Which is more gruesome? Halloween or Reformation Day?

I wish I could take credit for this, but I can't. Al Scharbach, the friend mentioned in the previous post regarding the New York Times, just made an observation in an email. I just had to share it before All Hallows' Eve (Halloween) is over:

Which is more gruesome:

A) celebrating "Halloween" with children wearing costumes that depict bloody bodies, skeletons, etc?

B) celebrating "Reformation Day" with children rejoicing over the division and butchery of the Body of Christ (the Church) in the wake of Luther's protest and burning of a papal bull?

Wow. That's really something to think about, now, isn't it?

Albert Scharbach comments:

Ironically, celebrating the Reformation is more gruesome than a bloody costume. The latter is pretend, while the former violence to the body of Christ is real -- and made all the worse by the way that tragedy is perpetuated with joy.

My friend Albert Scharbach in the New York Times on the Pope's Anglican Ordinariates

Taylor Marshall (left) and Al Scharbach (right)
at Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Rosemont, PA
My friend Albert Scharbach (pictured above) was also once an Anglican priest. We went to seminary together at Westminster Theological Seminary. He was recently mentioned in the New York Times and they just published his response. It's quite good. The New York Times has received thousands of pieces of mail over the Pope's Anglican Ordinarates article so it's noteworthy that they published Al's response.

Way to go Al!!!

Why Some Take the Path From Anglican to Catholic (New York Times)

Response to NY Times "For an Episcopal Parish, a Path to Catholicism” by Albert Scharbach:

I am the former curate referred to in your article about the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, as one who had already left the Anglican parish to become Roman Catholic.

The article describes Anglicans attracted to Rome as being against women’s and homosexual ordinations. But this does not describe the real motivation for why priests like me reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church.

The main issue is the fact that the Anglican Church has no consistent doctrinal authority and often acts independently from the historical positions of the universal church. In light of this, the ordination of women and practicing homosexuals is merely symptomatic of much more fundamental problems with Anglican ecclesiology.

Priests like me are not reacting to polemics on the theological spectrum. It is the faith once delivered that we are after, which we pursue as an imperative of conscience.

Albert Scharbach
Baltimore, Oct. 28, 2009

The writer is pastoral assistant to Bishop Denis J. Madden of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Christianity Today Article Quoting Me on Catholicism and NT Wright

Christianity Today just published an article entitled: Not All Evangelicals and Catholics Together (by Collin Hansen) examining among other things the conversion of Evangelicals and other Protestants to Catholicism. I'm quoted and NT Wright responds:

Taylor Marshall went even further. Now a Ph.D. philosophy student at the University of Dallas, he started reading Wright while attending Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He said Wright's work shifted his assumptions so he could understand the Council of Trent's position. Marshall does not believe Wright holds to the full Catholic view. But he said Wright's critique led him to conclude that the Reformers departed from Scripture by teaching "forensic justification through the imputed alien righteousness of Christ."

Marshall briefly served as an Anglican priest before converting to Catholicism in 2006 and becoming assistant director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C. Marshall said he speaks with new Catholic converts every month, about half of whom have been "deeply influenced" by Wright.

"If you buy into Wright's approach to covenantal theology, then you've already taken three steps toward the Catholic Church. Keep following the trail and you'll be Catholic," said Marshall, who blogs at PaulIsCatholic.com. "Salvation is sacramental, transformational, communal, and eschatological. Sound good? You've just assented to the Catholic Council of Trent."

Wright himself finds strange the notion that he's leading people to Rome. "I am sorry to think that there are people out there whose Protestantism has been so barren that they never found out about sacraments, transformation, community, or eschatology. Clearly this person needed a change. But to jump to Rome for that reason is very odd," he said. The best Reformed, charismatic, Anglican, and even some emerging churches have these emphases, he said.

Let me just say that I am honored to have received a response from Wright. He is a giant and has probably influenced me more than any other living theologian. However, I don't really see how any of the options that he listed (Reformed, charismatic, Anglican, and emerging) truly incorporate the sacramental, transformational, communal, and eschatological elements that I discuss as being interwoven in the Catholic Church.

