Catholic Minimalism

On the liberal side it'll go something like this...
"Well, abortion is not a dogma, so I can dissent from it and still be a good Catholic"

On the conservative side, it'll go something like this...
"Well, this Catholic social teaching is not about abortion, euthanasia or homosexuality, so we don't actually HAVE to obey it."

To me this has been one of the toughest things about becoming Catholic. I spent my entire life being shuffled into a political identity only to find out it is grossly inadequate to answer any questions of real substance. Furthermore, the truth tends to offend both ideological sensibilities in one way or another.

Dissenting Enigma machine found

Original coded Message:
“The Church is not adhering to the Spirit of Vatican II”

Same message after decoding by the D-Enigma machine:
“The actual documents of Vatican II don’t support my position so I’m going to appeal to something intangible like the feelings and emotions of dissenters who went to Vatican II and then later misrepresented it in the public arena.”

HAHA!!!! LOL FUNNY

BTW I am noticing myself reading the above two blogs on a regular basis. Expect them to be added to my blog roll in the near future.

Check out my Yahoo Avatar (scroll down some .. disco guy) .. Blea Fleck - Bigfoot playing on Yahoo Music (LAUNCH) ... Victor Wooten is unreal good.

Expert Says Time For Change In Catholic Church

"The tradition in Boston and the United States is liberty, and freedom, and constitution, people, so I say we need a people's church(???) in the United States, a homegrown Catholicism would look more like the country itself," he says. "The Catholic Church has to change or it is going to end up as a museum piece."

Apparently "expert" means wrote a book. I have a blog just so you know. As far as the peoples Christianity goes I would say we already have that. There is a denomination for just about any belief set within Christianity. I church hopped for years until I got the crazy idea that there exists truth somewhere and somebody might have it. I even considered that I might not be comfortable with it BUT that it is imperative to go where it is. Enter the Catholic Church.

Now, maybe I am dense, but I have never seen the positions of the Catholic Church as having been particularly popular. It sure doesn't seem so, even from the writings that the Church itself has preserved. If the Catholic Church has survived this long I don't think the novel idea that truth is subject to popular vote is going to make much of a dent in the next 2000 years.

Gloria Virtutis Umbra: Romeward Bound
"They say all roads lead to Rome. This is one Protestant's journey in the conversion to the Roman Catholic Church...."

I love conversions!!!

Let Catholic Charities Be Catholic

Yet children are not a commodity that all should “have,” and no one has the right to adopt. Children do, however, have the right to a mother and a father. Adoption is not about filling an emotional void in adults’ lives, but offering a stable home to unfortunate children.

So while we are at it ... Can I get some voices for letting Catholic pharmacists be Catholic?

Legionaries of Christ

I had a comment on my blog in the past few days accusing Legionaires of Christ of being a cult. IMHO that is quite a high charge. In addition, the offered Regain link provides little evidence to sway my opinion. Of course it must be said that the thinly fact based response that Legionaries offers up (LegionariesFacts) doesn't leave me leaping with joy that the facts are clear. Anyway if anyone is interested in my opinion and how I came to it read Regnum Christi: controversy and my thoughts. We have since decided to homeschool thus ....

I have no dog in this hunt. I am neither LC nor RC and I have no intention of being either. The charge of cult is high indeed. I want proof that the institutional statutes are to blame here rather than a case of bad apples spoiling the bunch. Show me, in the words of the Legionaries of Christ, that they are a cult. I expect that of my opponents about the Church. Why would I expect less with an order within the Church?

The liberal baby bust which I picked up off of Mark Shea's obscure and lightly visited blog.

