Safe Haven

5 Thoughts For Today 5. I'm not one to go around declaring judgment on people. But neither do I abandon our culture and people under the pretense of being "winsome" for the gospel. #hipsterliberalfail. 4. If you say you will fight, but not in the public space, you've already lost. 3. I wonder if my generation just isn't into being hated? Read the gospels lately? 2. Jeff Bagwell gets a vote on my Hall of Fame ballot. 1. It still mystifies me that people so concerned about the coercive power of government still mostly favor the death penalty, the ultimate expression of state coercion. To be opposed is fundamentally a more conservative position.

Fine. I admit it. I am resistant to change. I kept the same ancient flip-open cell phone for 6 years. I had three cracks to get a state-of-the-art power wheechair, and I got the same chair--or close to it--each time. I want 2 things from a power 'chair: 1) Speed; and 2) Toughness. That's why a Quickie P-2 series chair is the one I like. You can't break it. Slam it into doors, walls, whatever you want. Metal foot-rests. With mainly metal parts. And batteries you don't have to think about. Other companies, take note. I digress. All that is to say, I stick with what works. Feel free to dismiss me therefore as an unenlightened stick in the mud. Maybe I am. But at heart, a traditionalist is not afraid of change or of new things; on the contrary, the best of us help point the way to the future. A traditionalist does not uncritically adopt anything, but assimilates it as best he can with what he already knows. The internet and all related technology is a great breakthrough...

5 Thoughts For Today 5. I resent the implication that strong men don't cry. It's BS. If you can take one honest look around the world and not cry about something, the problem is you. There's probably a reasonable limit, sure. But this goes for the chauvinist counter-reaction, too: You're peddling a lie. I don't trust people who don't show their feelings, somehow. 4. No, the Republicans did not win the fiscal cliff discussions. Nor would it have been some great moral failure if no deal was struck. I don't believe in bipartisanship; I believe in good policy, and this had none. 3. Don't call me a "friend" unless you mean it. If you are one, you have my fiercest loyalty. 2. They made the mistake of thinking they were important. Hey NHL and players: We can find other things to do with our time and money. The game made you, not the other way around. 1. I wonder if the people who say they don't watch TV and the people who say they don...

5 Thoughts For Today 5. Ecclesial agnosticism---dogmatic agnosticism---agnosticism---atheism. 4. "Those days flew by/Like a priest just passing through/Once when I was little." 3. A question may deserve an answer, quite independently of whether you or your tribe are asking it. 2. Funniest Star Trek, TNG Banter Ever: [Riker and Chief O'Brien sit at a nearby table, observing the interaction between Dr. Katherine Pulaski and Kyle Riker, Riker's father] Riker [horrified, as he watches Katherine and Kyle kiss and embrace]: They know each other! O'Brien [looking]: Yeah. I know her, too. We don't do that . 1. I'm going to start using, "Lower your shields!" as a plea for greater emotional availability. [That's incredibly dorky.--ed.] Oh, lower your shields! [Oh, geez.--ed.]

I'm praying as I type this. I'm sure you are aware that this desire is the strongest natural one we have. And that is an unqualified good, insofar as it would prevent the extinction of the human race, among other things. But people often express this desire in all manner of destructive ways, and at the wrong times. You don't need the details, I'm sure. And I'll just tell you, I've gone about as wrong as you can, while still not bringing lives to ruin. Often in the spiritual life, you learn more from failing than from succeeding. Which is not to say it is better to fail. I mean only that the special humility that shame often produces is good for those who would be proud. I think the failure to distinguish concupiscence from sin has the undesirable effect of completely obliterating the distinction between temptation and sin in the sphere of sexuality in practical (Protestant) life. Aside from the dumb things I actually did, I felt bad for every desire I ever h...

We're a long way from publication on this Romans stuff, but I wanted to hold you over: 5 Thoughts On Romans 5. This is pretty fierce theologically for a letter that says, "Dudes, give me money to go to Spain." 4. St. Paul can say more in 3 words than I can in a year. 3. If my future wife ever asks to watch any Kardashians on the TV, I'm gonna yell out, "May it never be!" 2. "The righteousness of God," for the win! 1. It's the beginning of a joke: "Dr. Luther, Dr. Hahn, and Origen walk into a bar..."

