Tag: featured

Charlie Johnston’s Farewell

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CharlieYou may recall at the beginning of last year, I wrote an article about a man named Charlie Johnston, a Catholic layman who claimed to have been visited by Jesus, as well as by a number of Saints and angels.

As a result of these visitations, Charlie warned people of a coming “storm”, a series of catastrophic and calamitous events which he said would befall humanity. While he wasn’t predicting the end of the world, his descriptions of economic collapse and widespread war certainly carried with them an apocalyptic character. Although he said that it would be a very dark time, Charlie promised that the Immaculate Heart of Mary would ultimately triumph and this victory would usher in a period of unity and peace.

At the time I wrote that earlier post, Charlie had already been on my radar for some time. Although I had reservations concerning his teachings, I was rather impressed with the way he seemed to be operating. He was obedient to his Bishop and was also under spiritual direction. Despite the content of much of his message, he ultimately presented it as one of hope. Finally, there was nothing to suggest that he was attempting to profit from his message in any way. As a result, despite my skepticism regarding his predictions, I defended Charlie against those who immediately dismissed him as “crazy”, or who called him “a charlatan” or “liar”.

Having said that, I was becoming increasingly concerned. Quite a few of my friends had enthusiastically embraced Charlie’s message and I started to worry about the effect of his teachings upon them. When one of my friends cancelled an out-of-state trip for fear that it might coincide with Charlie’s “storm”, I decided that it was time to speak openly about my concerns…

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TEA: How I met your Blessed Mother (St. Brigid)

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Mary

Last night I led Bible study at a local parish and I was asked to give an informal talk beforehand on the Virgin Mary.

My talk was entitled “How I met your (Blessed) Mother” and in it I told a little bit of my story and explained how I overcame my deep-seated resistance concerning Mary and how I ultimately came to embrace the Catholic teaching concerning the Blessed Mother.

Some friends couldn’t make it last night and asked me to record the talk, so for anyone who would like to hear it, the audio is available below.

How I met your (Blessed) Mother (Download)

The Best Pro-Life Apologetics Book

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Across the dinner table a few months ago, we were discussing the subject of books and what we each thought were the “Must Read” books for adult Catholics. Today I would like to say a few words about a book which I think is the number one book on the subject of pro-life apologetics, “Persuasive Pro-Life” by Trent Horn from Catholic Answers.

I had originally intended to take some time to write a longer review, but since you can currently pick up a copy for $5 or download the eBook for free, it seemed wise to write a shorter review and have it published before the sale comes to an end:

PurchasePersuasive

The first thing which should be highlighted is that, although this book is published by Catholic Answers, none of the arguments outlined in the book are based on the Bible or even the existence of God. All arguments are based on easy-to-understand science and clear logic. Even if you are a pro-life atheist/agnostic, you will find this book extremely useful.

Typically, if I like a book, it’ll be in large part because of the way it is organized. This book is no exception. Trent assigns a separate chapter in his book to each pro-choice archetype. These archetypes include:

The Tolerant who personally don’t like abortion, but believe other people should be able to choose it.

The Skeptic who deny that anyone can know when life begins.

The Disqualifier who claim that unborn children do not have a right to life because the unborn are different from born humans.

The Autonomist, for whom it does not matter whether or not the fetus is a human being, because a woman has a right to bodily autonomy.

…

In each chapter, Trent addresses the essential arguments used by each archetype. He then goes on to explain the faulty science, incorrect assumptions or poor logic which are at work. The chapter then concludes with a (somewhat) imaginary dialogue between Trent and a pro-choice advocate. I particularly liked this feature since this shows how to apply practically what you have learned in that chapter. Not only that, it demonstrates how one can engage in pro-life apologetics in a respectful, productive and persuasive manner.

What other pro-life books would you recommend? Who else is going to the Walk For Life this weekend?

Camino Tips: Equipment

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pack

Probably the most important thing to consider when preparing for the Camino is your pack. In assembling mine, I consulted the list of recommendations found in a companion book I had bought, as well as some other lists I found online. Here is a categorized list of everything I carried on my back along the Camino:

Walking Gear
Backpack (with rain sheet)
Waterproof jacket
Waterproof trouser/pants covers
Hat (for sun/rain)
Sunglasses
Suntan lotion (SPF 30+)
Buff Headwear (great for keeping the sun off your neck)
Trainers/sneakers for exploring the town in the evenings (Optional)

Clothes
Long sleeve (quick-dry) tops x2
T-shirt (quick-dry) x1
Trousers which convert to shorts x2
Underwear x2
Socks x4
A pair of shorts to be used as pyjamas

Sleeping
Sleeping bag (liner)
Inflatable pillow

Washbag
Flip-flops for the shower
Toothpaste/Toothbrush/Floss
Nail clipper
Quick-drying towel

Laundry
Concentrated washing liquid
Scrubba (Optional, but very convenient and a great conversation starter)
Plastic Clothes Pegs

Other
First Aid Kit (Compeed, scissors, band-aids/plasters, tape)
Phone (and charger)
Camino Scallop Shell (Buy in St. Jean)
Camino Guide Book/Maps
$300 in Euros and an ATM card

I’ll be drawing particular attention to some of these items in subsequent posts.

Equipment | Before you leave home | On the road | Staying in Hostels

Anonymous Gospels?

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AnonymousThis week I heard a talk on the Gospel of John by Dr. Michael Barber at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.

In the early part of his talk, Dr. Barber discussed the question of authorship of the Gospel. He mentioned how modern sceptical scholars often say that the Gospel was originally anonymous, and that the text “The Gospel according to John” was a later addition. I have often heard claims such as these, so I was delighted to hear Dr. Barber present some potential problems with this position…

The main issue in asserting that the Gospel was original anonymous is that the manuscript evidence does not support this hypothesis at all. Where the manuscripts survive, we find the text present. Not only that, there are some other problems which flow from this…

If the original Gospel was anonymous and the association with St. John was a later development, why don’t we find divergent attributions? Since St. John is not identified as the author within the narrative itself, surely one would expect many divergent attributions to develop? Why was the Gospel never associated with, say, St. Peter? The obvious answer is that the text “The Gospel according to John” was in there from the beginning.

If the sceptics are right, the text had been copied as an anonymous Gospel and distributed throughout the Empire. Why is it that manuscripts from all these different regions bear the text claiming Johannine authorship? It would have been an impossible task to gather up all these different manuscripts retrospectively in order to “fix” them with an agreed-upon author, particularly since they were in different languages (Greek, Latin etc). Once again, the simplest explanation for consistency in all these manuscripts in all these areas in all these languages is simply that the text “The Gospel according to John” was in there from the beginning.

These reasons, coupled with the universal testimony of the Early Church Fathers, should give us great confidence that, from the very beginning, this Gospel opened with the words “The Gospel according to John…”

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