This, in addition to the Roe Effect, spells doom for secular liberalism. It is just a matter of time. God willing my wife and I will raise many religiously conservative minded Catholics. "God would not let evil occur if not a greater good would come of it" - St Augustine (I think I got the wording right)

I can't trumpet the success of the devil though. I just can't help but feel sad about this. I worry that the religiously conservative increase will usher in another era of revolt, where certain religious values deemed as predominantly liberal** (care for the poor and elderly, sensible environmentalism, fighting against the death penalty) will be jettisoned in favor of a new era of conservatism whose god is capitalism and whose target of morality becomes art and culture rather than the certainly greater evils of the culture of death. A completely conservative world as defined by our American culture is not one I am eager to enter into. Its not an either/or proposition.

See also The Return of Patriarchy which gives some numbers about this phenomenon.

** not that those movements are uniquely liberal -- see crunchy conservatism for example.

Author Dan Brown was back in court on Tuesday to answer claims he plagiarized the work of two historians for his best-seller "The Da Vinci Code" about which Mark Shea points out that nobody sues a World War II historian for stealing the idea that Hitler invaded Poland.

So is this suit tantamount to admitting the whole premise is fictional? Oh, wait a second, everyone keeps reminding me that it IS in fact fiction. Silly me.

A bias against having babies has permeated our culture

HT to Jeff Miller (Curt Jester)

Found this on DCF. Noting for future reference ...

Gutenberg Bible: View the British Library's Digital Versions Online - Online version of the Gutenberg Bible printed in the late 1400's.

That is ... prior to the Council of Trent and the Protestant reformation and which includes the Deuterocanon. How could they have guessed which books the Catholics were going to add to the canon some 75 years later? Crazy I tell you. :)

Better yet, how did these guys guess?

I could post for weeks on my recent two week work trip. I was afforded a few days off to go to Paris with my wife. That ended up being quite possibly the most memorable weekend of my life. This is a quick unorganized summary ....

London

I wish I had been there on vacation. I put in really long hours, especially after the first few days.

Westminster Cathedral

Most impressive to me is the area containing a list of the popes (since the time of St. Augustine of Canterbury) and the English Catholic patriarchs throughout history. It really tied together my time as an Episcopalian to my reversion back to the Catholic faith. I get English Catholicism so much more than I do American Catholicism. There seems to be a tremendous focus on beauty and on GOOD music. The choirs at Westminster Cathedral were a delight to hear.

I like the London Underground. I felt so in touch with the world travelling by train with the people who call London home. People do not seem to hide where they are in life. If they are depressed on the train, you can see it in their eyes. If they are happy, you can see it in their smile. Several songs by the Pet Shop Boys that I used to listen to came into far clearer focus because they are about life in London, which for many people includes frequent rides on the tube trains. On Valentines night I was alone in London and managed to get out a little. I noticed at the beginning of the night that many happy couples were walking around London. By the middle of my night a few couples were on the trains and many of them had sour nights and it was clear. I saw one girl in tears changing trains. I saw another couple where they remained silent and the man got off the train at one station to be dismissed with total silence by his date. It was sad to see the dates that were ending on bad terms. It was real life though. Relationships end on bad terms all the time. I easily can forget that because I am not going through that part of life any more. What struck me most about that exchange is how much into the lives of others you can see in a major city. London is like a small town in that sense except that you do not necessarily know the names of the people you very well can identify with. Living most of my life in suburbia has had me pretty isolated from the plight of others. Its easy for us to see the spec in others eyes when we cannot identify with them. I think the city has that advantage over the middle sized town, especially one like London that is walking friendly. Suburban United States is designed with the car in mind. We are in our boxes and away from others. It helps us develop an isolated mentality. If there is one thing I think Americans need to solve it is the issue of being disconnected. Most of it has to do with when and how things were developed in this country. It isn't the fault of America that trains and cars developed before most of its towns and cities. Its a growing pain that hopefully future generations will solve in order to get more people in touch and all us to see on a daily basis the plight of the rest of the world.

Back to the trains ... I am so nerdy that the only t-shirt I bought in London was one with the tube map on it.

Paris

My wife came into town and we went to Paris. We took the Eurostar through the chunnel. What impressed me was how every small town was organized. Houses were grouped closely together with a spire shooting high into the air. These churches were all old too. The closer we got to Paris, the older they got. It was a joy to see.

