My Thoughts on Fiducia Supplicans

 Everyone is talking about it.  So here is the video I've made on the new Vatican document on blessings.

Under the Mission?

The New Testament presents us with many teachings which are difficult to accept.  Among the most difficult in our era pertains to the relationship between husbands and wives. There are four places [Col 3:18, Eph 5:22, Titus 2:5, 1Pet 3:1-6] where the New Testament states that a wife should be in submission to her husband. 

Today I wanted to look at a way folks try to obscure the difficulty of this teaching and why it doesn't work.

Re-Reading James 2:18

I was recently preparing to lead my students through James 2.  I was going through it sentence-by-sentence when I discovered something confusing in verse 18.  It reads:

"But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith." - James 2:18

Why was this confusing?  And what was the solution?

Paul's Soteriology in Thessalonians

Last evening I thought I'd do a study on both the letters to the Thessalonians.  Specifically, I wanted to see what can be gleaned from those two letters concerning Paul's soteriology.  

There wasn't a lot; only 5 passages.  But those 5 provide an interesting summary which can used as an interpretive key to Paul's larger works.

So let's dive in!

Two Places Where Jesus Talks about Purgatory

It is often said by Protestants that they cannot find Purgatory in the Bible.  It could be retorted that it is harder to see something you're not looking for - even harder when you are opposed to finding it.

The typical passage which Catholic appeal to for a description of Purgatory is 1Corinthians 3:10-15.  But today I want to look at two other passages which come from the mouth of the Lord Himself.

Can There be a Catholic Feminism?

There are many ideologies in the world.  Populism, Libertarianism, Communism, Capitalism, Anarchism, and the list goes on.  Whenever Catholics encounter one, we inevitably ask if there can be a Catholic version of it.  And so it goes with Feminism.

Today I want to ask the question... can there be a Catholic Feminism?

Silly Animal Benedictions

I'm a member of an ecumenical men's group.  Every now and again one of the men sends out a text message with a prayer to encourage us.  I like to respond with a silly benediction of my own.  Namely, I like to invent benedictions based on the silly animal stories in the Bible.  

Today I'd like to share four which I've come up with.  So let's get a mooooooove on.