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 [...]
Some time ago I posted a picture of worship at St Peter’s. There was a crowd of altar servers, robed clergy in procession and clouds of incense. Someone criticized, “Would Jesus recognize this as worship?” It sounded like a common misunderstanding of the roots of Catholic worship and the nature of Jewish worship in Jesus’ time. [...]
Pope Francis’ somber visit to Auschwitz last week brought the world face to face with the depth of humanity’s depravity and the depth of divine redemption. St Paul, wrote, “where sin is abounding. Grace is abounds even more.” In Fr Maximillian Kolbe’s cell in the the darkest dungeon of Auschwitz, Pope Francis, a figure robed in [...]
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 [...]
Today is St Luke's feast day. It is Luke who recounts the infancy narratives, and the tradition is that he knew the Blessed Virgin and got the stories about the birth of the Lord straight from her. Icon of the Virgin in St Maria Maggiore The other beautiful tradition is that St Luke was [...]
Go here to read an interesting account of the Catholic mission of Christopher Columbus. The first act of Columbus upon setting foot on this new land was to set up the standard of the Cross and claim it in the Name of Jesus Christ. He gratefully named the first island he arrived at “San Salvador” (Holy [...]
Back in my Protestant days I can remember one of the big sticks to hit Catholics with was, "They believe in salvation by works!" Of course Luther and his gang were all for "salvation by faith alone" and both Catholic and Protestant theologians are converging in the common sense view that "we are justified by faith" [...]
I see that the Suburban Hermit has been silent since the middle of February. Readers have asked, "What has happened to the Suburban Hermit? Have you closed that blog?" The answer is that I have been very busy and have been feeling for some time that my writing is going in a different direction, but I'm [...]
Bath Abbey Bath Abbey is one of the most historic and unusual abbey churches in England. Situated in the middle of town and right next to the best preserved Roman Baths in the world, Bath Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in the Middle Ages. The church was re-built just before Henry VIII's revolution. The [...]
One of the delightful traditions of an English Christmas is the Carol Service. The traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols was pioneered at Kings' College Cambridge in 1918 to bring a more creative approach to Christmas Worship. The service has now spread across the Anglican world and is a Christmas tradition for Christians of many [...]