Save yourself some time . I wish I had this man's clarity of thought. But I can think back to when the problem of fallibility became acute. It's when and why I looked into the Catholic Church. As I recall, I wrote of an "Abyss Of Relativism." This is that. I will readily grant that Protestants and Catholics would be in a similar epistemic position, in the absence of evidence for the claim of infallibility. But it seems to me that this other man needs to investigate that claim, and the evidence offered, rather than merely assert that it is false. By the way, it's still arbitrary and ad hoc to accept the first two Councils while rejecting the others, especially using a principle and a method the Fathers knew nothing about. To even use Sola Scriptura, wouldn't one be asserting that one's own interpretation is the measure by which all others are judged? And that applies to history itself. Some ecclesial body ("the Church") can't really be a c...

You need to understand. Or at least I want you to understand. I'm not Catholic as a pin on my lapel, or as a sports team for whom I root. I am Catholic. I do not prefer Catholicism; it is quite simply, the only choice that makes sense. When you're on the journey from Reformed/Protestant to Catholic, you don't really know that's what you're doing. I was just asking questions. It's not right to say the answers didn't satisfy me; they ought not satisfy anyone. I've talked with other people stuck in groupthink, and that's what happens: slogans are said to make the inquisitor shut up, and keep the others from wondering. I guess it works on some people. Not me. And it never has. It's not anti-Reformed to ask where the ecumenical councils came from; neither is it to ask where the end-point of a(n) hermeneutical process (or at least what it looks like) terminates. You can blather on about authorial intent 'til you are 172, but unless you know what ...

See you in Heaven, friend. I do wish it hadn't gone this way. But I envy you. RIP.

I live in two worlds. One is the spiritual or theological, and the other is political. I've always been political as far back as I remember. As you know, I'm pretty opinionated. I also think "extreme" and "extremist" are words people use when they don't like someone, and want to shut them up. Or you could use an adjective like 'far' with a spectrum descriptor like 'Right' or 'Left'. We all do it at times, and depending on the situation, it can be accurate or even welcome. But no one likes to be shamed and silenced. My pet peeve is when people use 'Right,' 'Left,' and 'Center' in theology, as though there is a spectrum, and as though the science of theology is bargained, or even worse, a matter of perspective. Political power often is wielded by majoritarian consensus, or at least acceptance. But things of God don't work this way, and they shouldn't. We may find that we have different truths as a...

Today would be my father's 60th birthday. It's hard to picture him as an old guy. He was 36 when I lost him. I'm sad, of course. As I said in the post called, "Funeral," it's a hard thing. But sadness isn't the only feeling. The other very strong feeling is hope. It's a funny thing when you follow Jesus: (Note well, NYT/clueless media) some of us actually believe this stuff. I really do believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come. I have no idea how the Lord will judge my father, but I have great hope. I suppose I should say "has judged," but there is still the end to come. I have lesser hopes, too. I hope he is proud of me, and all his children. Perhaps it's fitting that the only enduring memory I have of him is seeing him look down and smile at me. My brother and I, his oldest children, we think a lot about how we carry our name--his name--and whether we do it well. There's a spiritual metaphor i...

"Derivative authority is a sham." (This is the idea that the creeds have a secondary authority derived from Scripture.) That's what I realized. When I read Mathison's The Shape Of Sola Scriptura, it confirmed that impression for me. Not that I had any warmer feelings for Catholicism (he brought up a ton of potential problems and objections that deserved exploring later), but I saw that he was making a distinction without a difference in his basic thesis. (Sola Scriptura vs. Solo Scriptura) If there was one thing where I rose in defense of the Catholic Church, it was in his taxonomy of tradition: Tradition I, (Church fathers) Tradition II, (medieval Catholicism) and Tradition III (Pope makes up whatever he wants). Because there was no difference between St. Thomas's theology and Trent, and no substantive difference between Origen and Trent, especially on the crucial issue of free will. The basic Reformed/Protestant storyline of the Middle Ages--the burdensome, se...

It was a fine Christmas. Before we took our places at the front for the concert and Mass at the Cathedral, we stopped at the creche. It was a little hard to focus, but I think I was able to bring to mind all the broken relationships I am aware of. Honestly, we live on different planets, me and many of the people I know. It seems hopeless. But that was how it surely seemed when Jesus came in the flesh to the world he made. That stirs hope in me. I felt like I was demanding things I had no right to ask. But I'm sure it only feels that way because I do not understand the meaning of my sonship in the household of God. I got 2 little things as gifts. I don't need stuff; I need people who name the name of Christ to be friends, and I need people who don't know Him to meet him. Pretty simple, but I am a simple man. Peace.