Louvre

Next time we go to Paris (hopefully there will be a next time) I plan to carve out a week just for The Louvre. I saw the massive crowds around the Mona Lisa. I stopped to wonder if the Da Vinci Code was the reason behind that or if it has always been that popular. Turning around made that thought go away as The Wedding Feast at Cana is on the opposite wall.

Other must sees for the Catholic is the whole path leading from "The Wedding Feast at Cana" back to The Madonna and Child in Majesty Surrounded by Angels. When you get there you spend your moment nearly crying and then you head back through the hallway to see paintings by Fra Angelico, the patron saint of artists. I wish we had gotten around to seeing more religious art but we only had a day so we really only spent a few hours there.

La Sainte-Chapelle

Honestly I thought this was going to be a church so I was a little disappointed to have to pay for entry. Then I realized that while mass may have been said here at one time it was primarily used to house relics of the Passion. I register a high level of suspicion about these relics of the Passion, which are now at the Cathedral down the street. Still, they have been around (documented at least) for 1600 years. Sainte Chapelle is as they say. It is like standing in a jewel. It is best just to sit down and enjoy the sun shining out from beind the clouds. It amplifies the experience to feel like the jewel is glowing brighter and fading back. It was like the building had passion.

-- OK -- A couple of snide comments. Obviously Catholics knew nothing about the Bible in the 12th centrury which is why the widows in Sainte-Chapelle are essentially an illustrated narrative of Sacred Scripture. It is also interesting to see how the ignorant superstitious and un-elnlightened generations of old were able to build monuments able to last the centuries. Since popular culture extends the Dark Ages into the Middle Ages as time periods to be wholly forgotten and purged from our collective history, I thought I might point out that some wonders of the world somehow managed to find their way into existence during this most useless time frame.

Notre Dame Cathedral

The web site isn't superbly organized but spend some time there (Oh, and you might want to suffer using IE to view the site ... offer it up) ... View especially the areas about the relics. By the way, if you go, it is worth the extra 2 euros to get see the reliquaries. It was amazing to me to be standing in the presence of those rose windows. When I did some research to find images to put on the right column of this blog I happened upon the rose windows at Notre Dame ALL the time.

Also, kudos to Skype which allowed me to talk to my wife every night for free.

Anyway ... I hope to write more on this later. I wanted to post it as is because I am having a hard time getting time to complete my thoughts.

10 mistakes conservatives make in art and entertainment (via A conservative blog for peace)

I'll have comments on this soon specially since I spent the weekend in Paris and saw the Lourve, Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame.

Hopefully I will have time tomorrow night.

my blog is near the top on a Yahoo web search for the terms: excuses to avoid the in-laws

Posting from London BTW ... I have had an interesting trip so far. I wish work was less interesting. I will feel better when the details are worked out. I finally understand what is meant by the phrase "the devil is in the details". All of the major hurdles seem cleared. Its these little nuisances that seem to be interrupting things.

Hopefully I will post later. I ran into an article that is worth sharing.

Actually, I may end up posting more provided I can get a decent connection to the Internet at night. For a few days though, I am out.

I had some thoughts tonight that I wanted to capture....

Catholics are free to believe in true love. You know the kind that movies are made about that always end with the line "and they lived happily ever after". The reason this is so is because Catholics realize that in Christ one can attain perfection. Not a covering of a permanent imperfection but perfection made complete in Christ. One realizes that as each year of marriage ticks by you always have a choice. You can listen to what the world says is going to happen tomorrow in your marriage or you can listen to what your heart really tells you about marriage. Happily ever after is attainable. The answer, as it is to every important question in life, is Jesus Christ.

The path however is a most unexpected one to the young "happily ever after" mindset. Sacrifice. It is what Christ did for us and it is His greatest example as to what extent our love must take for others. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13). I heard the following this week when I mentioned that I get up at night frequently to help the kids get back to sleep: "You work long hours and your wife stays at home all day. Why should you get up with the kids?" ... at the time I was lost for words. Since then I have had a little time to reflect upon it.

