Catholic Links is no longer active, so mosey on over to Catholic Posts instead for daily links to some of what I consider to be the more interesting and/or edifying and/or hilarious Catholic posts of the day. Cya there.
The Ignatius Press Blog: A collection of Ignatius Insight pieces about the Blessed Virgin Mary http://bit.ly/6TFNdY
I happened to purchase this book the other day and apparently it should be read next http://j.mp/5I1oS6
Bryan Cross: Principium Unitatis – Two Bad Arguments Against The Immaculate Conception http://bit.ly/8wRIpn
Tim Troutman reviews a Catholic picture book for children. Army of Martyrs/Review: The Purples are Coming http://bit.ly/4GLm03
I always enjoy these “bestest books” posts. Insight Scoop:”The Best Books I Read in 2009…” http://bit.ly/4r2NO0
I thought this app looked kind of silly until I tried it. CNS Blog – Need to pray? Try iRosary http://bit.ly/4mIyO3
Principium Unitatis – Please pray for Michael Spencer and his family http://bit.ly/7NzvDQ
Dave Armstrong’s site – Biblical Evidence for Catholicism
Here is an interesting site I came across today, Pugio Fidei:
Tuesday, December 8th the Church celebrates The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Perhaps you find this to be an offensive or indefensible doctrine of the Catholic Church, or perhaps you accept the Church’s teaching but don’t really understand how it came to be defined as dogma. Wherever you may stand as regards this particular Marian doctrine, Association of Hebrew Catholics Professor Lawrence Feingold’s lecture on Mary’s Immaculate Conception and her role as the New Eve should prove to be very helpful and informative. Also, from a general theological standpoint, this lecture is one of the best explanations I have ever heard of the Catholic Church’s slow and deliberate process of discerning doctrinal truth from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, generally over the course of centuries, ultimately leading to pronouncement of defined Dogma. The Marian doctrines didn’t just materialize overnight. Far from it. Neither are they inconsistent with Sacred Scripture, but rather they are rooted in the faithful interpretation of the Old and New Testament, and as such they are the result of the Holy Spirit guiding the Church into all truth (John 16:13).
Dr. Feingold’s lecture is available as a free MP3. Click on the link below to listen, or “Right Click” and “Save Link As” to download it to your own computer.
The Immaculate Conception – Early Church Fathers on Mary as the New Eve
Obama’s Afghanistan speech bumps ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ | Grand Rapids News – - MLive.com.
Never fear. The annual Christmas classic based on Charles Schultz’ Peanuts characters has been rescheduled for next Tuesday, December 8th. In the meantime, here’s a short bit from everyone’s favorite Christmas mainstay.
By the way, even though we have this on DVD, there is something about watching the show on television when it airs that is still appealing, and I believe that is because it is an event that hearkens back to my childhood and stirs memories. As a child I looked forward to Linus narrating the Luke account of the birth of Christ, and I still do these many years later.
Luther: your responsibility is great indeed, for the closer I look the more clearly do I see that you overthrew the Pope and set the public on the throne[!]
Journals of the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard
via John H Armstrong : Building Bridges With Our Muslim Neighbors.
Dr. John Armstrong is a former Reformed pastor as well as the founder and president of Act 3. Dr. Armstrong ignores reformed borders because he has a heart for ecumenism. In this recent post Dr. Armstrong encourages us to look at Muslims and “engage them as human persons made in the image of God just as we are, rather than potential terrorists“ :
In a world where the fear of Muslims is very high most of us are not sure how to respond to the Muslims we meet from day-to-day. Increasingly Muslims live in our neighborhoods. You almost have to live in a small rural area or a remote place to not see Muslims on a daily bases. They live in many of our neighborhoods and I deal with them on a regular basis. What are we to do?
I suggest the first and most important thing we are to do is not be suspicious of our neighbors unless there is clear and obvious reason to become so. Most have the same hopes, dreams and fears that we do. And most will be good neighbors just like non-Muslims. Our job, as Christians, is to build bridges to our neighbors, not react with fear and enmity. Such bridges can foster harmonious community relationships based on mutual respect, which is always the starting point for our witness as believers. We best engage Muslims when we engage them as human persons made in the image of God just as we are. They have joys and trials just as we do and it is natural to share in these as fellow human persons…
I am reminded that a study undertaken by Fuller Theological Seminary revealed that the number one reason Muslims who converted to faith in Christ gave for becoming Christians had to do with the reality of the love they saw in their neighbors who were Christians. I am not surprised by this in the least. Must we turn every Muslim into a potential terrorist or enemy? Must we fear Muslims because we do not understand them or know them? What ever happened to building bridges for the sake of the gospel? Whatever happened to love, period?
“Pope Benedict’s line of succession goes back to the Apostle Peter. The Patriarchs of Constantinople trace their succession back to the Apostle Andrew, Peter’s brother. One source in the tradition tells us that St. Andrew preached in “Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia,” and ‘afterwards in Byzantium where he appointed St. Stachys as its first bishop.’ “
“Today Pope Benedict XVI sent the following letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.”