The charismatic and Reformed bodies may speak of "sacraments," but they don't have a sacramental life. By sacramental I mean all seven sacraments and a belief that the sacraments are the primary way by which we encounter the living and resurrected Christ. The best most Protestant bodies can do is have more frequent communion, but even then that means once a week - hardly coming close to the Catholic practice of daily Masses in nearly every parish of the world.

I don't deny the transformational, but the magisterial Protestant tradition has tended to downplay the transformational. I'm not saying that they ignore it, but transformation/sanctification is the common key of all Catholic teaching and preaching. Granted, this sort of emphasis is found in charismatic circles, but as a new body it doesn't possess the rich tradition of sainthood.

Lastly, I'd like to say something about the "communal" aspect that is unique to Catholicism. We would all grant that a small, trendy emergent church might experience "great community" and that they organize dynamic small groups. But that isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about local community rooted in a universal community. When you go to Rome and see priests from all over the world (African, Asian, South American, North American, Europe, Arab) celebrating the Eucharist on any given day at 7am in Saint Peter's Basilica, you know this is the Church of "every tribe tongue and nation." It's a remarkable thing. Moreover, the "community" is truly constituted by "unity" - we all believe the same dogmas. For example, nobody doubts whether there are seven sacraments (as in Anglicanism) or whether a man is justified by faith alone or not. We're on the same page - we have common unity, that is, we have community.

Wright emphasizes all these elements in his works, but speaking from my own experience, I didn't find them in the various Protestant traditions that I experienced as either a layman or clergyman.

Wright suggests that these elements may be found outside the Church, but I don't think that his suggestions (even if taken all together) add up what the Catholic experiences in the Church.

More thoughts later.

Read: Not All Evangelicals and Catholics Together (Christianity Today)

Top 10 Ways to Have a Catholic Halloween!

This time of year introduces several debates. Among conservative Protestants it's "Halloween or no Halloween?" which sometimes becomes "Halloween vs. Reformation Day," the latter being the celebration of the Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses on Oct 31. Even some Catholics are concerned that Halloween has become "evil." Well, here are ten ways to keep good ol' Halloween fun and sacred.

10. Don't call it "Satan's Holiday"!
There are many Christians who have written off Halloween as some sort of diabolical black mass. It's the vigil of a Christian holy day: All Hallows' Eve or All Saints Eve. Has it been corrupted by our culture and consumer market? You bet. However, Christmas has also been derailed by the culture. Does that mean that we're going hand over Christmas? No way! Same goes for Halloween. The Church does not surrender what rightfully belongs to her - she wins it back!

9. Don't feel that you have to opt for an "Halloween alternative".
Many churches (particularly Protestant ones) are now how hosting "Fall Festivals" (or worse, "Reformation Day"). I've been to several and they are particularly good if you have toddlers who otherwise wouldn't enjoying walking around the neighborhood "trick or treating". Unless you have seriously hesitations about your neighborhood, why not join your neighbors? It could be a great opportunity to get to know them and spark up some relationships. I've gotten to know some neighborhood dads as we stand out on the curb and watch our kids go up and the ring the door bells of every house on the street.

8. Be safe.
Check all the candy. Have the kids wear glow sticks. Dress warm. Stick together.

7. Be hospitable - Why not host the neighborhood party?
Christians are supposed to be hospitable, right? Why not host a Trick or Treating after party at your house with hot chocolate and coffee for the adults. Open up your house or back yard for games. Remember bobbing for apples?

6. Don't be turned off by the ghoulish-ness of Halloween.
Every great Catholic cathedral has gargoyles carved into its stone work. Illuminated manuscripts are also full of ghouls in the margins. Catholics are into this kind of stuff. Why? Because Christ has conquered death and the devil. After Christ, death has lost its sting. Also, All Saints day is followed by All Souls day so it's okay to be a little macabre. (By the way the word "macabre" comes from Maccabees - those two books in the Catholic Bible that Protestants threw out.) And if you live in an Hispanic area like I do, you've got the whole Dia de Muertos to play up.

5. Have fun, don't force converts.
Look, nobody likes to get a religious tract in their candy sack. Don't pass out religious literature. Give out big handfuls of candy and the extra large candy bars, if you can. In the long run, you will make more converts with your charity. After all, you'll be known as "the house that always gives out good candy".