I hear about how men are supposed to have their thumb on the relationship. Its about control. Failing to exhibit "authority" is failing in your marriage as "the man". This is an incomplete viewpoint. To these real men, I simply respond that rightful authority is granted by love. Submission in spiritual matters is much easier when the man has demonstrated a firm grasp of sacrificial love to his wife. It has nothing to do with a "right" that men should or shouldn't have in a relationship. That right would not exist if not granted by God Himself and demonstrated most perfectly in the sacrifice of Christ Himself. Men love to trot out Ephesians 5 with pride and flamboyance: "wives submit to your husbands" (v22) yet it amazes me to regularly hear the quotations stop there. Why are so many men failing to read the words aimed directly at them? "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her". (v25) -- GAVE HIMSELF UP -- It is about sacrifice. I get up with the kids because in the language of love an action of sacrifice says "I love you" louder than any box of candy, flowers or late night stroll ever will. It is the least I can do for the sacrifice my wife makes in performing the jobs of day care, cleaning and cafeteria personnel on a daily basis. It certainly isn't in the category of giving up my life which is the extent to which a Christian husband is expected to love his wife.

It seems exceptional marriages consist of couples who believe that there is a happily ever after. The difference is that they understand that its meaning is wholly contrary to that which is peddled in our culture. So men, read the parts directed at you. Make the real effort. Love your wife.

I didn're realize that National Review had an article about the Black Legend back in June. Here it is: The Real Inquisition - Investigating the popular myth.

Personal notes:

I am going to be staying in London for two weeks for work. My wife will make it for one of the weekends while I am there. I have asked the question on DCF about what places Catholics shouldn't miss. Here is the short list so far:

London Oratory Church

"This flamboyant Italianate church is a monument to the English Catholic revival of the late-19th century. The Brompton Oratory was established by John Henry Newman, who was later to become Cardinal Newman." - (source)

As a Cardinal Newman fan myself, I figure this needs to be on the short list of places I visit.

Tyburn Covent

Home of the Tyburn Tree which is where many criminals were executed in England over the centuries. From the website: "More than 350 Catholic Martyrs [who] witnessed to their faith by dying for it" here.

On my own I figured out that I would be close to Westminster Cathedral which offers a daily mass that I should be able to attend. I noticed also that there will be a concert on one of the nights that I am there so I am pretty sure I will be spending a great deal of time in church there.

If anyone who reads this has been to London and has any further suggestions, let me know.

Comments are available just below ;)

On a personal note -- tonight I bowled my first sanctioned 700 series. As noted in the title it was a 726.

The bad news -- It was week one ... I set a 242 average. I have never averaged 200 before over a whole league for any period even in a short summer league. In fact, I have only bowled five or so sanctioned 600 series in my life.

The nine strikes in a row straddling games 2 (3 in the 10th) and 3 (6 in a row) are also a record for me in league. I had a string of 6 in a row in all three games.

Anyway ... I am thrilled. WOO HOO!!!

Right to Life Act

This is an interesting angle at sinking Roe v Wade. Sadly, many in the pro-life camp will immediately note that using the birth control pill would become illegal. That is why I place the likelihood of passage of this bill next to nil. With God, however, all things are possible.

State of US Catholic Church at beginning of 2006 - There is good news and there is not so good news. I pulled some choice quotes and I encourage you to read the rest.

