I was asked recently what I thought was the most difficult thing about priestly life. I stumbled looking for an answer, but on reflection I have to say the most difficult thing is knowing what wonderful things God can do for people and knowing how their lives could be transformed, how they could receive healing, forgiveness [...]
I know Catholics are supposed to be obsessed with sex, but this post is not about that. It's about sects or sectarianism. A sect is a breakaway group--a split from the universal church, and put simply, it's a sin. The Church does not blame those who are born into a sect because they do not know [...]
Clericalism is one of the bugbears in the Catholic Church. Especially since the second Vatican Council and under Pope Francis we are supposed to be dumping clericalism for consultation. It is the "church of the people" now...except when the people reject the trendy agenda of the progressives and wish to maintain the faith and traditions of [...]
A friend sent me an article from the Wall Street Journal about a modernist ecclesiastical building planned for East Berlin. The article is here (but behind WSJ's paywall I'm afraid) The short version is that the "Church of One" is a modernistic, brutalist "worship space" that will provide separate areas--a mosque, a synagogue and a church [...]
One of Catholicism’s greatest contributions is the great artists it has produced. I have written elsewhere about how the deeply incarnation and sacramental vision of Catholicism helps to inspire art that works at a deeper level than anything the world (and non Catholic Christians) can produce. One of the best examples of this is the comparison [...]
Every year on Good Friday we present a relic of the True Cross for the faithful to venerate. This naturally raises the question of whether it is the true cross and how we know. This question is one of the sticks anti-Catholic Protestants like to hit us with (along with "Why do you worship Mary?" and [...]
During my convalescence from this stroke I have had to rest a lot, and not being too good at that I took the time to re-watch the first two series of The Crown. Apart from not being able to take my eyes from the lovely Claire Foy, the royal drama is packed with genuine insights about [...]
After I left the ministry of the Anglican Church I had to train for a new career. As I was married with a family it was not automatic that I would be ordained as a Catholic priest. So being interested in film and literature I decided to train as a screenwriter. What I learned in those [...]
Living as we do in the Bible Belt--forsooth yea verily in the buckle of the Bible Belt--we are accustomed to various unusual Christian novelties. By "Christian novelties" I mean versions of Christianity that are novel. They are new. They have never been thought of before. They are the creation of entrepreneurial spiritual leaders with one eye on [...]
The Stages of the Spiritual Journey