4. Have a bonfire!
We Catholics used to specialize in bonfires. If you have the land and it's legal, stoke up a blaze. If you're kids are older why not set out a bunch of glowing jack-o-lanterns and roast marshmallows over a blazing-hot fire? If someone can play the fiddle, all the better.

3. Carve some fine looking Jack-O-Lanterns.
This is a no-brainer. Download some fancy cutting patterns from the web. Spend time as a family carving out some pumpkins. Put some candles in them and let them burn outside your house for a week or so before Halloween. My kids always like to see who has jack-o-lanterns in front of their house. Do you want to make friends in the neighborhood? Have a carving party and give a prize to the best jack-o-lantern.

2. Visit the graves of your loved ones
This applies more to All Souls Day (Nov 2) than it does to All Saints Day (Nov 1). Still the point is to remember our loved ones and to pray for those who have died marked with the sign of faith. Death is not the last word. Christ has overcome death by His own sorrowful passion and death through the resurrection. That is is the source of our hope and strength of all the saints.

1. Be holy.
If you persevere in the love and grace of God, you too shall be a saint. The whole point of "All Hallows" is to remind us to be "hallowed" or "sanctified". Most of us won't have our own particular feast day and so All Saints Day will be our feast day. It is the feast day for most of the Church's saints, those who lived peaceably, followed Christ, loved their families, accomplished their duties in life and passed on to the next life. May their prayers be with us.

Have other Halloween ideas? Share them in the comment box.

Anglican Ordinariate Podcast (free mp3)

New Podcast On the New Anglican Ordinariates

Tim Troutman interviews Taylor Marshall, former Episcopal priest, and Andrew Preslar, formerly studying for Anglican orders, on the subject of the new Anglican Ordinariates and what that means for Christianity and ecumenism.

(Please press the triangular "play" button below to begin listening.)

www.calledtocommunion.com

Reformation meets Rome

Kindle eBook Version of The Crucified Rabbi is now available!

The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of Catholic Christianity was released last week in digital version as an amazon.com Kindle book for $9.99. Please click here for more details about The Crucified Rabbi from amazon.com.

If you have a Kindle, please download it and please share your thoughts here. I don't have a Kindle, so I'd love to know what the Kindle readers think.

If you are interested in learning more about the paperback version at amazon.com, please click here.

If You Have Netflix, Let Me Make a Video Recommendation...

If you have Netflix, you can watch a lot of movies instantaneously on your computer. I like documentaries and they are almost all instant on Netflix. Last night Joy and I watched Michael Wood's "In Search of Shakespeare" (2003).

We were simply amazed. It's all about how Shakespeare and his family were Catholic. The entire first episode was basically about Catholicism. Surprisingly, it was pretty pro-Catholic and argued that the Shakespeare's were a recusant Catholic household. If you have Netflix, definitely order it or watch it instantly on your computer.

If you're interested in learning more about Shakespeare's Catholicism, also see Joseph Pearce's monumental book: The Quest for Shakespeare - The Bard of Avon and the Church of Rome.

Father Jeffrey Steenson on the Anglican Ordinariate

Former Episcopal bishop and now Catholic priest Father Jeffrey Steenson has written a nice piece on the Anglican ordinariate over at mercatornet:

Here's a sample:

It was not a sudden decision. The goal of Catholic unity has been, more or less, an integral part of Anglican identity since Newman, as the agreed statements of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission plainly show. The conditions for corporate reunion seemed favorable for a brief season in the years immediately following Vatican II. But powerful counter-intuitive movements within Anglicanism had pushed the goal of full communion so far over the horizon that it was no longer realistic to expect that the established ecumenical instruments could heal the schism. And so various groups and individuals approached the Holy See, not with the intention of repudiating Anglicanism, but rather to discover a new path toward unity.

