"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
We have always known this but we see today in a much more terrifying way that the greatest persecution of the Church does not come from external enemies but arises from the sin of the Church
Pope Benedict XVI, May 2010
“Life is not just a succession of events or experiences. It is a search for the true, the good, and the beautiful. It is to this end that we make our choices; it is for this that we exercise our freedom; it is in this – in truth, in goodness, and in beauty – that we find happiness and joy”
– Pope Benedict XVI, “New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue, and Friendship”
How can we speak of, and defend, “universal human rights” in a cultural climate in which “truth” is under sustained assault?
– Marcello Pera & Cardinal Ratzinger, “Without Roots”
If we’re friends on Facebook, you may well have seen a video I posted last week:
This video is part of the Into the breach initiative from the Diocese of Phoenix. Bishop Olmsted, the Bishop of that Diocese, recently released an apostolic exhortation to men, asking them to “Step into the breach”, to fill the void in our society left by an absence of authentic masculinity. In this exhortation, the good Bishop discusses what it means to be a man and gives some of the practical guidance for living out the masculine calling in all its fullness.
I was very much impressed by this apostolic exhortation and I took it with me on my retreat this week so that I could spend some unhurried time reading through it and considering the challenges it poses. After subsequent rereading, I thought that it deserves to be more widely known, so I recorded it onto MP3, making it available to a wider audience.
Into The Breach – Introduction (Download)
The three questions and the context for answering them
Into The Breach – Question #1 (Download)
What does it mean to be a Christian man?
Into The Breach – Question #2 (Download)
How does a Catholic man love?
Into The Breach – Question #3 (Download)
Why is fatherhood, fully understood, so crucial for every man?
Into The Breach – Conclusion (Download)
Sent forth by Christ and Faith of our Fathers
If you don’t want to download multiple files, a recording of the entire document as a single MP3 is available here (80MB).
Today I want to share a quotation I often refer to on the subject of justification and the Protestant doctrine of Sola Fide. Often non-Catholics will tell us (incorrectly) that we believe in salvation by works. For this reason, I think it’s useful to hear what Pope Benedict has to say on the primacy of faith in salvation, and even the sense in which Luther was right, that we are saved by “faith alone”…
Being “just” simply means being with Christ and in Christ. And this suffices. Further observances are no longer necessary. For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love. Faith is looking at Christ, entrusting oneself to Christ, being united to Christ, conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence to believe is to conform to Christ and to enter into his love. So it is that in the Letter to the Galatians in which he primarily developed his teaching on justification St Paul speaks of faith that works through love
– Pope Benedict XVI, Wednesday Audience, 19th November 2008
Yesterday Pope Benedict officially stepped down as Pope. We must continue to pray for him and for his successor…
“I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this earth.” – Pope Benedict XVI
I’ve never had to talk about the Catholic so much in a single day! If this is happening to you, gather your cowokers around to watch this video on how Popes are elected:
In addition, Aggie Catholics put together this great FAQ concerning Pope Benedict’s resignation and Phat Catholic Apologetics assembled some apologetics links concerning the office of the papacy.