The other day on social media a convert to the Catholic faith indulged in a familiar rant--and I sympathize. This person had visited a charismatic-type Protestant church and said (I paraphrase) "The worship was lively and welcoming. People were happily praising the Lord. There was a joyful spirit and afterward the pastor noticed me, welcomed me [...]
Whenever the memorial came along of the Seven holy founders of the Servite Order I was curious. I did not know who these saints were and have to confess that I did not take the time to learn about them. Yesterday Divine Providence was my teacher. The scholar, educator and author Michael Aeschliman and his wife [...]
Last week I was in England for a family wedding, and while I was on this side of the Atlantic I decided to take a vacation at one of my favorite spots: Podere Capitignano is a hillside retreat in Northern Tuscany. The scholar Michael Aeschliman and his wife Lynn have converted the farm buildings into holiday [...]
One of the joys (and chores) of a Catholic priest is to hear confessions. I say "chore" because it is tiring to sit there for hours listening to what seems the same old stuff. I realize that for the penitent it is a guilty and often shameful worry and a great relief to make one's confession [...]
The contemporary church slogan "All Are Welcome" is certainly warm but it is not only warm, it is fuzzy. On the one hand "All Are Welcome" shouldn't even need to be stated. It should be part of any church's basic self understanding. Saying "All are Welcome" always strikes me as just a little bit creepy. I'm [...]
Some time ago it hit me that I was a regular liar. It was just the little things--an excuse here, a "white" lie there, an easy way out and a tiny lie to save face. It hit me when I went to a parish meeting. I was wasting time on social media and did not allow [...]
With the latest restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass from Cardinal Roche what will be the response from those who are devoted to the Traditional Latin Mass? Allow me to reflect on something called "subversive obedience". When I was a student at a certain Protestant fundamentalist university in the 1970s we were obliged to observe a [...]
Conservative Evangelical members of the Church of England are pretty displeased with the Church of England's General Synod vote to bless same sex marriage. Their dilemma is real. How do they live in a church where they believe their opponents are heretics while their opponents believe them to be guilty of pastoral abuse for not accepting [...]
A: The Church of England is the Church of England. In other words, it is not the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. It is not the Church IN England, It is not a branch of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. It is not a subset or a division or a reformed arm of [...]
In a recent article for National Catholic Reporter, Jesuit NuChurch priest, Thomas Reese said he didn't believe in transubstantiation because it was an out of date concept which was impossible for anyone to understand who hadn't studied Aristotelian metaphysics. Now "Aristotelian metaphysics" is itself a nice juicy long word and one which is easily used to [...]