I was a part of one such effort in 1993-1994. In reviewing our submissions to the Holy See from that time, I was astonishing to find so many echoes in the Note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) about Personal Ordinariates. For those who are interested in following this story, William Oddie’s The Roman Option (Harper/Colllins, 1997) is essential reading. To add one note to Dr Oddie’s fine study – the request for a canonical structure similar to the military ordinariate was initially proposed by Msgr William Stetson, for many years the secretary to the ecclesiastical delegate for the Pastoral Provision.

Please go and read the whole thing over at mercatornet.com

HT: Dwight Lindley

Man Turns Church into His Own Mansion

When I first saw this I thought: "Wow, that's cool. No wait, that is so wrong! That is so WRONG!"

Here's the description:

A nondescript exterior and a yard dominated by headstones give no indication of the residential nature of this historic church in Kyloe, Northumberland. A couple decided to purchase and readapt the structure, investing nearly three times the purchase price into renovations over the course of several years. The exterior remains mostly untouched, save for skylights running the length of the roof. Inside, the owners took a similar approach. Restoration is more prevalent than renovation, with original stained glass windows throughout, and repurposed church fixtures abounding. Much of the original seating in the church was refinished and placed throughout the home, and unused wood and building materials were fashioned into a dramatic staircase leading from the main living space to an upper level library. The choice to live in a church is an unorthodox one, but this home’s owners managed to salvage a structure that might have otherwise been doomed to deterioration.

If you want to learn more and can stomach it, here's the link. The whole thing is really creepy when you think about it.

Here's the outside of the "house":

HT: My buddy Walker Dollahon

Did Founder of Opus Dei Prophesy the Pope's Anglican Ordinariate?

Did the founder of Opus Dei prophesy the Pope's Anglican Ordinariate? In a way, yes.

According to Msgr. Bill Stetson, Saint Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, visited England back in 1958. He frequented many Anglican Churches and was keen on rekindling fervor in England for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

While visiting an Anglican Church, Saint Josemaria Escriva said in Spanish, "If we don't lend them a hand, the Christian Faith will die away in fifty years."

Well fifty years later (2008) the Anglican Communion became fractured through the ordination of active homosexuals and by the general erosion of Christian orthodoxy. Fifty-one years later (2009) the Holy Father "lends a hand" by establishing the Anglican personal ordinariate. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Saint Josemaria had it just about right.

Video about Pope's Anglican Personal Ordinariates

See also:

Pope Opens Doors Wide to Anglicans

and:

The Anglican Personal Ordinariate and How It's Different from a Personal Prelature

The Anglican Personal Ordinariate and How It's Different from a Personal Prelature

The Holy Father has announced the formation of a "personal ordinariate" for Anglicans coming into the Catholic Church. A lot of people are confused by what is meant by "personal ordinariate." The most common question that I hear is, "Is this similar to Opus Dei's personal prelature?"

Well...sort of, but not really.
A personal prelature is headed by a prelate (Bishop Javier Echevarria in the case of Opus Dei) and it does not have geographic limits (unlike a local diocese which does have geographic limits), but includes persons who are associated--this is why it's called "personal." Moreover, it envelops both clergy and laity. It's not a religious "order" because it has a lay element.
A personal ordinariate is similar but different. It is headed by an ordinary (who can be either a bishop or priest). It too is "personal" meaning that it does not have geographic boundaries like a diocese does. It can also include both clergy and laity like a personal prelature. A personal ordinariate differs from a personal prelature in that an ordinariate is reckoned as a "particular church." The military "archdiocese" of the United States is an "ordinariate" and not really an "archdiocese."
Caveat: I'm not a canon lawyer and so I may have fudged some details. However, I think that this give a general explanation as to how the two canonical bodies are similar and different.
[See also: New Video on Pope's Anglican Ordinariates]

Yours in Christ,
Taylor Marshall

Pope Opens Doors Wide to Anglicans with Personal Ordinariates!!!

I'm a former Anglican/Episopalian priest who became Catholic in 2006. I'm thrilled by this news!

I was teaching Moral Theology this morning when I learned that the Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans had been officially announced by the Holy Father. I was so overcome with emotion that I had to leave the classroom. The Holy Father is so generous and desires so deeply "that they all might be one."

When I was working for Msgr Bill Stetson for the Pastoral Provision, I was there when he drew up canonical parameters for such a move. This has been in the works for years.

