...and not just salvation by works, but universalism--that all will be saved? The Huffington Post has a screaming headline, Pope Francis says Atheists Who do Good are Redeemed, Not Just Catholics. Vatican Radio reports on the homily here. In a homily at daily Mass in the chapel of the Saint Martha hostel, Pope Francis spoke on [...]
An earlier post this week with a similar title evoked the most passionate comments I've had on a post for a long time. I suggested that one of the reasons why Catholic kids leave the church is that our catechism and worship styles and preaching for the past fifty years did not prepare them for the [...]
A spirited conversation has been going on in the combox about the existence of God. I said here that God does not exist--and went on to say, at least he does not exist as we exist. He is, instead, the very ground of all existence. He does not exist so much as he IS existence. Commenters [...]
On the week before Christmas in 1941 my grandfather was walking with his two sons to market in downtown Pottstown, Pennsylvania. It had snowed the night before and the roads were too icy to drive. That's why they were walking. As they crossed the river bridge a coal truck turned on to the bridge. The bridge [...]
In the current debate on hell (which is really a debate on universalism) there is some fuzzy thinking going on. Here is an excerpt from my book The Quest for the Creed which comes out next week. This book is a new edition of Adventures in Orthodoxy. Published by Crossroads, it has new material and a new format. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Someone [...]
George Weigel makes a case here that now is the time for a robust and uncompromising form of Catholicism to stand up and be counted in America. As for the opportunity embedded in this crisis, it is nothing less than to be the Church of the New Evangelization, full-throttle. Shallow, tribal, institutional-maintenance Catholicism is utterly incapable [...]
I posted a picture the other day of worship at St Peter's. There was a crowd of altar servers, robed clergy in procession and clouds of incense. In the combox someone observed, "Would Jesus recognize this as worship?" I don't know the commenter and his background, but it sounds like the comment is based on [...]
How a former Evangelical came to love the Rosary. Here's my latest article for Integrated Catholic Life. Please read and share! Read: Do Catholics Pray to Mary?; Do Catholics Honor Mary Too Much?; Do Catholics Worship Mary?
Click to enlarge Did you know that Ignatius of Antioch was not only appointed to the see of Antioch by Peter himself, but tradition has it that he was one of the children that the Lord took up in his arms and blessed? Ignatius of Antioch was martyred in the Roman Coliseum by being [...]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_-BOvWVycM[/youtube] As a fundamentalist boy I had to learn my Bible verses from the King James Bible. One I remember clearly is Hebrews 11.1 "For faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." For some reason I always loved the way that rolled off the tongue. It had a [...]