I looked up "heresy" in the CCC. It's paragraph 2089, if you're scoring at home. "Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same." So Luther may well be a sympathetic figure, as may be Calvin or any others. But they were definitely heretics. By the way, one is perfectly free to dissent from the dogmatic definitions of an ecumenical council, but if you do, you're not a Catholic in good standing of any sort, by definition. So let's cut the nonsense about how the Church acted hastily with regard to Luther, or in error. They did no such thing. The faith of the first millenium was as much defined by fidelity to the visible Church as by its propositional content. Indeed, that's why heretics so often claimed that the Church was corrupted, and thus separated from it. I don't have to use strawmen arguments against the Reform...

It came to me as I received the Lord today. Both experientially and theologically, Catholic life is less about remembering the past, and is more about living in grace in the present. The old man doesn't finally die long ago; he dies here and now as we take the gifts of our sonship and use them for that purpose. But it shows me more and more how stupid sin is. Sin is acting against our sonship, and with all the gifts of the Church, it's even more pointless. Added to the blessings of sonship, there is the pursuit of further holiness, and the glories of intercession and mysticism. Even the heights of Protestantism can't touch this. It's the sacraments, mainly. You'd think I'd be talking less about the present. After all, if you say "Catholic Church," you might get "tradition" and "history" back in answer. But let's not mistake her evidences, her reasons for credibly telling us what to do, for the essence of the thing. I have ...

Probably one of the most perplexing things about the Christian life is suffering. Everyone has their own measure to bear. For my own part, I can imagine the things I would be unable to bear. But as I look back on what I have suffered, I realize that I've vastly underestimated what I can take. That's to be expected. Mother Church has a pretty well-developed theology of suffering, through the testimony of her saints. Suffering is not only to endured, it can be offered to God. More than that, it can be offered for others. I'd like to think I haven't wasted mine, but I have. St. Paul says in his letter to the Colossians, "...and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, the church." If that isn't the oddest verse in the Bible, well, then, I don't know. What could be lacking in the sacrifice of Christ? And what do any of us poor sinners think we can offer of spiritual value? But there it is, right in t...

5 Thoughts For Today 5. Since the Church is made up of fallible human beings, I guess Arius was right. I mean, "councils may err," right? I happen to think his interpretation adheres most closely to Scripture. (I'm not serious; I'm making a point.) 4. I guess when you "tell it to the church," we'll have to have an endless exegetical debate, because of course an ecumenical council can't settle it. Obviously, the Church wanted the freedom of idiosyncratic hacks preserved for all time. 3. Didn't you hear? The apostles replaced Judas because they got a great deal on a hotel for vacation. Group rate, and all that. 2. I'm so glad God doesn't protect the Church through her actual institutions. Instead, he sends a scrupulous, angry monk and a lawyer when no one is looking. 1. Of course, Nicea and Chalcedon were correct, and all the others were false. Haven't you ever played Calvinball?

I'm sure Newman or someone has already made this argument, but here it goes: It is asserted that the Church of Jesus Christ is fundamentally invisible. But this cannot be. The Law of Non-Contradiction states that a thing cannot be and not be in the same way at the same time. But this "Church" proposes as de fide doctrines which are contradictory, such as in the doctrine of the Eucharist. As it is written, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." But the Church is the "pillar and foundation of the truth." It is also called the "household of God." God cannot be divided, as it is written, "Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one." Therefore, this concept called by the same name cannot be the Church Christ founded. Corollary: Now it is clear that a man may dissent from the true faith. But it does not follow that merely asserting a different set of propositions makes those propositions true. Based upon what we have al...

5 Thoughts For Today 5. One little act done in the love of God is greater than all the noble natural acts put together. 4. I still hate Macs. 3. No, I have not seen The Sound Of Music. I'm sorry. But a beautiful woman told me to watch it over my Christmas break, so naturally, that will happen forthwith. Just sayin.' 2. Nor have I read The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings, or The Chronicles Of Narnia. Obviously, I am reprobate. 1. Nothing like hamming it up with the Vicar-General and starting Holy Mass late. I'd like to think Jesus thought that was funny.

It was 3:30 when I saw it. If my jovial post on Facebook struck you wrong, all I can say is, "I didn't see it." This guy came into a school full of little ones with a rifle and started killing people. He killed 26 others, including his parents, and then himself. I hear people saying, "I hope he burns in Hell," and while I understand the anger people are feeling, (and I certainly want some justice) I can't hope for this. Hell is Hell. It makes the most horrible scene you can fathom seem like a minor inconvenience. I can't think of a person that I've known I'd consign to such a fate. Please don't say such stupid things. The Lord will judge, and it is just. But I tremble at the thought of it. O God, our Father, have mercy. Have mercy on us for our evil words and actions, which stir up violence in the hearts of people. Be near to these little ones, and to those who had charge of them who were also lost. Please comfort those in sorrow, beyond ...