This new Apostolic Constitution is Pope Benedict's response to Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Catholic Church.

The Holy Father has approved a canonical structure that provides for Personal Ordinariates (like the military) allowing former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of distinctive Anglican spiritual patrimony - liturgy, music, customs, etc.

England's Damian Thompson has the fully story.

This is astonishing news. Pope Benedict XVI has created an entirely new Church structure for disaffected Anglicans that will allow them to worship together – using elements of Anglican liturgy – under the pastoral supervision of their own specially appointed bishop or senior priest.

The Pope is now offering Anglicans worldwide “corporate reunion” on terms that will delight Anglo-Catholics. In theory, they can have their own married priests, parishes and bishops – and they will be free of liturgical interference by liberal Catholic bishops who are unsympathetic to their conservative stance.

There is even the possibility that married Anglican laymen could be accepted for ordination on a case-by-case basis – a remarkable concession.

.... This is a decision of supreme boldness and generosity by Pope Benedict XVI, comparable to his liberation of the Traditional Latin Mass. The implications of this announcement will take a long time to sink in, but I suspect that this will be a day of rejoicing for conservative Anglo-Catholics and their Roman Catholic friends all over the world.

Fr. Z. talks about it here: Personal ordinariates for Anglicans

Check back. I hope to post more about this historic landmark in ecumenism.

See new video: The Pope's New Anglican Ordinariates

Catholic Chaplain Offers Mass in Iraqi Monastery

Fr. Jeff Whorton offering Mass in Iraq

This is a great story. A friend of mine Father Jeff Whorton is a married Catholic priest (former Anglican priest under the Pastoral Provision) recently offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in an abandoned monastery in Mosul, Iraq (allegedly ancient Ninevah). It is the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq and it was recently rediscovered (see Smithsonian article). In the 1700s, 150 were martyred at this location. Today it lies in ruins.

Please pray for Fr. Jeff. He is a true hero. I am so inspired by his faith. He's a living saint. Not only is he a Catholic priest, he's also a U.S. chaplain. Not only is he a priest and chaplain, he's a married man and father of seven! Keep him in your prayers and say a Rosary for the good man.

Our prayers are with you Father Whorton!

Lord of the Rings Meets Napolean Dynamite

If you love Lord of the Rings AND Napoleon Dynamite as much as I do, you're going to love this video:

Should Families Have an Intellectual Life?

"People sup together, play together, travel together, but they do not think together. Hardly any homes have any intellectual life whatsoever, let alone one that informs the vital interests of life. Educational TV marks the high tide for family intellectual life."

Allan Bloom - The Closing of the American Mind, p. 58.

Is Bloom correct?

How do we revive "intellectual life" in our families?

Maybe the Catholic Church never had unity...huh?

Over at Called to Commuunion, Chris Donato brought forth an idea that I had not previously pondered: "What if the Church had never been united?"

You can read his comment here at Called to Communion. He cites a new book by by Graham Ward entitled: The Politics of the Discipleship (Baker Academic):

There has never been a time when the church was one. The centralizing of the church around Rome and the papacy was a historical move emerging between the third and fifth centuries in an already divided and contested Christendom. “Each one of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ,’” as Paul attests in one of his early epistles (1 Cor. 1:12). There has never been a Christendom in terms of a universal kingdom of Christ. While the Roman medieval church was extending both its powers and territorial domain from the eleventh century to the sixteenth, it became increasingly aware of its own smallness. . . . Even before the Reformation’s splintering, Christendom was an ideology only partly realized and internally contested. The church, then, is always to come. It is a promise that forms the horizon within which the churches seek to be and become more fully the church. (p. 25-26)

Let me make three observations:

1) Ward uses criteria that the Catholic Church has never used. It seems here that "unity" means that every single believing Christian was and is in full theological agreement on every matter. This is an impossible criterion, and so, of course, Ward "proves" his point against unity. It would be like an atheist stating, "No one has ever perfectly followed the teachings of Christ, therefore there has never been a "Christian" person. The definition presumes standards that cannot be met. He who creates the definition also creates the conclusion made from the definition...

