A Sound of Sheer Silence

In 1930, the Lambeth Conference--the international gathering of bishops and other leaders of the Church of England and its daughter churches (such as the US Episcopal Church)--issued Resolution 15, which states as follows : Where there is clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, the method must be decided on Christian principles. The primary and obvious method is complete abstinence from intercourse (as far as may be necessary) in a life of discipline and self-control lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless in those cases where there is such a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of the same Christian principles. The Conference records its strong condemnation of the use of any methods of conception control from motives of selfishness, luxury, or mere convenience. ...

The Second Sunday after Easter (i.e., the Sunday after Easter) always has the same Gospel reading--John 20:19-31.  It's a pretty famous section of the Gospel--it tells the story of "Doubting Thomas," who would not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he was able to place his fingers in the nail marks on Jesus's hands.  Most priests preach something about that part of the story. But Doubting Thomas is in the second part of the reading.  This Sunday I was totally focused on the first part of the reading--John 20:19-23.  Here's what it says. When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When ...

Watch this clip of a speech given by Sarah Palin yesterday: I am pleased to see Andrew Sullivan call this for what it is--blasphemy .  To hold that intentionally placing a person on the line between life and drowning is "baptism" is to mock everything that Jesus Christ stood for.  The religion that Sarah Palin is preaching here is not Christianity--it is a fascistic death cult. With the exception of Sullivan and Rod Dreher , I have seen very little reaction to this in the Christian/Catholic blogosphere and media.  Where are they?  I suppose they are too busy identifying made-up threats to religious freedom from the Gay Agenda, Obama, et al.  Shameful.

Pope John Paul II will be officially made a saint on Sunday, along with Pope John XXIII.   As I mentioned in my last post , I have reservations about the legacy of John Paul II.  I think he drove a stake into the Catholic intellectual Golden Age of the middle 20th Century (which, in turn, came after a 200 year or so period of intellectual stasis and fossilization) when he and Benedict XVI nee Josef Ratzinger cracked down on "dissident" Catholic thinkers like Hans Kung and the Liberation Theology crowd.  I think he failed to understand (or really try to understand) many of his flock in the West were coming from, and so set the institutional Church against its own members, such as women and gays and lesbians.  He also failed totally to properly address the priest sex abuse crisis, leaving a horrible mess for Benedict (and Francis, and probably Francis's successor) to attempt to clean up. As I think about these problems, I think there is a more fundamental problem w...

I stumbled upon a old post by Rachel Held Evans entitled "13 Things that Make Me a Lousy Evangelical."   It is a nice mix of theological and cultural issues where she departs from standard conservative Christian talking points.  Along the same lines, here are my 13 things that make me a bad Catholic, at least for certain values of "Catholic." 1.  I find saying the Rosary to be extremely tedious, so I almost never do it. 2.  I've read all of Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body lectures.  I think there are mostly incomprehensible, and the parts that are understandable are cartoonishly misogynistic. 3.  I think priests and bishops who wear the old-fashioned clerical garb, like Cardinal Burke in this picture, look ridiculous.  Plus, and I want to say this delicately, I think Liberace would find an outfit like this to be somewhat over the top. 4.  I think Medjugorje is basically a scam.  I have serious doubts about Fatima and maybe...

I don't want to be a jerk and demean other forms of Christianity, but I think non-liturgical churches are really missing out on something fundamental.  Without liturgy, you are left with various forms of talking--preaching and singing.  And talking means you are left with a religion of ideas.  The problem is, I don't think Christianity is religion of ideas.  At least not at it's heart. Instead, I see Christianity as a religion of encounter.  Ultimately, it is a story of a transcendent creator reaching down to interact with His creation, which culminates in Jesus's life, death, and resurrection.  In turn, we are invited into that encounter.  Encounters can be described, but that description is going to be a pale substitute for being drawn into the encounter to experience it for yourself. Liturgy is, or at least can be, the gateway to that encounter.  I find that when I am the most confused intellectually about my faith, experiencing liturgy is ...

The sermon I heard today asked "what does the cross mean to you?" For me, it is a symbol of suffering and humiliation.  To die that way--in pain, slowly, in the sight of everyone--is one of the worst ways I can think of to die.  Perhaps there are ways that are as bad, but I have hard time coming up with something worse. But it is not simply the brutality of the death, though it is brutal.  It is also the humiliating way that it was carried out.  Pilate placed "The King of the Jews" on top of the cross not as a confession of faith but as a sign of contempt for an oppressed people under his rule--if your "king" would die in this lowly way, think how low the rest of you are.  His own people scorned and mocked him.  His Apostles ran away.  The only people that were present to witness His death were women, who were worth little at that time. And yet, Jesus picked that way to die.  He could have come at a different time, and suffered a different d...