Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Protestants all over the world celebrate “Reformation Day” of October 31. I don’t. Last year, on the five hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther’s revolt, I wrote a lengthy essay on exactly why not, and I think it’s worth reprinting in its entirety. Five Hundred Years Today is the five hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. It is […]
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Today is the “Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels” or, in the old calendar, the “Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Michael the Archangel”. Whatever you call it, the most common name is Michaelmas. It is one of several harvest festivals celebrated throughout Christian Europe. In England this is one of the “quarter days”, which was marked by […]
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The church in which I was Baptized, Confirmed, and Married has all sorts of Christian symbols painted on the walls. One of them that always set my brain to thinking looked something like this: It is, of course, an ancient Trinitarian symbol, reminding us in a visual way that while the Father is God, and the Son is God, and […]
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Today is the five hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. It is fitting that this day is commemorated on the eve of All Saints Day, because Martin Luther began by doing the work of the saints. Ultimately, though, he chose another path. He chose the path of deciding that he knew better than Scripture, Tradition, the combined […]
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The church in which I was Baptized, Confirmed, and Married has all sorts of Christian symbols painted on the walls. One of them that always set my brain to thinking looked something like this: It is, of course, an ancient Trinitarian symbol, reminding us in a visual way that while the Father is God, and the Son is God, and […]
» Read more
We’re just back from the Rite of Election. This is where our Catechumens and Candidates signify their call to the Easter Sacraments. In theory, this should be done at the Cathedral, but the enormous number of people entering the Church make this impractical. Every year, the Archdiocese of Seattle celebrates a number of these Rites throughout the Archdiocese – this […]
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Happy sixth day of Christmas! Yesterday was the memorial of the splendid Saint Thomas Becket. Having the birth name “Thomas”, I take Becket and Aquinas as patrons, and I normally write something about the saint here each year. Yesterday snuck up on me. In addition to working, I attended an early Mass at Saint Joseph, walked home, and then there […]
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Today in the United States, we celebrate a federal holiday honouring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It seems like a good day to tackle the question “are there non-Catholic saints?” Seems like a simple question. First off, what’s a saint exactly? We turn to our trusty Catechism once more and find the following: 823 “The Church . . . is […]
» Read moreHappy fifth day of Christmas! Today the Church celebrates the martyrdom of the splendid Saint Thomas Becket. Having the birth name “Thomas”, I take Becket and Aquinas as patrons. Each year, I write something about the saint here. Previous articles on Saint Thomas Becket: 2014: A Happy Death (Thoughts on the saint’s martyrdom and the grace of a happy death) 2012: […]
» Read moreLet’s talk Purgatory. We have to, to make any sense at all out of today’s feast. Today is officially “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”, but like most folks, I’ll stick with the simple version – All Souls’ Day. Over the years, I’ve heard numerous homilies and essays that mix this day up with yesterday, All Saints’ Day. Last […]
» Read moreWe Catholics have done a spectacularly poor job of teaching the faith over the last forty years. Part of the problem, of course, is media narratives – such as the one that paints one of the most profound teachers of the past century as an “inquisitor” or worse. I’m gratified that Pope Francis has managed to change the narrative. I […]
» Read moreDuring this Year of Faith, the Pope has asked us to re-examine the most recent Council, which began fifty years ago this year, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which turns twenty. Plenty of folks have an axe to grind one way or the other about the Second Vatican Council, but frankly it ended before I was born, and […]
» Read moreLet’s talk Purgatory. We have to, to make any sense at all out of today’s feast. Today is officially “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”, but like most folks, I’ll stick with the simple version – All Souls’ Day. Over the years, I’ve heard numerous homilies and essays that mix this day up with yesterday, All Saints’ Day. Last […]
» Read moreAs part of my observance of the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI, I will be receiving e-mail snippets every day in an effort to read the Catechism in a year. Today I received the first of these e-mail messages, containing the first ten paragraphs of the Catechism. I was immediately struck by paragraph 3, which outlines our […]
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