Safe Haven

Wednesday "Pretending there's a chapel so I can skip it" Edition: And I should say that I loved chapel every time I ever went. But you know what it represents? Safety. Closed minds. Comfort. We do not have the luxury of not addressing Christian disunity head-on. Confessionalism and unity (even of an invisible kind) are intractably at odds. Time to make a choice. I absolutely know I'd love John Armstrong's book, Your Church is Too Small, even where we disagree. I know this because 1) I love John, whose warmth, honesty, courage, and sacrifice are worthy to be emulated, and 2) because it is an attempt to address the things that really matter about the Church. I think the thing that can be frustrating concerning the Catholic claims to people like John is that some "traditional" Catholics do not know just how good God has been to his people outside the visible Church. So called "conservative" Protestants are out there preaching the gospel, building ...

Catholic Eucharist, v. 2.0: We're plus-8 days as of this writing from my full communion with the successor of Peter. No, I don't think it'll wear off. [Noone stays on a high forever, freak.--ed.] True. But this is pretty sweet. I was in a minor foul mood because I couldn't seem to go to the little soldier's room before I left my house. We showed up early, because my friend was a lector (reader) today. So he said, "Do you want to go to Eucharistic Adoration before Mass?" Um, huge yes. Pointless Digression: Eucharistic Adoration is the heart of all the beliefs of the Catholic Church which are 1) undeniably weird, and 2) immeasurably awesome. The day you get used to experiencing Christ in this way, you'll be ready to be commissioner of the No Fun League. I must concede that I may be nuts, or Catholics have put those brain-leeches from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan into my brain. Either way, I'm OK with that.