One of the most often-used and erroneous mischaracterizations of the teaching of the Catholic Church is that the Church teaches “salvation by works,” whereas Protestantism “correctly” teaches salvation by grace through faith alone – or, “justification by faith alone.” In order to correct both errors (the error that the Catholic Church teaches salvation by works, […]
A reflection on the Gospel reading for the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Matthew 11:25-30 (NABRE) At that time Jesus exclaimed:“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,for although you have hidden these thingsfrom the wise and the learnedyou have revealed them to little ones.Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.All […]
Not sure I’ll be able to do this every week, but here’s my first stab at a rundown of articles and posts I found helpful this week. In honor of Independence Day in the U.S., this week’s rundown is mostly a sampling of stories and sites with an emphasis on Catholicism in the United States. […]
This post is the result of some reflection I have been doing on insights I have gained from Abbot Jeremy Driscoll in his podcast on Theology at the Eucharistic Table. What follows is a mixture of some of his words and ideas, and some of my own. Since the thoughts are mingled together I won’t try too hard […]
Being a Roman Catholic is, shall we say, a “package deal.” It is hard sometimes (even for life-long Catholics) to know what is optional and what’s mandatory in terms of both beliefs and practices. So, some Catholics, not knowing how to sort it all out, or simply not understanding, or perhaps even completely disagreeing with […]
In my previous post, I laid out nine ideas that were central to my understanding of Catholic Marian theology when I first began my journey of reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church. Some of them are, indeed, what is taught by the Catholic Church, some of them are mischaracterizations put forth by protesting Christians or poorly-discipled […]
When I explain to people that before I could reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church I had to sort through my own theological issues with Catholicism, they always want to know what the specific issues were. In my case, I had a list of 14 issues. It won’t surprise many readers to know (and they’ll […]
When I felt the Holy Spirit calling me and my family to fully reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church, I sat down and made a list of all the things about Catholic Doctrine (as I understood it at the time) that I had a serious problem with. And trust me when I tell you, I […]
For those who perhaps have not heard yet, my family and I began an intentional journey of full reconciliation with the Roman Catholic Church back in June of 2018. We are still on that journey which we believe will come to a crescendo when we are received into full communion at our Parish Church on […]
Have you ever heard someone say that “Catholics believe they are re-sacrificing Jesus” in the Catholic Mass? I have. And guess what; that’s not the teaching of the Catholic Church regardless of what you might have heard! What follows is what is really happening in the simplest terms I can communicate. Terminology is the key… Part of the problem […]