For example, Catholics in the US make up six percent of the global Catholic population, but 12 percent of the bishops in the Church and 14 percent of the priests. The US alone has more priests than the top three Catholic countries combined (41,000 in the US to 37,000 in Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines combined). This makes talk of a "priest shortage" in the US almost laughable, at least in comparison with many countries struggling to care for much larger Catholic populations.
...
The only religious congregations showing signs of life and attracting many vocations are strongly faithful and evangelizing men's congregations like the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the Legionaries of Christ. Similarly, among women, congregations that wear full habit and have a strong prayer and community life are drawing many vocations — the Nashville Dominicans and Mother Angelica's Poor Clares being outstanding examples. The traditional Carmels also continue to attract a steady stream of young vocations.Full Circle: not to mention the fact that the dioceses that are producing the most vocations are the most orthodox ones
...
Over the last 30 years or so, a dozen or more new Catholic colleges have been founded, partly in reaction to the increasing secularization of the nominal Catholic institutions. Most of them are flourishing, though many are not large institutions. Franciscan University of Steubenville, the University of Dallas, and the newly founded Ave Maria University stand out among the larger faithful institutions, while Thomas Aquinas College and Christendom College stand out among the smaller schools. All have a required core curriculum for the liberal arts, including theology and philosophy.
...
More distressing is the American custom of reception of Holy Communion by virtually every layperson who attends Mass on Sunday. Given the dramatic decline in the reception of the Sacrament of Penance and the drop in belief in the Divine Presence in the Eucharist, there must be many objectively sacrilegious communions. Much catechetical work needs to be done.
...
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Catholics tend to contracept at the same rate as the rest of the world. Hence the number of children per Catholic family is not significantly different from that of non-Catholics.

On conversion and rejection, or lack thereof

I think part of this has to do with the public school system actively pushing relativism. My entire generation is overwhelmingly infested with it, myself 10 years ago included. For example, it was quite clear to me when I first started reading the New Testament on my own that there were quite a few things that didn't quite jive with the "ho hum all is OK" theology that I was being fed at the church I was attending at the time. In reality, the brand of Christianity I was being taught was "let people in on this Jesus gig" and let them be after that. Focus on Jesus (Whatever your idea of that may be) and all of those frightening warnings from Paul and all of those other "divisive" teachings were just that ... divisive. The fact is the differences are important.

After my conversion I noticed that my friends divided into three camps.

1. Those that were vocally opposed to my conversion on doctrinal grounds
2. Those that were silently opposed to my conversion on doctrinal grounds
3. Those that thought it was A OK that Christ was doing such a wonderful thing in my life which happened to be strikingly opposed to what Christ was doing in their life.

In all honestly I initially felt most grieved by those in camp 1 because they dared to make a stink about my conversion. After a long time of thinking about it though, the ones in camp 3 disturb me the most. Those in camp 1 generally get upset because you challenge their comfort zone by telling them that what they believe to be true might have severe flaws. We all went through that in our own conversions. That said, truth matters and they know it. It wouldn't have upset them otherwise.

John 14:6a Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life."

Vatican City

I am sure if I had looked at "famous places" I would have had an easier time. I am familiar with Italy now though :)

Mark Shea had these linked the other day ... they really are worth the time to watch. Everyone at our office is yelling WOOOAHHHHWWW!!! I am sure that will last a couple of weeks.
Terry's World
Draft Day
OSPN Office Athlete of the Year
Sensitivity Training
Terry takes a vacation

They are also saying "True dat" and DOUBLE TRUE courtesy of
The Chronic-WHAT-cles of Narnia

CVSTOS FIDEI: Europe May Force Priests To Marry Homosexuals

I can see this happening even in this country in the name of individual rights trumping freedom of religion. In fact, I have an inkling that arguing that religions preventing the free exercise of "personal" versions of said religions is a violation of freedom of religion might be part of the argument used to drive this.

I guess I have little faith in legal authorities in this country having any sympathy for the Church. Call me a pessimist. Catholic Charities is already being legally required to provide contraception to its employees. How much of a stretch is it to require that the Church dispense the sacraments to whomever wants to have them? After all that seems to be the argument the pro-Kerry receiving communion camp was running with when it came to pro-aborts receiving communion. Isn't it a right?

My pessimism aside this is an area where I think prayer is needed.

