Tag: featured

Thanks for the memories (Part 1 of 2)

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The other day a friend asked me how, in my experience, non-Catholic Christians memorize Sacred Scripture. This is a very reasonable question. It is common to hear Catholics say how impressed (and intimidated) they are when their Protestant work colleges or classmates quote Scripture at them chapter and verse.

Answer

I responded initially with the suitably vague answer saying that, in my experience, it varies from denomination to denomination and from congregation to congregation. There are certainly some groups which emphasize Scripture memorization more than others.

“Memory! All alone in the moonlight…”

Personally, I’ve never been very good at Scripture memorization, at least as an activity in its own right. When I quote Scripture, it’s usually a rough paraphrase and it’s pretty rare that I can give the chapter, let alone the verse.

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Pope Posting

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One of the reasons I began this blog was in response to repeated Papal exhortations for Catholics to engage the digital world. There were other reasons why I started which I have mentioned before, but that was definitely one of them.

At the end of last month, Pope Benedict issued a document for World Communications Day. I have posted the document in its entirety below, underlining the parts which I thought were really important.

I think it should be required reading for all Catholics who have a Facebook account…

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Sunday Lectionary: September 4, 2011

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Unfortunately a little rushed this week, but here you go…

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings this week concern themselves with the tricky subject of relationships and, in particular, relationships between Christians. The passages address the question of how sin and disputes are to be handled in the Church.

 

Reading I: Ezekiel 33:7-9

Last week we heard from the Prophet Jeremiah. This week we have switched to the Prophet Ezekiel, but continue with the theme of God’s word.

Thus says the LORD:

“You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me. If I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked one, you shall surely die’  and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself”

Watchmen 😉

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Stuff I’ve Had To Learn: Sun Beats Wind

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I’ve been thinking a lot about Aesop’s Fables recently, and one fable in particular which was read to me as a child. I remember the pictures in the book and the story vividly:

“The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said:

‘I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin.’

So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his cloak round him, till at last, the Wind had to give up.

Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on and took it off.”

I think there’s something intrinsic to human nature which makes us believe that the best way of bringing someone around to our way of thinking is through confrontation and force. Even though this rarely works, we persist in using this approach, probably because it looks like the most direct approach and therefore the most efficient means of achieving a favourable outcome.

However, as this fable teaches, gentleness, kindness and persuasion are often more effective tools than direct force. This is because when we try and force someone to do our will, that person will resist all the more. When we attack, that person will automatically get defensive and when we try to wrestle a belief away from someone, that person will usually only cling to it all the more.

The difficulty is that being “The Sun”, rather than the “The Wind”, is hard… Patience is required because results are often not immediately visible. When we feel someone has an incorrect opinion, our pride all too often gets in the way and we become harsh as we try to “fix” this person.  Finally, treating someone with gentleness is often costly, particularly when we feel we have been wronged or treated badly. Yet, if we are seeking a beneficial and peaceful end, gentleness is what is required:

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger…The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit…” – Proverbs 15:1, 4

Manvotional: Spartacus

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A few days ago I published a post which contained an MP3 recording of a “Manvotional” recently published on The Art of Manliness. I’ve been trying to contact the owners of the website with the suggestion that they should offer these posts in MP3 form. So far I’ve had no response, but I’ve decided I’ll keep on recording them until I hear from them. Today’s “Manvotional” concerns the slave who famously rebelled against the might of the Roman Empire, Spartacus.

Screen Shot 2015-09-30 at 4.27.42 PM

Manvotional (Download)

“Five Armies” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

The unaccompanied MP3 is available here.

Arguing with Catholics

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first_communion_tongue

I recently had a discussion about the Faith with someone who was a former Catholic. After making several (factually incorrect) assertions about Catholic belief, she said something like this:

“Look, I know what I’m talking about. I was brought up Catholic. I was baptized, received my First Communion and was Confirmed. I went to Mass every Sunday….every Sunday! Not only that, I was in Catholic education for all high school…all of high school. Trust me, I know Catholicism…”

Now, I know my friend thought she was presenting me with some particularly impressive Catholic credentials, but I have to admit that (at least internally) I was smirking a bit as I heard all this…

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Voting for Pro-Choice Politicians

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I’ve had a three different conversations recently related to voting for pro-choice politicians. Each time I’ve had these conversations, I’ve been told that pro-lifers shouldn’t let a politician’s opinion about abortion be a deciding factor as to whether or not one can vote for that candidate.

The argument is made that a candidate may indeed be in favour of “reproductive rights” (a delightful euphemism for something quite so barbaric), but I’m told that this is okay if that candidate is in favour of some social programme. I’m told that this is what it really means to be pro-life…

A game you can’t win

The real advantage of this position for the pro-choice advocate is that he can play this game ad infinitum. He will always be able to come up with another social cause which he’ll say demands our attention before we can get around to looking at abortion directly.

Even in some utopian future where there are state-funded programmes for every possible social ill, the pro-choice advocate can still postpone protecting the unborn by demanding first that more money be devoted to these government programmes.

The unanswered question

Each time I’ve had this conversation, I’ve asked a question:

Would you mind engaging in a thought experiment? Let’s say that there was a party or candidate which was onboard with all of your desired social programmes…but they also campaigned for the right for parents to have their child killed up until their first birthday. Would you vote for that candidate or party?

Question posed to pro-choice advocates

I’ve used different versions of this question, sometimes talking about a party which supports slavery, rather than infanticide. Either way, I have yet to hear an answer to this question.

Questions like this put the pro-choice advocate in a bind. After all, very few people could countenance supporting a politician who supports infanticide or slavery. This intuition points to an important truth, that one cannot vote for a party which endorses something obviously intrinsic evil.

I explain that I cannot vote for a candidate who endorses the killing of the unborn for the same reason that my interlocutor would refuse to vote for someone who endorses slavery, regardless of the candidate’s economic issues.

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