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 [...]
Someone said recently that I have firmly declared myself to be a conservative. Indeed someone from New Jersey once said I am an "arch conservative." I am happy to take that label. I'm happy to take all the other labels too. To see what I mean go to this post: Call Me an Evangelical, Charismatic, Liberal, [...]
St Jerome This week has long been one of my favorites in the church year. Who can resist the sweetness, purity, power and goodness of all these saints and angels celebrated in one week! September ends with the celebration of the great heavenly warrior St Michael, and he is followed a day later by [...]
I was an Anglican priest the summer I met St Therese of Lisieux. I was living in England and had three months free between jobs, so I decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. I was going to hitch hike and stay in monasteries and religious houses on the way. The first leg of my journey [...]
St Joseph of Cupertino - Patron Saint of Pilots and Aviators Today is the feast day of St Joseph of Cupertino. To learn about his life go here. Joseph was born into a poor family in Cupertino, Italy in 1603. His father was a poor carpenter who died before he was born, and his [...]
Maybe it's just me, but I seem to hear an increasing amount of grumbling from about the state of the church. Some folks complain about the new generation of priests, "All these guys seem to care about is lace and china tea cups! Are they all pansies? What's going on? Why do they have to return [...]
Powerful St Patrick Some time ago I had a dream in which I saw a young boy swimming in a river. As he was swimming happily downstream I saw that around the bend was a large crocodile. I watched in terror as the boy swept past the crocodile and the beast slipped out from [...]
In learning more about St Kateri Tekakwitha I was struck by the connecting points between her and St Therese of Lisieux. Both were orphaned. Both suffered from a terrible disease. Both died at the age of just 24. Therese was called "the Little Flower". Kateri was called "the Lily of the Mohawks" Pictured are two antique [...]
The old debate still rages in which Catholics dispute with Protestants who say that salvation is by "faith alone." Yes, we like to pick out the verse from the epistle of James which says that "faith without works is dead." If we're going to talk the talk we have to walk the walk. Action speak louder [...]
The Little Way Through Middle Earth is a long article I wrote some time ago for Stratford Caldecott's journal, Second Spring. I have uploaded it here, and over the weeks ahead plan to start publishing more of my archived articles that were written for various publications. Go here to read the article. I hope you enjoy it!