And I still get visitors, most of them by way of common spelling errors directing people my way AND from the pictures I have linked of the destruction of Holly Beach by Hurricane Rita. Some people have even decided to stay and read my blog. Thanks.

Whether you are delighted or appalled, WELCOME.

Back to my regularly scheduled "not enough time to post things to my blog"

I have a few things I would like to comment on ... hopefully soon ...

I hate to be brief and offer little more than links to other interesting things to read but work calls these days ... Enjoy anyway

NCEA president impressed by work of Catholic schools in New Orleans
Saying "I Don't Believe in Organized Religion" is Sort of Like Saying "I Don't Believe in Organized Biological Systems"
Did Jesus exist? Court to decide

My question on this is simple. Since the Catholic Church preserved a great deal of the documentation they have of history from time periods prior to Christ, does that mean we should jettison all of history? I mean, from what I have read the documentary evidence for some quite significant political figures is scanty compared even to Christ yet few people doubt their existence.

Of course Christ existing doesn't prove He was God ... Different matter.

The Myth of the Ancient Baptists
Complaints about fundamentalism mainly aesthetic?
WMD

In theory, the issue is uncomplicated: western societies as a group are becoming de-populated, and Muslim immigrants, who have been brought in to close the economic gap created by declining European numbers, have high birthrates.

Major Anglican Group Prepares for Full Communion With Rome



and also Yes, Aquinas, There Is a Santa Claus - a defense of Santa Claus done in the style of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa. HT to The Curt Jester

I had to pick a Top 5 for stories of the year ... at least as far as I was concerned.

5. Post-tsunami cleanup
4. Everything Iraq
3. Terri Schiavo
2. Death of JPII, Naming of Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI
1. Katrina and Rita

On Katrina and Rita ... in terms of major news stories I don't think any have had the impact on my life personally that these two had. Things are still far from normal but as time progresses the New New Orleans will take shape.

I also decided to do a quick timeline of this past year for us on the home front

Jan 19 - decided to sell old home, contracted to buy new home
Mar 30 - moved out of our old home, move into apartment .. deal falls through on selling old home which subsequently causes the new home deal to fall through
Jul 6 - Signed a contract on a second new house - "We are buying a new house"
Jul 26th - closed on old home
Nov 30 - closed on new home [see link above]

I have decided that it does little good for me to look back and complain about the many ills those events caused us. From our narrow perspective the first deal looked ideal: New neighborhood, larger homes, friends in the neighborhood AND it was within walking distance of a Regnum Christi school. At the time it seemed as if the hand of God was walking us into the perfect situation for raising our kids. Didn't happen. The second deal looked far less ideal: Far away from homeschooling parents, no Catholic school in the vicinity ... smaller than the first new house we intended to buy, but certainly nicer. It was close to work and at least we knew that if life forced us to use the public schools they were ranked "second in the state" ... whatever that means. It is what happened. So God has us here, in Livingston parish. We are starting to see the advantages. We are getting a vague idea of what God may have had in store for us and 10 minutes drive time to work regardless of traffic snarls elsewhere in town is NICE. It is time to really set up our domestic church. That is our plan right now. Focus on Christ and pray that the rest of this mess keeps falling into place.

Four Arrested in Stolen Explosives Case

You see, when I looked at this headline I thought that we had discovered a race of tiny people and that we managed to open an explosives case to find four of these tiny people being arrested.

Maybe its just me ....

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL We have really enjoyed Advent this year. We tried to do the Jesse tree and the Advent wreath every night. We failed miserably. We fail miserably a lot. It just lets me know I have a LONG way to go.

I have decided that I am going to try and blog a tiny bit over the next week. My personal life has taken a tremendous amount of time in recent weeks so I have not been reading blogs all that much.

The short of what has been going on

First off, my job has demanded my full attention.
Second, we FINALLY managed to navigate our way through all of the legalese, paperwork and heinous treatment by insurers that accompanies buying new home and moving to a new town. We are now mostly settled and thus thrilled. Payment numero-uno is due on the first of the year. We are less thrilled about that. Moving, of course, was the big time factor. I could write a years worth of posts on what has happened to me in the past month regarding this house but I won't bore anyone with the details. We are just glad to be settled.

