Tag: featured

Integrating Google Calendar with my Blog

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Hey everyone, this is just a little post to test Google Calendar integration for something I’m working on for a parish website. Below is embedded calendar of the JP2 Group, the young adult community which I used to lead:

Screen Shot 2014-12-03 at 4.11.40 PM

Despite what all the tutorials say, it’s not exactly straight-forward embedding a Google Calendar on a WordPress blog. The calendar is shown in an IFRAME which, unfortunately, WordPress automatically removes when you try to save it. To get around this, I installed an IFRAME plugin and this seemed to do the trick. Thankfully, this issue wouldn’t exist on a regular website 🙂

The article Integrating Google Calendar with my Blog first appeared on RestlessPilgrim.net

Favourite People: Fr. Robert Barron

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In a previous post I spoke about one of my favourite people, Archbishop Fulton Sheen. I spoke about how I came to discover him, his sermons and writings, as well as try and describe something of the impact he had upon me.

I think it is appropriate therefore, that in this next entry, I’ve chosen to talk about someone whom I’ve often heard referred to by other people as “The Next Fulton Sheen”.

This person is Fr. Robert Barron.

If Sheen Had YouTube…

Fr. Robert is a priest who lives near Chicago in the United States. I first came across him on YouTube while I was still living in England.  He is a published author (I finished his book “The Eucharist” this week), but he has also embraced the new media and is using it to extend the reach of his ministry. It is in this sense that he is like Fulton Sheen – he’s a superb communicator and uses all means available to proclaim the faith, although in terms of style he and Archbishop Sheen are very different.

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Pushing our pro-life religion

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Have you ever been speaking about abortion and heard someone who’s pro-choice exasperatingly exclaim “Stop imposing your religion on me!”? Well, today’s entry in this abortion series addresses that very issue…

Why are you pro-life?

Last year, I posted on Facebook that I was at the March For Life in Washington DC. This raised the interest of some of my pro-choice friends, so I explained to them why I’m against abortion and why I’m pro-life.

In response to my explanation, I was told again and again that Christians should stop imposing their religion on others. I found the objection rather odd. Why? Well, I found it strange because I hadn’t mentioned religion once in any of my arguments. Neither had any of my friends when they contributed to the thread. All the arguments against abortion which were presented did not rely at all on a theistic worldview.

FeaturedPushingReligion

Interestingly, the people who first brought religion into our discussion were those who were pro-choice. Again and again they returned to the idea that we were arguing against abortion on religious grounds. However, we never mentioned God, nor did we cite any religious text or authority. Funnily enough, something very similar happened on Brandon Vogt’s blog around the same time…

Unfortunately, rather than responding to our (non-theistic) arguments, some retorted with cheap shots against the Christian faith. Not only that, we were repeatedly treated to my own personal pet peeve, the armchair interpretation of Bible by non-Christians, which naturally included the classic misinterpretation of “Judge not lest you be judged”.

I’ve said many times bore that, even if I were not a Christian, I’d still be pro-life. The arguments against abortion don’t require a belief in God. The pro-life arguments are scientifically, philosophically and psychologically robust. If I were an atheist I might perhaps have some difficulty explaining why human life has intrinsic value, but it’s an instinct that I don’t think I could deny, even if I wanted to.

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Second Century Liturgy Uploaded!

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A while ago I uploaded a document to the Patristics section of this blog which was a short extract from the writings of St. Justin, apologist and martyr of the Early Church. The extract came from his First Apology where he wrote about the liturgy of the Church in Rome during the Second Century. I’ve recently been doing some blog maintenance and I’ve now recorded that document onto MP3:

 First Apology (Extract) from St. Justin Martyr

More recordings will be coming over the next couple of weeks: Apostolic Tradition and the Liturgy of St. James.

Historic Worship

I would suggest that a large number of Christians naturally assume that the Early Church worshiped in the same way as their own congregation in 21st Century America:

Relevant Worship(Thanks to Patrick Vanderpool for the artwork)

Thankfully, we are not left in ignorance as to how the Early Church worshiped, since Church Fathers such as St. Justin left us written descriptions. These documents show us that the Early Church had a structured liturgy which had, at its centre, the Eucharist.

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When you get a new Dad…

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A few months ago, I got a new Dad… well, sort of.

Following the retirement of one the priests in our Eparchy (the Eastern name for a Diocese), our Bishop reassigned many of his priests. As a result of this shuffle, our Pastor was sent to Denver and our parish given to a new priest.

This kind of situation occurs periodically in the life of a Catholic parish. A few years after I started attending my Byzantine church, the Bishop assigned our Pastor to the role of Rector at our Seminary in Pittsburg. Fr. Robert had been at the parish for many years. He had been our spiritual father for a long time and had married and baptized many in our parish. As a result, his transfer was quite a wrench for us.

Although these periods of transition can be rather painful, on the whole, I think this is good for the spiritual health of the parish. By having our priests changed every few years, we are taught a certain level of detachment and are given some inoculation against a cult of personality which may form around a particularly charismatic minister. It also offers us periodic opportunities for parish renewal. Most of all though, it reminds us of what is transient and what is unchangeable. The man standing at the altar may differ, but the Eucharist remains the same.

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts

Malachi 1:11

The Epistle of Joy – Episode #16 (Video)

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We continue through Chapter 4 today:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you. – Philippians 4:4-9

Here are my thoughts on today’s text:

For an audio-only version of this video, please click here.

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