"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
A few weeks ago I attended a presentation after Mass given by my friend Huliana, describing her journey from Islam to Catholicism. My friend Nessa took some photographs and I recorded the audio. Here it is…
From Islam to Catholicism (Download)
This is my promised apology…
“Okay, Minion, you were right, and I was…less right” – Megamind
Okay, not that kind of apology… On Monday, when I put up the “Lectionary Notes” for yesterday’s Mass Readings, I said that later in the week I would try to do a slightly more apologetics-related post concerning Matthew 16.
Since this is an apologetics entry, if you haven’t read my Ecumenical Apologist post, I would invite you to read that first since it explains something of my perspective and my attempted approach with posts like this.
I was running a little low on time this week so I dug through my email and found a correspondence from a few years ago with a non-Catholic whom we will call “Jay”. Jay raised the question of the Pope early on in our correspondence, but I had resisted talking about the issue of the Papacy until we had covered some more fundamental issues (authority, the canon etc.).
Anyway, here’s what I said in response to his statements about Matthew 16…
Today I continue the “Catholics Come Home” series which began a few days ago. Today the evangelization suggestions focus around parish life…
10. Your parish
It’s important to support and build up your parish home. It is to your parish that you will be inviting people. Just as you would prepare your home if you had people coming over to visit, you should help make your parish a vibrant and welcoming place.
“As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another“ – John 13:34-35
Serve your parish in whatever way you think appropriate. I’d invite you to get creative! Think about what you love and then consider how this could this be used for the glory of God and for drawing people to Jesus and His Church. For example, do you love board games? Organize a board game night!
March 28th, 2018: Anthony D’Ambrosio @ Mission San Diego
About the speaker: Anthony D’Ambrosio left seminary in 2010 to seek a more creative way to bring the Gospel into contact with post Christian culture. After spending five years growing a successful youth ministry, he founded a creative agency in Dallas Texas that partners with entrepreneurial ministries and startups to help them build their tribes and rally people to their causes. He is also one of the founders of Catholic Creatives, an organization focused on sparking a creative culture of innovation in the church. He loves poetry, scotch, Lord of the Rings, MMA, & cooking.
You can subscribe to the San Diego Theology On Tap Podcast using either iTunes or Google Play.
Main Talk (Download)
Q&A (Download)
Something has been bugging me for some time now. The vast majority of Masses I’ve attended in the States have ended with applause. Back in England I encountered this fairly often among non-Catholic congregations, but quite rarely in Catholic parishes.
Here in San Diego I play the guitar in at a LifeTeen Mass and there is applause every week as we finish the final song. Now, there was a time when I wasn’t fussed about the clapping, but now it really rather bothers me…
The other day, I received a question via Facebook from a friend asking about a passage she had read in the Old Testament. Her query related to a turn of phrase used in the Book of Exodus where God describes Himself as a “jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-6). What did it mean? Why would God ever be “jealous”? Surely jealousy is always a bad thing?
A little while ago I published the list of questions which we use at the beginning of our Bible studies. Now, I know some people might find it a bit dull, and perhaps not the most interesting way to learn the Faith, but I’m a big fan of such things since it provides a framework within in which people can understand their faith. We devote time to continued learning about things which interest us in other areas of our lives, so why should it be any different when it comes to religion?
In our group we’ve recently added the names of the Twelve Apostles. Can you name them all? I’ll walk through them after the jump…