2) Ward assumes that the observation of historical development undermines the development's origin. For example, a man plants a sapling and 30 years later returns to find it as a thick and majestic oak tree. He then concludes that the sapling was never really an oak tree on account of "growth."

Likewise, the fact that the papacy and doctrine "developed" or "grew" doesn't mean that there wasn't a sapling form in the beginning. Peter didn't comprehend the papacy in the fully developed way in which Benedict XVI does. That doesn't mean that Peter, Linus, Anacletus, and all the original bishops of Rome weren't really popes.

By the way, Ward's sort of thinking is Hegelian - it assumes that what develops later isn't really an organic progression from what was established beforehand. Rather, the Hegelian assumes that change results from a merging of alien, even opposite presuppositions.

3) Ward refers to the Catholic Church or Christendom (it's hard to see if he means the same thing here since I don't have the context or the book before me) as "a universal kingdom of Christ" He writes:

There has never been a Christendom in terms of a universal kingdom of Christ.

As I Catholic, I fully agree. If that is what "Christendom" means, then no there never has been a "Christendom."

Once again he is creating idealistic criteria that nobody holds. I don't think that anyone has claimed that Christendom or the Catholic Church per se was or is "a universal kingdom of Christ." The Church on earth manifests the kingdom of God, but it is not the same thing.

So here again Ward is purposefully creating criteria that cannot be met and then stepping back and saying: "Ha! You see, there never really has been true unity or anything called "Christendom." According to his standards, he is correct and he is the toast of Geneva. However, his standards are falsely exaggerated. The Apostles, Church Fathers, and Medievals wouldn't let him off the hook that easily...

A Religious Animal Joke for the Feast of Saint Francis

Here's the joke:

Once upon a time, there was an atheist college professor who dedicated his Philosophy 101 course to disproving the existence of God. Throughout the years, hundreds of students had lost their faith under his influence.

One semester, this professor was awarded a sabbatical and he decided to spend it in Wyoming. He went on a hike one day and deep within the forest he encountered a large, hungry grizzly bear. The bear came running towards him with its mouth wide open.

Just before the bear bit into him, the professor cried out: "OH MY GOD!!!!!"

Suddenly time froze. The birds stopped in midair. The long grass remained bent under a now still wind. The bear also froze with a frozen drop of saliva hanging from its teeth.

The professor heard a deep voice proclaim: "I am who I am! I am God!"

The professor answered, "Let me apologize. I have led people to disbelieve in you and now I call upon you in my hour of need. I won't be a hypocrite and ask you to save me from this bear. If you really are all powerful, I only ask that you make this bear into a devout, loving, and gracious Christian bear."

The professor heard the voice announced: "Amen!"

Suddenly time resumed. The birds began to fly again through the air. The bear suddenly closed its mouth and knelt on the ground in front of the professor.

Slowly, the bear prayed: "Bless us O Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen."

Then the bear ate the professor.

The Double Standard Regarding Roman Priests and Roman Polanski

Fr. Thomas Reeese recently noted the double standard that Hollywood holds for its own and for others (especially adherents of the Catholic Faith):

"Imagine if the Knight of Columbus decided to give an award to a pedophile priest who had fled the country to avoid prison. The outcry would be universal. Victim groups would demand the award be withdrawn and that the organization apologize. Religion reporters would be on the case with the encouragement of their editors. Editorial writers and columnist would denounce the knights as another example of the insensitivity of the Catholic Church to sexual abuse.

"And they would all be correct. And I would join them.

"But why is there not similar outrage directed at the film industry for giving an award to Roman Polanski, who not only confessed to statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl but fled the country prior to sentencing? Why have film critics and the rest of the media ignored this case for 31 years? He even received an Academy award in 2003. Are the high priests of the entertainment industry immune to criticism?"

HT: Roman Catholic Blog

My own take on this is that there should be a double standard. No really, there should be!

Priests should be held to a higher standard than everyone else. We call these men by the most intimate title in the world: "Father." They are present for all the most important events of our lives: birth, adolescence, marriage, sickness, and death. Catholic priests are called to sanctify the faithful through Word and Sacrament and thus we rightly expect for them to live holy lives. Priests are celibate to show their sacrificial commitment to the Church. They have volunteered to live public lives as "stewards of the mysteries" (1 Cor 4:1). Saint Paul did literally everything he could do "that all men might be saved" (1 Cor 10:33).

