Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
And the Roman Catholic Church in the UK hasn't quite figured that out about the EU: Bishop Noel is of the view that the European Union "is a noble and historic project". "It is vital," he says, "that we participate in the European elections to ensure the EU and its institutions continue to evolve democratically …
Continue reading "It's Important to Know a Competitor When You See One"
It's not quite a follow-up to this earlier post, but this interesting nugget from St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae, 3 q. 72 a. 2) puts the issue in an interesting light: Christ, by the power which He exercises in the sacraments, bestowed on the apostles the reality of this sacrament, i.e. the fulness of theHoly Ghost, without the sacrament itself, because they …
Continue reading "The Apostolic Charisms and the Sacraments"
From St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 3, a. 53, q. 1: It behooved Christ to rise again, for five reasons. First of all; for the commendation of Divine Justice, to which it belongs to exalt them who humble themselves for God's sake, according to Luke 1:52: "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, …
From Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, 3 q.46 a. 3: Among means to an end, the more suitable is that whereby the various concurring means employed are themselves helpful to such end. But in this that man was delivered by Christ's Passion, many other things besides deliverance from sin came together for man's salvation. In the …
Continue reading "Why Christ's Passion was the Best Way: A Good Friday Reflection"
(Note: the Markov chain example starts about halfway through the post). One of the issues that the Roman Catholic Church wrestles with on an ongoing basis concerns the status of those politicians which a) profess and call themselves Roman Catholics yet b) show that they do not ascribe to the teaching of the Church in …
In response to my post Think Before You Convert, George comes back with some tough observations, which I reproduce below, with my comments interspersed: I’m a catholic and this church feels so empty that I cannot recommend anyone to convert into the RCC. I am one of those “too enthusiastic” types, reading the Bible, volunteering …
Continue reading "Unloading on Roman Catholicism: A View From the Pew"
Agapè AG-2001 (1972) The styles of the "Jesus Music" era varied from group to group, reflecting the popular music of the era. The concept was that the music "become all things to all men, so as at all costs to save some." (1 Corinthians 9:22 TCNT) The old rockers celebrated then (and still do now) …
Continue reading "Agapè – Le Troisième Seuil (The Third Level)"
The Pentecostal and Charismatic world has been atwitter (a phrase with new meaning these days) about the conversion of Ulf Ekman, Sweden's foremost Charismatic pastor, to Roman Catholicism. My friend Dale Coulter has a more "respectable" take on this, and he's right: it's easier to make the Tiber swim from a Full Gospel start than …
Continue reading "From One Who's Been There: My Thoughts on Ulf Ekman's Conversion to Catholicism"
One trait that's deeply cultivated in this country--to a fault, really--is perseverance. How many times have we heard that "winners never quit and quitters never win"? How many times have we heard stories about people who have "pursued their dream" often a great cost (to someone) and accomplished what they set out to do. Isn't …
Continue reading "The Real Enemies of Perseverance–and Success"
Oblate OBLP 1001 (1981) Followers of this blog know that, if an album combines "Texas" and "Catholic," I'm generally interested. This album, which is a little later than most of the albums on this site, goes against the grain of where Christian music was going in the early 1980's (and that's also somewhat true of …
Positive Infinity 