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 [...]
I am working on a cycle of poems for the mysteries of the Rosary Here is the one for today's Solemnity: Here in a bright alchemy, history collides and combines with eternal things. The mundane is infused with mystery, and the dust and mud and blood have wings. Here every moment of time is [...]
Starting April 14 Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenville will be hosting a free seven week online seminar on Catholic Culture. I'll be in conversation with NCR Rome correspondent Ed Pentin, architect Duncan Stroik, art historian Liz Lev, novelist Glenn Arbery, screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi and more. To learn more and to register go here.
At the end of January I experienced a slight stroke. I had been having some back pains, and when I was getting dressed in the morning I felt dizzy and my left leg went out from under me. I went to church and said Mass that morning, and at my desk fell asleep twice. Not daunted [...]
Scott Hahn's wife Kimberly was once asked what three things were the biggest obstacles to her conversion to Catholicism and she reportedly replied, "Mary, Mary and Mary." Other converts have said, "Once I got over the authority question Maty wasn't a problem. If this was a crucial part of the Catholic faith, then I'm good." I [...]
A few weeks ago I made a little pilgrimage with my brother to Flannery O'Connor's home in North Georgia. While convalescing I have been reading her letters collected in The Habit of Being. The letters reveal her sparkling wit, sharp intelligence and deep Catholic faith. Exiled to the family farm in her early twenties when she [...]
Some of my readers will have picked up from Twitter and from a blog post yesterday that at the end of January I suffered a slight stroke. My left side was weakened and my typing skills are inhibited . However, I have learned that my laptop has a Dictation facility, and I am learning to use [...]
I apologize for being absent from this blog for so long, but at the end of January I experienced a slight stroke and my typing abilities have been impaired. I am learning to use the dictation facility on my computer, so I hope that will help. Thank you for your patience and your prayers!
As a convert you come across some unusual practices within the Catholic faith (said he, making the understatement of the year) One of them for me was to find that there was a feast day for a chair. What was I–poor Bob Jones graduate that I was–to make of such an odd celebration? There it was [...]
Today's memorial for Sts Timothy and Titus is a lesson in apostolic succession. St Paul ordains the next generation and hands his apostolic authority on to Timothy and Titus. This should remind us of the astonishing fact of the continued existence of the Catholic Church. Apart from the survival of the Jews, the survival of the [...]