Have you ever noticed that modernist Biblical scholars don't believe in the infallibility of the Bible, but they do believe in the infallibility of their own theories? The Biblical critics love to get down and pick over the New Testament. They've made an industry of it. There's form criticism and source criticism and literary criticism and [...]
When I lived in England I used to go to Mont St Michel every year to make my retreat. One of the reasons I used to love going there was because it was such a fantastic symbol of the church. You might not know it, but the bay that surrounds Mont St Michel is subject to [...]
I hate to be a party pooper, but it seems that we are further apart than ever before on some very key issues.
St Irenaeus of Lyons Whenever I am involved in conversations with non-Catholic Christians I go straight to the authority question. If that question is not resolved then every other discussion is only matter of swapping opinions. It is important, therefore to be clear on the basics of the Catholic understanding of authority. It is [...]
Margery Eagan, the spirituality columnist at Boston Globe's CRUX website poses a question about homosexuality in this column. Listening to the reading at Mass this week from Ephesians Margery heard St Paul say, "Slaves be obedient to your human masters with fear and trembling." The priest explained that times were different back then and St Paul [...]
Over at Brandon Vogt's website Strange Notions here and here I have a set of arguments for God's existence which are not philosophical arguments based on Design, Prime Movers, etc, but on physical, historical evidence. The argument and evidence goes like this: If atheistic materialism is true, then the natural world must be a closed system. Everything [...]
An atheist not only does not believe in God, he doesn't believe in angels or demons. He doesn't believe in heaven or hell. He doesn't believe in the reality of the spiritual realm at all. He can't. An atheist must also be a materialist. This is where Chesterton's observation in Orthodoxy ring home: Spiritual doctrines do [...]
The last few years have seen a shelf load of worthy books de-bunking what is called the New Atheism. I’m sure it is a mighty good thing to explain and expound the five proofs of God’s existence, but it seems to miss the point. I’d rather present the reality of God’s work in the world and [...]
Confused? Don't be The sudden death of Tony Palmer--the friend of Pope Francis--has raised the question whether he could be saved even though he never converted to the Catholic faith. Some Catholics would shake their head sadly and quote the famous phrase, Extra Ecclesiam nulls salus- Outside the Church, No Salvation. Does this mean that everyone [...]
The Cowper Madonna by Raphael "To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant" wrote Bl. John Henry Newman. As part of my research for a book on married priests I am reading Christian Cochini's tome Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy. It's a masterful piece of scholarship which examines the early church's views [...]