Tag: featured

Quick Apology: Abortion, a matter of law?

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Last year I posted on Facebook that I was at the March For Life in Washington DC and a lively Facebook thread ensued among my friends concerning my pro-life position. Last year I wrote a couple of posts in response, but got distracted and cut short the series (Seriously, I have ADD when it comes to blog series!).

This year I’ve been writing a new series of posts on the subject of abortion and today I would like to address one of the comments written by a friend of mine in the format of a “Quick Apology“.

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Objection

Last year, one of the objections raised was as follows:

“If something is not illegal it is not democratic to try to prevent people from going about legal (if unpleasant) activities”.

Below I’d like to give a rough outline of my reply.

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People mentioned in the Qur’an

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From Sentinel Apologetics…

The Quran makes mention of 32 people, and all of them are defined as “prophets” without distinguishing between them. Among these names there are only 6 people that can NOT be clearly identified in the Bible. Nevertheless, the remaining 26 people come mostly from the Pentateuch. Thus, here’s a list statistically aligned from most referred in the Quran:

  • Jesus (130 times)
  • Moses (130 times)
  • Abraham (69 times)
  • Mary (11 times by name and 34 times as “mother” of Jesus)
  • Noah (43 times)
  • Adam (25 times)
  • Lot (25 times)
  • Aaron (20 times)
  • Isaac (17 times)
  • Solomon (17 times)
  • David (16 times)
  • Jacob (16 times)
  • Ishmael (12 times)
  • Jonah (4 times; the Arabic form Yūnus is taken from the LXX form Iōnas rather than the Hebrew Yōnāh)
  • Job (4 times)
  • Elijah (2 times)
  • Elisha (1 time)
  • Saul (1 time; Surah 2:247-249 is erroneously fused with Gideon’s story from Judges 7:4-7)
  • Joseph (mentioned only as the name for Surah 12)
  • John the Baptist
  • Zechariah. – Shu‘ayb (Jethro)
  • Idris (Enoch)
  • Hūd (Eber)
  • Dhū ’l-Kifl (Ezekiel)
  • Luqmān (a figure whose origin is in Nubia, Sudan, or Ethiopia)
  • Ṣāliḥ (believed to have prophesied to the Arabian tribe of Thamūd)
  • Al-Khadir (one of the cave dwellers in Surah 18)
  • Dhū ’l -Qarnayn (Alexander the Great).

That special something…

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Today I would like to return again to the subject of discernment. In my previous post I wrote about some of the things I’ve wrestled with during my current discernment process. I explained that I find the call to be holy and the call to Holy Orders rather difficult to distinguish from one another and I expressed my frustration that many people seem to assume that the former necessarily implies the latter….

 

Professional Counseling

Those who become monks and nuns take vows of (1) poverty, (2) chastity and (3) obedience. These three are known as the Evangelical Counsels. I’ve found that a lot of discernment material, when you really boil it down, focuses upon these three areas. The problem is that the Church teaches that all Christians are called to live out these counsels!

“Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple”
– Catechism of the Catholic Church, #915

I guess this does affirm something that I’ve thought for some time – that there are many common threads which run through all the vocations. There are also common graces which all people are reliant upon to live out their vocation, regardless of what that vocation might be.

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Best of British/Irish: Part 3

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Last week I began a series of posts about comedy shows from back home. I have found that American exposure to these comedians and shows is rather limited. I’ll sometimes meet people who have seen Monty Python, Absolutely Fabulous or Benny Hill [rolls eyes], but there’s so much more on offer!

Since I usually write about subjects related to religion, today I’d like to focus on one show in particular that concerns Catholicism: the very excellent “Fr Ted”.

Fr. Ted is a priest who lives on a tiny island off the coast of Ireland with two other priests: an idiot and an angry drunk who has a fear of nuns, together with a housekeeper who has an obsessive need to serve people tea…

Despite the fact that this show deals with the subject of religion (a touchy area when it comes to comedy), it really pulls it off brilliantly because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Speaking of which, have you ever wondered what would happen if a group of priests got trapped in the lingerie section of a department store? Well, thanks to Fr Ted, wonder no more…

Jesus, Friend Of Sinners

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My favourite band, Casting Crowns, just released a video of a song from their new album “Come to the Well”. The song is called “Jesus, Friend Of Sinners”:

This is definitely one of my favourite songs from their most recent album Come To The Well. It has a few lyrics which I find devastating:

Jesus, friend of sinners, …we cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing…

A plank-eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided…

Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers…

…and finally…

Nobody knows what we’re for, only what we’re against, when we judge the wounded…

It is this last line which I find the most powerful. Before hearing this song I had never really thought that when I judged someone, I was judging someone injured. We’re all wounded, of course, both by the Fall and our own personal histories.

Until I heard these words I had never really considered that when someone does something which disappoints or hurts me, it might be due to a wound which that person had previously sustained, so rather than judging and condemning that person, I should instead see him as someone in need of healing.

Over the past few months I have, on occasions, remembered this song and the resolution it inspired: Be More Gentle With People. When I have done this, and managed to set aside my indigence and anger, and tried to “look for the wound”, the results have been quite surprising. I have found my heart softened and the reservoirs of compassion and patience which I had long thought empty, refilled.

Now, if only I could remember this resolution a bit more often…

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TEA: Mary and the Early Church (St. Ignatius)

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Mary

Yesterday, I visited St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Los Angeles. The St. Ignatius Women’s Group invited me to give a presentation on the Blessed Virgin and the Early Church. This was a a longer version of a talk I had previously given at St. Brigid’s here in San Diego.

Over the course of forty-five minutes, I told the story of my initial struggles concerning Mary and the Catholic Marian doctrines, explaining how I eventually came to see the truth and beauty in the Catholic Church’s teaching concerning the Blessed Virgin. The audio and the handout are both available for download.

Mary and the Early Church (Download)

I was invited to speak to the group at St. Ignatius by a long-time reader of this blog. If you’re also interested in having me speak to a group at your parish or at a Diocesan Theology On Tap, please see my Speaking page for examples of other recorded talks. Just send me an email and we can work out the details! 🙂

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