The Power of Organized Religion

With Jeff Bethke's recent "I hate religion" new religion sweeping the evangelical world, Eve Mercer from Catholics Are Christians makes an excellent point about the benefits of an "organized religion":

"Not to re-hash the whole "I Hate Religion" issue, but just a late night thought after watching a day of news. America is about to see what organized religion in this country can do. No denomination has the kind of clout or cohesion to do what the USCCB (Organization of Catholic Bishops) is going to do in standing up to this administration on the HHS Mandate. It is the organization and authority of the Catholic Church that will be taking a stand for the religious freedoms and liberty of all Americans. I pray that all of America will see this, and hearts and minds will be more open to what the Catholic Church truly stands for. And thank you to people of all faiths who are standing behind us Catholics during this time of persecution."

Gnostic Myths and Protestantism

Here's a link to a blog post that illustrates how the ancient heresy of gnosticism has crept into some of  the protestant sects.  It surprised me to see that a protestant recognized and wrote about it .

The Importance of Relics

Jeremy Tate over at Called To Communion has an excellent story of his discovery of a fragment of the True cross . Initially he was skeptical,  but his daughter's reaction to seeing this changed his heart in a beautiful way. Relics are important because they put us in material touch with a true historic event and can bolster our faith. Are there phony relics? Sure! Are there phony religions? Sure! But as Jeremy points out, a fake relic doesn't negate the reality that there are true ones just as much heretical religions don't negate the truth of the real Church.

 "This is because every relic is connected to Christ, the divine made physical. Every relic lifts the fog of unbelief because every relic offers its own concrete testimony to Christ’s redemptive work in this world."

"Sentire cum Ecclesia" To Think With The Church. Sisters Re-Unite With Rome.

A group of schismatic nuns 40 years ago formed in the Pacific Northwest believing that the past three popes were not valid and the Church was without a pope. In 2008 , 15 of 32 sisters returned home to the Church through the prayers and intercession of Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta. A priest and his congregation in 2002 started praying for them to return and invited the Missionarys of charity to come to Spokane and evangelize these sisters. Then, in 2005 they were allowed to watch  the funeral of Blessed JP2 on the news. This led to them secretly listening to Catholic Radio and going to EWTN's website. The rest is history as they say.    Check out Set DeMoor's One Billion Stories Interview with two of these vibrant sisters.

Just reading the description of the design of their orders new crest symbol was a lesson in humility and love for Jesus and His Church. As one who has spent most of his adult life away from the Catholic Church and "in schism"  as a protestant,  this story really resonated with me.  See the description below:


"Our crest represents the Marian and Petrine aspects of the Catholic Church. We honor the Virgin Mother of the Church and the successor of Peter upon whom the Church is built.

At the center of the crest is the heart which beats at the center of the Church: the Immaculate Heart of Mary, aflame with love for God and for us, the children bequeathed to her from the cross. As virgin and mother, Mary is the image, model and mother of the Church.  We claim her as our model, in our efforts to live "in the heart of the Church."

The keys of Peter symbolize the Church's apostolic authority received from Christ, the authority to which we pledge our lives. "Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia."  (“Where Peter is, there is the Church.”)
The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove overshadows the heart and the keys, just as the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary at the Annunciation, and again when she was gathered with the apostles in the cenacle at Pentecost

Seven rays emanate from the Holy Spirit, symbolizing His seven gifts as well as the seven Sacraments, channels of sanctifying grace for the whole Church.  The combined rays symbolize the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit:  charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity. The twelve rays also signify the twelve Apostles.

The top banner with the words,  "Sentire cum Ecclesia" ("to think with the Church," an expression used by St. Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises) is the motto of our Community.
The lower banner is the title of Our Lady, patroness of our community: "Mater Ecclesiae" (Mother of the Church).

The crest is enclosed in the shape of the colonnade at St. Peter's in Rome, the center of Catholic teaching, worship and unity in the world. The four pillars represent the foundational pillars of our religious life:

The vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience together with our total consecration to Jesus through Mary. 

The dome of St. Peter’s reminds us of the FAITH we profess in all that is taught and maintained through the ages by Christ’s holy Church.

