TCE #17: Catholics and Weapons
We will consider weapons in Scripture and then weapons in the hands of Catholics if the 2nd amendment erodes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Md51ev1aM
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04, 2021
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04, 2021
Do We Need Catholic Labels in the 21st Century?
I'm fully aware there were heated debates on matters of speculative theology between Franciscans and Dominicans in the Middle Ages on topics such as "Is the intellect or the will the is the primary faculty in the beatific vision? (I think the Franciscans said the will and the Dominicans said the intellect.) I'm also fully aware there were heated political factions in the 19th century between Catholics and that already there were debates in politics between "liberals" and "conservatives." But far and away, Catholics in the 13th century and Catholics in the 19th century (and every century in between) did not use nasty titles modern like "traditional Catholic" or "liberal [...]
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04, 2021
CPX 65: Confirmation
Catechism of Pope St. Pius X (CPX) p. 67-70. Q/A 1-19. The Sacrament of Confirmation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLhBk0NULU&t=24s
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04, 2021
God Wants To Save Us From Ourselves
A wise philosopher who taught me at Boston College was once asked at a public talk, "Why does man sin?" The philosopher thought about it and said, "I suppose that is the one thing that even God Himself does not know, as we see in what He says to do the damned, I do not know you. (cf Mt 25:12) Even if not dogmatically true, it's at least "poetically true" that perhaps even God Himself does not know why man sins. Indeed, if God made man for Himself, then to turn from Eternal Love Himself is so foolish as to be incomprehensible to, well, Eternal Truth Himself. We know that on the [...]
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04, 2021
VLX 65: I Have Not Come to Bring Peace
Mt 10:34-39 https://youtu.be/G0OIGK7k5rg
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04, 2021
Blasphemy Against Mother Mary in “The Chosen”
Section A: The Scene The Chosen is a streaming video series on the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ with record-breaking viewership. They did a decent job in Season 1, but a scene found in Season 2, Episode 3 has major blasphemy against the Mother of Jesus. In this scene, a female disciple of Jesus named Rama is sitting next to Mother Mary and expresses her concern about how to know and follow Jesus in a better way. (As St. Mary Magdalene is also in this scene, I will refer to the mother of Jesus below as "Mother Mary.") Rama says, “I feel like I need to not make anymore [...]
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04, 2021
CPX 64: Your Sponsor in Baptism
Catechism of Pope St. Pius X (CPX) p. 66. Q/A 21-26. https://youtu.be/vICyzMt4iAk
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04, 2021
Hermeneutic of Continuity or Hermeneutic of Rupture?
As a middle-of-the-road conservative in seminary, I would frequently say things like, "Vatican II did not change Catholic doctrine, but it did change how we package it for the post-modern mind." Or, perhaps I would say, "Dogma can't change but how we explain it can change." Phrases like this demonstrate the hermeneutic of continuity we clung to. We believed the Catholic Church before 1963 was the same as the Church after 1963. We just had to return to "the early Church" in order to "get back to the sources" if we wanted to square the circle, if we just lined up the stars correctly between the teachings of Pope St. [...]
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04, 2021
VLX 64: Have No Fear of Them
Mt 10:26-33 https://youtu.be/c9eArJEeOrw
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04, 2021
Life Update 2021.04.17
Jews vs. Catholic Basketball Game (10 Years Ago This Weekend) This weekend is the 10th anniversary of the Jews vs. Catholics basketball game that Rabbi Yisroel Wilhelm and I started as chaplains of University of Colorado in Boulder. (You can see how young I looked in my first year of my priesthood in 2011.) Catholic News Agency covered the story 10 years ago in Boulder: Although the idea began as a joke, and still elicits laughter from students, an April 17 “Jews versus Catholics” basketball game has a serious purpose for the priest and the rabbi who organized it as a form of outreach to their communities' non-practicing members. “These [...]