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Hippolytus Of Rome…Saint and Anti-Pope

January 13, 2013 pilgrim Leave a comment

Hippolytus was an Early Church Father who lived in 3rd Century Rome and the story of his life is a particularly colourful one. He was the first Anti-Pope of the Catholic Church, setting himself up as Bishop of Rome in competition with with Pope Callixtus, and later with his successors Urban and Pontianus.

Yet, despite all this, we also call him Saint Hippolytus. How did the first Anti-Pope also manage to be declared a Saint of the Catholic Church? Good Question! Jimmy Akin has the Catholic answer…

Quite some time ago in the JP2 Group we read through Apostolic Tradition, a work attributed to St. Hippolytus. I have just finished recording the text onto MP3:

Apostolic Tradition – St. Hippolytus of Rome

Many thanks to the members of the JP2 Group for being my congregation! 😉

PWJ: S4E68 – SPAT 1 – “Three courses of Hell”

June 1, 2021 pilgrim One comment

Today we begin the sequel to The Screwtape Lettters, which is Screwtape Proposes A Toast. David is joined by Dr. Brenton Dickieson to unpack the opening paragraphs.

S4E68: Screwtape Proposes A Toast (Part 1 – “Three Courses of Hell”) (Download)

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Podbean, Stitcher, TuneIn and Overcast), as well as on YouTube. The roadmap for Season 4 is available here.

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Podcast

Lectionary Notes, August 7th

August 2, 2011 pilgrim Leave a comment

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1: 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a

The events of this passage take place after Elijah has defeated the Prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:22-40). As a result of this humiliating defeat, Princess Jezebel has sworn to kill him (1 Kings 19:1-2). Elijah flees into the desert where, dejected and overcome by fear, he tells God that he may as well let him die (1 Kings 19:3-4). He then goes to sleep, but is awoken twice in the night by an angel who gives him bread and water. Strengthened by this food, he travels for 40 days to Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:5-8), also known as Mt. Sinai, the mountain where God revealed the Law to Moses.

Whereas Moses interceded for the Israelites (Exodus 32:11-13), Elijah appears to have reached the end of his tether (1 Kings 19:10). Elijah complains about his lack of success, saying that the people have abandoned God and he effectively condemn them. In saying this, there is the subtle implication that God’s promises have failed…

Then in the passage assigned for this Sunday, God reveals Himself to Elijah, indicating his patience, mercy and gentleness with His people. In the text that follows afterwards, God gives Elijah instructions as to what to do next.

At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the LORD said to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.”

A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD— but the LORD was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake— but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake there was fire— but the LORD was not in the fire.

After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Online Dating as a Catholic

March 7, 2015 pilgrim Leave a comment

Today we have a guest post from my friend Matthew, the man behind SystematicChristianity.org and author of the book Rational Faith.

Before he left San Diego, Matt and I had talked about the world of online dating. I had never signed up from sites like CatholicMatch.com, so asked Matthew about his experience.

As we talked, he mentioned that he should write an article about the Catholic on-line dating scene. Several months later, as I heard of more and more of my friends using these websites, I sent him a message on Facebook asking him if he would, in fact, write something for Restless Pilgrim. He graciously agreed. Everybody, please welcome Matthew Grivich…

First off, I really appreciate David for starting the conversation on dating in the Catholic world. This is a topic that is badly (or evilly) covered in the secular media and barely touched in the Catholic media. When Catholics do discuss it, they usually spend more time saying what you are not supposed to do, instead of what you are supposed to do. Alternatively, they skip straight over meeting and dating to people who are already married.

Be it that I am engaged, and I met my fiancée (Jennifer) on-line, I am at least somewhat qualified to discuss this topic. However, your mileage may vary and take with a grain of salt. Clichés are no extra charge.

Catholicism

Discernment Frustrations

September 14, 2011 pilgrim 9 comments

At the end of last week I scribbled a very short post about my recent discernment efforts. Today I’d like to say something about my discernment frustrations…

Definitely older, maybe even a bit wiser…

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the discernment in my mid-twenties wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience. I tied myself in knots and got extremely frustrated.

This time I approached things a little differently. I had a rough plan of attack, a shortlist of people with whom I wanted to speak and an approximate timeframe. In rare moment of decisiveness, I even managed to bypass my usual extended period of procrastination and got on with the task in hand…

Catholicism

Living life like the Max

August 14, 2010 pilgrim Leave a comment

Today is the feast day of one of my favourite Saints, the great St. Maximilian Kolbe.

I’m not really sure why, but I can’t recall hearing stories of the lives of the Saints whilst I was growing up, despite being in Catholic education for most of my schooling. I actually first heard the story of Maximilian Kolbe whilst visiting a Protestant church. For me, this was an often-repeated irony, having actually been introduced as an adult to the Saints by a Baptist Pastor!

When I first heard his story in that Protestant church, Maximilian was quite-rightly held up as a model of Christ-like behaviour. Unfortunately, I also remember it was in a sermon where he was contrasted with another figure who was specifically identified as Catholic, whereas Maximilian’s background was not mentioned.

It was only when I started to read more about him and his story that I discovered that he was not only Catholic, but a priest and at that time, to my horror, someone with a very strong Marian devotion.

Catholicism

St. Joseph…virgin?

January 28, 2016 pilgrim Leave a comment

Earlier this week I posted an article Critics of Matthew Kelly? where I discussed some of the criticisms of Matthew Kelly I’ve seen recently on the Internet. If you recall, there has been some complaints about a passage in Matthew Kelly’s latest book, “Rediscover Jesus”:

Was this some sort of vision, perhaps prompted by the apostles’ grief over their leader’s execution? This wouldn’t explain the dramatic conversion of Saul, an opponent of Christians, or James, the once-skeptical half-brother of Jesus. – Rediscover Jesus (Page 99)

There was one article in particular that caught my eye which I thought deserved a short post of its own. It was written by a chap called Jeff from Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts. Jeff’s criticism of the passage from the book was as follows:

“It implies one of two things; either Mary was not a virgin throughout the rest of her life or Joseph had other children…. Mary’s virginity is not even up for debate as the Church declared her perpetual virginity as Dogma. The issue with Joseph having other children is that Catholic tradition holds that he too was a virgin.” – Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

I’m not really sure how confidently we can say that “Catholic tradition holds that [Joseph]…was a virgin”. It is true that certain Fathers did assert that St. Joseph was a virgin, beginning, I think, with St. Jerome in the late 4th Century. However, mid-Second Century traditions point to St. Joseph’s having children from an earlier marriage. The earliest surviving account of this is the Protoevangelium of James.

The narrative that St. Joseph was a widower is one which is vigorously upheld in the East, among both Catholic and Orthodox Christians. In fact, you’ll notice that in icons of “The Flight Into Egypt” there are often four people depicted: Christ, the Theotokos, St. Joseph and also St. Joseph’s son, St. James.

Catholicism

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