we have a responsibility to become an effective witness of His goodness to those around us who are desperate for some sign of hope. I recently had a chat with a friend who was going through a tough time and was on the verge of what he said […]
I grew up in a Catholic family and attended Catholic school through high school. One of the many teachings involved in this upbringing was the aphorism my Mom frequently cited – “Never judge another until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins.” I took this to mean that we should not sit in judgment of […]
Basing itself on the words of Jesus Christ (among other things), the Catholic Church teaches that a valid sacramental marriage cannot be dissolved, but not all Christians agree. Some believe that divorce and remarriage is permissible in certain cases, and they argue that Jesus’ words in the Gospels back them up. Specifically, they point to […]
INTRODUCTION Scientism, the belief that science can explain everything about the world and ourselves, is a religion, although not formally expressed as such. When I call it a religion, I mean that it is founded on faith, a faith that its proponents say is not faith, but rationality, but which is in fact a faith […]
In last month’s column I set the stage for a series of columns analyzing and explaining the constitution of human nature from a Catholic philosophical perspective. This present column will be the first of the series. My goal in this particular column is to establish a fundamental distinction in human nature between the physical and […]
There is no way of escaping it in our culture’s 24-hour news cycle. There’s no way to escape witnessing the evils that are carried out in this world when we’re all glued to our smart devices, TVs, and phones in our daily lives. One of the latest examples of such evil came from yet another […]
How many Catholics really grasp the fact that Christians are partakers of divine nature? How many of us actually participate daily in God’s divine nature? In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we learn that the Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature” (CCC 460). The CCC quotes from the second letter […]
One day, a Protestant friend and I were discussing something pertaining to Christianity when my friend made a comment akin to “Jesus said it, and I believe it.” I replied that, in that case, I was glad he had come around to the belief that unless Christ’s followers ate His body and drank His blood, they […]
So there you are being confronted by a Protestant, who asks you some simple bible questions about your personal salvation and the Catholic Church getting in the way of it. With what do you answer back? There is a way to turn the tables on these well-meaning Christians and to put them on the defensive […]
You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. (John 15:14-15) With these words, Jesus makes clear to the apostles […]
There are many situations in our lives where our faith is tested. Confusion and discord within the Church continue today as they have for centuries. Injustice and a lack of charity are seen even among those who claim to be Christian. Those who place their confidence in Christ and his Church are ridiculed, mocked and […]
Imagine this scenario. You hear the doorbell ring, you open the door, and you see two well-dressed men standing on your porch with smiles on their faces. They ask you a seemingly harmless question about God, and then they ask you what religion you practice. You tell them that you are Catholic, so they ask […]
Just over five hundred years ago, in 1509, Henry VIII became King of England and it was because of him that Protestantism was introduced into England. In that same year, John Colet, son of the Lord Mayor of London introduced stoicism into the St Paul’s school that he founded, which became a paradigm for the […]
In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells His disciples that He did not come to bring peace but, rather, the sword (Mt. 10:34). He tells the apostles that His message will set family members against themselves and that they will become each other’s enemies. Immediately after this Jesus continues by saying that those who love father or […]
“There were many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him.” (Matt. 27:55) We all know the joy of reading a great book for a second or third time. Perhaps when we first read it, we were young and didn’t pick up on some of the nuances […]
Pope Francis has my admiration because I hear the voice of love speaking through him. He always stresses God’s infinite mercy. People Accuse Pope Francis Recently, a ninety-three-year-old atheist accused him of denying the existence of hell. This man who has nothing but contempt for Christianity delighted in causing an uproar. The Pope denied his […]
Hate has become very topical—“hate speech,” “hate crimes,” being “hateful.” Yet in the ’60s, when “Love” was widely proposed as the solution—the “Summer of Love,” “all you need is love,” “unconditional love,”—there was not much talk about “Hate” being the problem. Now, when there is so much talk about “Hate” being the problem, there is […]
In an essay in the National Catholic Register, Angelo Stagnaro, in explaining probability, hit the nail on the head. In doing so, he nailed shut the coffin of the Fine Tuning argument for the existence of God, thereby ending it. He demonstrated that valid values of probability are based on a purely logical focus, not […]
My exploration of the “faith alone” controversy began in a discussion with a non-Catholic coworker. One morning, this friend asked me to go to his church the following Sunday, since his church was “far easier” than what he perceived the Catholic Church to be or require. He indicated that all that was required to get to […]
The #MeToo movement has shaken the foundations of some of the culture’s most entrenched havens of sexual harassment, abuse and predation. The list of politicians, actors and other notable personalities seems to grow with each passing week. The movement also raises the deeper issue of human dignity, particularly as it relates to the objectification of […]
The intellectual mood of our time could be best described as self-congratulatory. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was taken as fact that liberal democracies would sweep the globe. There was even a legitimate school of thought which believed we were witnessing “the end of history as such”. No more history, just one long […]
Some revolutionaries, who want the Church to attempt to confer the Sacrament of Holy Orders on women, point to this verse from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deaconess of the church which is at Cenchrea.” (Rom. 16:1) The Greek word they translate as “deaconess” is diakonos, which […]
Cormac McCarthy’s The Sunset Limited, a novel in dramatic form, revolves around a conversation between two men, Black and White, about the existence of God. White is a man in despair whom Black has just prevented from killing himself by jumping in front of an oncoming train. Black takes White home so that he […]
We Catholics are familiar with Lent as a time of fasting and penance. We are told every year that during this time we ought to abstain from a habit that is not beneficial for us and to take up a more fruitful spiritual practice. We are also obliged to abstain from meat and to fast. […]
The Importance of a Sacramental Outlook
No one recognizes the power of a symbol like the Catholic Church. Catholic theology itself is imbued with the law that the physical order is a reflection of the spiritual order. It is a theology that is deeply tied to the Philosophy of the Human Person which understands man as a composite of body and […]
A Tale of Two Cooks and Two Meals
We understand the adage “too many cooks spoil the broth” to mean that splitting a task in too many directions can be counterproductive. Certainly, having five people with equal authority directing a play or project is a prescription for trouble. Invariably, there will be disagreements and power plays which will sabotage the group’s efforts to […]
Moral Relativism vs. Reasonable Judgement
I grew up in a Catholic family and attended Catholic school through high school. One of the many teachings involved in this upbringing was the aphorism my Mom frequently cited – “Never judge another until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins.” I took this to mean that we should not sit in judgment of […]
A Call to Compassion in the Catholic Online Community
Online Catholics I’ve recently been discouraged by a number of responses to Catholics asking advice on the internet. Usually, a sincere Catholic posts a question on a group page, or on a column, asking for some support or guidance on a matter related to faith. These people are hoping for encouragement, support, and guidance on […]
Pope Francis Is A Canary in the Coal Mine
Pope Francis is like a canary in the coal mine, identifying toxic trends in our society, then, offering hope as he suggests Christian solutions to current issues. The expression, a canary in the coal mine, is a saying which refers to caged canaries miners would bring with them into mine tunnels. These birds were used […]
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