I'm not arguing for anything touching the Donatist heresy - that the ministry and efficacy of the priestly ministry depends on the moral excellence of priests. No, all priests are sinners and fail to a certain extent. Yet, they are given graces and called to be exemplars, even to speak "in the person of Christ" when they celebrate the Holy Eucharist.

I'm growing tired of people complaining about the "Catholic profiling" at the airport that caught the Canadian bishop with child pornography. Shame on him. A child predator should not be a shepherd. This bishop should have resigned from the ministry at the very first moment he became entagled in this sin. A Catholic bishop (!) became part of the terrible machine that exploits children, robs them their innocence, and uses them up for vile and perverted pleasure...and we have the nerve to respond, "Yeah, but teachers, rock stars, and Hollywood directors do it, so..."

I pray for this bishop, but he exploited children...children! He became part of the problem, and he has undercut the apostolic and ministerial efforts of the entire Church. Let's pray for him. Let's not treat him as destined for Hell. But let's not ask the world to hold our hierarchy to the same moral standard that the world holds for Hollywood directors. They rightly expect bishops, priests, and all Christians to live a life that mirrors the love of Christ.

How to Answer Protestant Objections to Catholicism

Someone named Donald called into question my status as a Christian based on several misunderstandings of Catholicism. I've listed them below with my responses:

Donald wrote:

"You have given your conscience over to the Magisterial authority of the RCC, you believe, based on your works, that you can lose your salvation, then regain it, then lose it, and in theory all in the same day."

Yes, Hebrews 6:4-6 teaches that "enlightened" Christians who have become "partakers of the Holy Spirit" can lose their salvation:

[4] For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
[5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
[6] if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt.

Moreover, Saint Paul says, "you have fallen away from grace" (Gal 5:4). And again:

Heb 3:12 "Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God."

Donald wrote:

"You accept the idea that all graces come through Mary, have placed her as a mediator between man and Jesus Christ."

All grace has come to us through the humanity of the Incarnate Son of God. He became incarnate through Mary. Without Mary, the grace of Christ would not have flowed out to humanity because she provided the substance of His body. And so all grace has come to us through Mary, though she's not the source of grace - to say so would be blasphemy!

Donald wrote: "[You] are in defiance of Hebrews and daily sacrifice Christ."

This is simply not true. The Sacrifice of the Mass isn't a "daily sacrifice of Christ" but a re-presentation of that one and for all sacrifice.

Donald wrote: "you believe that a fallen human being, even one regenerate, has merits that can be transferred to someone else (reparation)."

Yes, this is all over the Bible. The friends of the paralytic brought the paralyzed man to Jesus. If they hadn't, he wouldn't have been healed or forgiven. 1 John 5 also teaches that we can pray for others, that their sins might be forgiven. Saint Paul even wrote:

"To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." (1 Cor 9:22).

Paul was a sinful man and yet God used him as an instrument "to save some." This is biblical...and this is Catholic.

Donald wrote:

"you deny the merits of Christ because you think man has to save himself, and cleanse himself in purgatory, (sp) for thousands of years, unless you gain an "indulgence" from another fallen sinner (the pope),

The Catholic Church doesn't teach that we "cleanse ourselves." This isn't true. Christ cleanses us. Saint Paul teaches in 1 Cor 3:15 that we will be cleansed "through fire" after we die. So again, it's biblical...and Catholic. I don't know where you got "for thousands of years."

Oh, and an indulgence is simply a Church approved prayer or act that guarantees our progressive salvation. It is related to the explanation above about how we can help others gain the reward of eternal life.

Donald wrote:

and you think Mary has appeared in Fatima and other places, even though she has, according to RCC legend, uttered false doctrine and made blasphemous statements."

No sure what to make of this. Has Mary appeared and uttered false doctrine? I can't imagine her doing that!

Anti-Smoking Star Wars Public Service Announcement

I thought this was hilarious. Have a great Friday...and don't smoke.