In today's gospel (Mark 3: 20-35) Jesus explains the unforgivable sin. The Pharisees, having witnessed Jesus performing an exorcism, said he did it by the "Power of Beelzebub"--or Satan. Jesus challenges them with two parables--a kingdom set against itself and a thief needing to bind a strong man before he robs him. He then says the [...]
On social media I seem to get an increasing number of links to blog posts, X-Twitter posts, articles and memes that rant and rage about the failures of Christians and the failure of the church. It could be hatchet jobs on famous Christians showing how they were secret Nazis, anti-Semites, white supremacists, homo or trans phobes, [...]
I should preface this by saying that when I was in college I told the Lord I would go anywhere and do anything for him, but not Central America. I wanted to avoid hot temperature, hot tempers and hot tacos. But the Lord has a way of getting you on the return. So after spending 25 [...]
Some years ago I was flattered by the attentions of a New York literary agent who wanted to get me as one of his clients. I had floated the idea of a book on married Catholic priests, and the proposal reached his desk. He called me and flew me up to New York for lunch in [...]
One of the controversies that troubled the early church and still divides Christians today is the full understanding and acceptance of the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Folks who say doctrine doesn't matter and "All that really matters is how much you love Jesus" miss the obvious previous question, "Yes, but who is Jesus?" In [...]
There is a certain type of non-Catholic Christian warrior who populates X-Twitter with challenges to the Catholic doctrines and devotions with "Where is THAT in the Bible?" This challenge is understandable given the Protestant's foundational belief in sola Scriptura--the Protestant trust in the Bible alone. Given that underlying belief it is understandable that many elements of [...]
We don’t know much about St Matthias except that one of the first things Peter does in the Acts of the Apostles is to get the others together to select a successor to Judas. Thus the foundation of what we know as “apostolic succession” is established as one of the foundational acts of the Apostles in [...]
Those who favor change in the Catholic Church keep calling for "more discussion" about the ordination of women. We have now had four popes definitively state that the order of priest is to be limited to men: Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis. Discussion has ended and it is decided. However, proponents of [...]
Controversy swirls about the Jesuit artist Marko Rupnik who has been accused of the most vile kind of sex-magic abuse. I wrote about sex magic abuse here in case you're wondering what it is. Rupnik's mosaics adorn many prominent modern Catholic Churches around the world from the pope's own chapel to cathedrals and churches at important [...]
When I served as a high school chaplain the enforcement of the dress code brought back memories of my own adolescent attitude to rules, restrictions and regulations. If those in authority tried to assert their authority by imposing rules and regulations the adolescent mind immediately finds ways to get around it--to subvert the authorities and to [...]