Ordinary Old Catholic Me

Here I Am Lord, Lead Me, Don’t Let Me Go

I hope it's ok. I hope it will be interesting to you, and maybe instructive, to hear about my recent attendance at an 8 day silent Ignatian Retreat. It was a deep experience, the fruits of which I hope I can carry with me into the world for the long haul!

No Salvation Outside the Church? Part Three

This is heady stuff, mystical stuff, but this Ordinary Catholic likes the idea of the hermeneutic of continuity on this subject. Lumen Gentium. The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Can your family member currently outside the Church be saved? Yes. But as always, cooperation with Grace is the key!

Father Forgive Them They Know Not What They Do

This week and weekend has been a busy one. Today's episode was sparked by seeing a few clips of The Passion of The Christ, and how some things today, remind me of human cruelty, and sin that still we must fight.

No Salvation Outside of the Church Two

Boy is there a lot to consume about this subject. My goal is that you dive in as well with your own study and search for the truth. Catholicism from the beginning has offered the way to Salvation and somehow it becomes real in reading the history especially the Fathers of the Church. I hope it intrigues you as it does me!

Extra Ecclesium Nulla Salus?

That's Latin for No Salvation Outside the Church. The phrase was a bit scary for me as a child as both my parents seemed outside, and the details of how this seemingly unfair result were not then vouchsafed to me. I went outside for a while myself and then when I came back, I began to explore the dogmas and the doctrines. A few years ago a famous Bishop said that Christ and the Church were the "privileged" way and reignited an old fire storm. And what is is to be Catholic today is ever on the front digital pages. It is worth looking at, I'm thinking. 

The Acid Test of Belief and Courage

A small episode with a homeless man at my parish had me considering, "What would I do if the Eucharist were threatened?" Do I really believe that the bread and wine has been transformed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ such that I would risk my very life to preserve it?
 

The Deep Seep of Sin and All that Jazz

Who'd have thunk that seeing a 40 plus year old movie would have me thinking about how bombarded we are by the idea of there being no real sin, and the obstacle to any of us to not falling onto the wayside as chaff? Well, so it was. I don't know if you're having the same sense of things. But if you are, you are not alone.

Revive Us O Lord

On June 16, Catholics participated in the opening of a three year Eucharistic Revival. The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of Catholic Life, the real Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity. Somehow, that Centrality has become obscured to Catholics and so we haven't truly been the branches of the Vine, Jesus Christ, in the Modern World. We need to revive our understanding indeed!

Away from The World at Brede?

While having trouble with my streaing, I went back to an old DVD I love, about a woman who decides in mid-life to become a nun at a Benedictine Monastery. What a gem! Both the movie and the book it is based on. I want to share them both with you. 

More on the Man for All Seasons with Lou Karlin

The second part of a discussion with attorney Lou Karlin who has a passion for the stateman and Saint, Thomas More, who, through my discussion with Lou, provides lessons for our time.