To His Holiness Bartholomaios I
Archbishop of Constantinople
Ecumenical PatriarchYour Holiness,
It is with great joy that I address Your Holiness on the occasion of the visit of the delegation guided by my Venerable Brother Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, to whom I have entrusted the task of conveying to you my warmest fraternal greetings on the Feast of Saint Andrew, the brother of Saint Peter and the protector of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
On this joyful occasion commemorating the birth into eternal life of the Apostle Andrew, whose witness of faith in the Lord culminated in his martyrdom, I express also my respectful remembrance to the Holy Synod, the clergy and all the faithful, who under your pastoral care and guidance continue even in difficult circumstances to witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The memory of the holy martyrs compels all Christians to bear witness to their faith before the world. There is an urgency in this call especially in our own day, in which Christianity is faced with increasingly complex challenges. The witness of Christians will surely be all the more credible if all believers in Christ are “of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32).
Our Churches have committed themselves sincerely over the last decades to pursuing the path towards the re-establishment of full communion, and although we have not yet reached our goal, many steps have been taken that have enabled us to deepen the bonds between us. Our growing friendship and mutual respect, and our willingness to encounter one another and to recognize one another as brothers in Christ, should not be hindered by those who remain bound to the remembrance of historical differences, which impedes their openness to the Holy Spirit who guides the Church and is able to transform all human failings into opportunities for good.
This openness has guided the work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue, which held its eleventh plenary session in Cyprus last month. The meeting was marked by a spirit of solemn purpose and a warm sentiment of closeness. I extend once again my heartfelt gratitude to the Church of Cyprus for its most generous welcome and hospitality. It is a source of great encouragement that despite some difficulties and misunderstandings all the Churches involved in the International Commission have expressed their intention to continue the dialogue.
The theme of the plenary session, The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium, is certainly complex, and will require extensive study and patient dialogue if we are to aspire to a shared integration of the traditions of East and West. The Catholic Church understands the Petrine ministry as a gift of the Lord to His Church. This ministry should not be interpreted in the perspective of power, but within an ecclesiology of communion, as a service to unity in truth and charity. The Bishop of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity (Saint Ignatius of Antioch), is understood to be the Servus Servorum Dei (Saint Gregory the Great). Thus, as my venerable predecessor the Servant of God Pope John Paul II wrote and I reiterated on the occasion of my visit to the Phanar in November 2006, it is a question of seeking together, inspired by the model of the first millennium, the forms in which the ministry of the Bishop of Rome may accomplish a service of love recognized by one and all (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 95). Let us therefore ask God to bless us and may the Holy Spirit guide us along this difficult yet promising path.
I don’t normally go for coffee table books, but this looks good…
This glorious volume is a lavishly illustrated coffee-table book with dozens of inspirational and famous color paintings, sculptures and artwork of the Blessed Virgin Mary from all over the world.
The beautiful pictures are accompanied by the profound writings and homilies of Pope Benedict XVI on the person of Mary, and her unique role in human history and in the plan of God for salvation history.
The gorgeous paintings and artwork are from many different centuries, some very famous and others less well-known. Many of these artworks are located at popular Marian shrines that Pope Benedict has visited and honored with special events, prayers and homilies, depicted throughout this volume. Some of the famous Marian images include Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Czestochowa (the “Black Madonna”), Queen of the Holy Rosary, Our Lady of Loreto, Queen of Carmel, and many others.
Pope Benedict offers in-depth, inspirational reflections on the unique spiritual role Mary has as the Mother of the Savior, showing her to be the universal “woman” that Jesus calls her in the Gospels, his mother that God made the spiritual mother of all mankind.
Using Biblical references of Mary as “full of grace” and the “woman clothed with the sun”, Pope Benedict emphasizes that Mary’s main role is to lead us to union with Jesus, to help us know and love him much better and to be his true followers.
Ten Questions for N.T. Wright regarding Catholicism, Justification and the Church – Tatlor Marshall
http://cantuar.blogspot.com/2009/11/ten-questions-for-nt-wright-regarding.html
Thousands of youths converge on Kansas City to celebrate their faith
via CNS STORY: Thousands of youths converge on Kansas City to celebrate their faith.
John Calvin: Supernatural or Natural Birth by Tom Riello
http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2009/11/supernatural-or-natural-birth/
The evangelization of Vietnam began in the 16th century and was formally established with the setting up of two Vicariates Apostolic in 1659. There are now about 6 million Catholics in Vietnam, some 10% of the population.
This growth comes partly from the fact that since the earliest times the seed of the Faith has been watered by the blood of the martyrs of Vietnam – the missionary clergy, the local clergy and the ordinary Christian people. They have all shared the labour of apostolic work and have together faced death to bear witness to the truth of the Gospel. In the course of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries no less than 53 decrees, signed by the lords and emperors of the country from 1625 to 1886, launched one persecution of Christians after another, each one more savage than the last. Over the whole territory of Vietnam about 130,000 Christians were killed in these persecutions. Over the centuries the names of most of them have been lost, but their memory is still alive in the Catholic community.
Since the beginning of the 20th century 117 of these heroes (those whose sufferings were cruellest and best documented) were beatified, in four groups. They were all canonized together by Pope John Paul II on 19 June 1988.
Each one of them was a soul individually created and loved by God, with a life and gifts uniquely his or her own; but with such a huge crowd one can only classify. By nationality, there were 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spanish and 10 French. By status, there were 8 bishops, 50 priests, and 59 laymen and women. By mode of death, 75 were beheaded, 22 strangled, 6 burned alive, 5 torn to pieces while still alive, and 9 died of torture in prison.
Tuesday 24 November 2009