Today's audience

There is one thing I wanted to touch on for my own sake. I am currently skimming the Catholic Evidence Training Outlines. They are very interesting from an apologetics standpoint but to me the MOST interesting thing is the practical advice given for "todays audience" ... "Today" however means several decades ago. Still, much of it applies to audiences of today.

Now, it seems logical for a convert or revert from Protestantism to assume everyone is in the position he was in before his own conversion. Thus, for me, the thought of standing up and giving a the best argument against sola scriptura that has ever existed seems to hit at the core of what everyone believes. It would rock the masses to the core and mass conversions of the average Joe, like me, would make headlines.

However, in my reading I came across the idea that a message has to be carefully delivered, keeping very much in mind the audience. Quite simply, the audience is NOTHING like me. With sola scriptura, for example, you need to take great care to not let people get the idea that Catholics do not revere Sacred Scripture. A lot of ignorance about Catholics and Scripture almost certainly stems from poor apologetics efforts on the topic of sola scriptura. There is a lot of foundation that needs to be set otherwise your words sound like

blah blah blah Catholics don't believe the Bible blah blah blah

A Protestant with a lot of background in dealing with Catholics might have a decent idea of where Catholics are coming from and UNDERSTAND that the second "blah blah blah" up there would be "is the sole rule of faith". The qualifications MUST be explained and the context has to be thoroughly understood. What those are depends on the level of understanding about a myriad of other topics.

I have noticed the same in reading discussions on the dogma "There is no salvation outside the Catholic Church". The immediate defensiveness of non-Catholics requires the touch of a truly patient person. -- BTW Happy Catholic has a good entry on this today -- and my thoughts on EENS

I guess all I am getting at is the simple fact that most of us want to rush in with our swords drawn killing everything in sight ... souls be damned. Bible zinger here. Early Church Fathers there. Ooohhh Wahhh -- A logical victory!!!

We need to start in a manner completely opposite of that mindset. Prayer -- Prayer puts us in the mode of listening. It requires patience and humility. Those are the qualities, I have noticed, of a good apologist. They trust their opponents to God first. We have to go there first because after all, our rampant slaying of arguments isn't what saves. God's grace is. Our frustration with people not "getting" what seems plain to us offers nothing of worth to us. It is only the seed of hatred.

I have had a problem with this type of frustration. I stay up at night irritated at people who seem to hate the Church. I think Fulton Sheen was correct in his estimation that there a maybe 100 people who hate the Catholic Church. The key in calming my anger is entrusting people to God's mercy and trying to understand that the thought processes of others are very difficult for us to comprehend .... dare I say .... impossible.

I have tried to get to my blog and post something. It will happen sooner or later. Until then enjoy these

Teach philosophy in schools This would be an EXCELLENT thing.
All that ID stuff = "The Church of Materialism must be separated from the State if we are to remain consistent in our law." Speaking of ....
Rationalism and Materialism
Re-Enchanting the Mass - How beauty affects belief by Pontifications.
The Perfect Child Myth
Conspiracy theories - Hey Secret Agent Man ... an RSS feed would be nice :)
Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist - Oh this is a huge shocker to most of us. Seriously ... the results are interesting.
Mary = Homegirl? Ave Maria University students wear religious beliefs on their T-shirts Young and Catholic ... I'm married with 3 kids. Can I still be part of this? You bet so!
You've Got Big Ratings, Charlie Brown

I am not really back ... that will happen when I have Internet service at home.

Still I wanted to post this link so that I would never lose it. I have Ott's "Fundamentals of Dogma" which this references ... It is an excellent book which covers the declarations of dogma in the Church and spells out what is absolutely required for belief. This page has an excellent summary.

Dogmas of the Catholic Church. (Fundamentals)