Catholic Musings

This post, written by Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Denver, is taken from the First Things blog.The Catholic faith is not simply a collection of doctrines and ideas, or a body of knowledge, or even a system of beliefs, although all those things are important. At its root, Christianity is an experience: a life-changing, personal experience of the risen Jesus Christ. Everything else in the writings of St. Paul, and everything else in our life as Catholics, flows from that...Read Full Story

Often we like the concept of being front-runners, out in front of the pack, on the cutting edge. Washington and Oregon have earned this distinction by virtue of laws permitting assisted suicide. There are now no legal penalties for physicians who prescribe lethal doses of drugs for the purposes of suicide. A Montana judge has ruled that physician-assisted suicide is legal in that state as well. The decision affirms that “Montana constitutional rights of individual privacy and human dignity...Read Full Story

I’m reading the most peculiar book, called Silent Night: The Story of the Christmas Truce, by Stanley Weintraub. To be more accurate, I suppose, it is the story behind the book is so odd. In it, the author recounts the history of the 1914 “Christmas Truce”. The events described took place in the midst of World War II, the so-called “war to end all wars”. For a time, weapons were laid down on both sides of the battlefield, and enemies walked across the front lines, sharing holiday greetings...Read Full Story

Pastor Ken Pagano of the New Bethel Church, an Assemblies of God church in Louisville, Ky, has come up with a rather interesting approach to the upcoming celebration of Independence Day on July 4. He is encouraging “responsible handgun owners” to wear their firearms inside the church on June 27. There will be a handgun raffle, patriotic music, and information on gun safety. The pastor says, “We're just going to celebrate the upcoming theme of the birth of our nation. And we're not ashamed to...Read Full Story

The National Day of Prayer was designated by the United States Congress in 1952 as a day for people in the United States to pray for their country, although there had previously been several national days of prayer in the U.S. The Continental Congress first established “a time for prayer in forming a new nation” in 1775., President John Adams later declared May 9, 1798 as “a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer,” during the Quasi-war with France. Citizens of all faiths were asked to...Read Full Story

The Boston Men's Conference started with an idea brought up in a Men's group at Cambridge's Saint Paul Parish in 2004. The guys were sitting around and trying to figure out how to help the Cardinal revitalize the Archdiocese because of an appeal he made at his Installation Mass. They first tried to figure out what helped them in the trying days of the Archdiocese and then concluded that if a Men's Group worked for them, perhaps a Men's Conference could help many others.When they started the...Read Full Story

On May 11, 2009, a retired auto worker named John Demajanjuk was removed from his home on a stretcher by authorities who transported him to the airport for deportation to Germany. There, the 89-year-old will be subject to an arrest warrant accusing him of 29,000 counts of accessory to murder while he was a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Poland. There, his attorneys were expected to argue that his case should be dismissed because of his age and failing health. Rabbi Marvin Hier, who...Read Full Story

Today we continue our investigation of Mark from the Anchor Book written by Joel Marcus entitled "Mark 1-8." Having determined that at this time the "2-source hypothesis" still answers the evidence the best, we look to other areas that cause concern and raise questions. The first is what are known as "minor agreements."The area is where Matthew and Luke both depart from Mark and their tendency to resemble each other. Since the 2-source hypothesis assumes no relationship between Matthew and...Read Full Story

I ran into this the other day, and still find it rather mind-boggling. This is an organization which essentially advocates improving the world by eliminating mankind. Not by violence... I'll give them that much... but in this manner: Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth's biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense. Another point in their favor, I suppose, is that they don't advocate...Read Full Story

We now turn to look at Mark from a wider perspective. What is his place in the greater Christian thought movement? We see first that it is eclectic in nature. We see traces of influence from OT prophets in the miracle stories of Jesus, Greco-Roman strains in the Baptist story, and even Hellenized philosophy in the Jesus wisdom sayings and instructions.Marcus notes that this latter is not disturbed by his location of Mark in a Syrian setting, since all the area had been well Hellenized by that...Read Full Story