The cross atop the dome draws our gaze heavenward, filling us with HOPE in Christ crucified and risen, in Whom we seek eternal fulfillment.

The colonnade resembles the open arms of a mother welcoming all into her embrace, reminding us of the CHARITY that emanates from the heart of the Church and inflames the hearts of her children, filling us with supernatural love for God and neighbor."

What Do Larry Norman, Coffee and an Obelisk Have to Do With Incarnationality?

Ancient Egyptian Obelisk on st. Peter's Square

Tonight on the Journey Home, Dr. Peter Hoff, former Baptist, described  how the Church could take truth and goodness from any source,  outside the Church, and "baptize" and use it within the Church for the glory of God and the edification of the faithful. This has been a hallmark of Catholic Christianity from the early days when the Church would appropriate a heathen temple and sanctify it and use it for the worship of the triune God.
    This concept can be seen in the music, architecture and art of all of Christendom which takes the best of all sources that point to goodness, beauty and truth, because the Church recognizes that these are ultimately all from God.  This is quite a departure from the way in which I saw the world in my little evangelical blinders and took some time for me to get use to this. My world use to be very black and white. If it's not in the bible or doesn't have a bible verse associated with it, or doesn't say Jesus in some obvious way, it's no good and of no use. Hence, I stopped listening to music or appreciating anything that wasn't in the 1970's sub-culture of American-evangelical Christianity which shaped my vision of the world. Sadly, I isolated myself from much truth and goodness because of my failure to see the Creator's handiwork in the "secular" world.
   Ironically, this wonderful ability of Catholicism to incorporate the beauty and truth in the secular world is the very thing that it gets criticized for by those who need to see the "Jesus stamp" on something before it is approved and accepted.   Ultimately it all goes back to the paradigm which I have blogged repeatedly about before that non-Catholic Christianity often follows the  material/flesh=bad but invisible/ephemeral=good.  This is a flawed  view of the world that goes against the very essence of incarnationality. God took flesh and came into the world to redeem our flesh and the world. This redemption carries through to all of the material world. Thank God for the wisdom of the Catholic faith because it has allowed us to look at the world and say "it is good."  Heck, if it wasn't for a pope, we wouldn't have coffee because its from the Islamic world and was known as Satan's Drink!  I suspect Larry Norman was  influenced by this Catholic concept after reading Chesterton and it was reflected in his music. "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?

Ex-Calvinist's Response to Calvinist Professors Commenting on Calvinist's Conversion to Catholic Faith

The men on Called to Communion respond to a podcast of the Westminster seminary on the "lure of Rome."
Very solid refutations!
Check it out here.

Our Brokenness

My wife Deborah wrote something on her fb page that I want to share here today.

"The Scriptures talk about how God bind's up our wounds and heals our broken hearts.  I've heard many talks and read lots of writings about how we are "a broken people" and God wants to "make us whole."  I don't often feel broken.  Sometimes I feel sad and I don't know why.  Sometimes I get angry about little things for no reason.  But most of the time I go through my days amazed at how blessed I am and how few life wounds and battle weary scars I have.   Yet I've heard these words about brokenness so I've prayed "God, heal my brokenness, please show me where I am wounded." I have invited God to touch those places in my heart that I have kept hidden from him and even from myself.  Today, we decided to work on organizing our basement.  As I considered the daunting task ahead, I felt hesitant and slightly anxious at the thought of it but knew it had to be done in preparation for our heat pump coming on Thursday.  As we sorted through boxes of memorabilia, looked at old photos and documents, decorations, books and CD's my heart became heavier and heavier.  Each item had a memory, some very happy to be sure, but many represented dreams unfulfilled, time lost, relationships broken, and hopes not yet realized.  At the end of it all I came to one conclusion.  Oh how truly broken I am and how much I need God's healing touch to every cell of my wounded heart;  His breath on my cold bones, His gentle arms cradling that little girl inside who tried to be oh so strong only to hide her deepest hurt away in a box. So I remembered my prayers for healing and thought, "this time I'm not going to stuff that pain back in the box, nor give it away thinking that it will never return."  Instead I am giving my broken self to the only one I know who can put me back together, to the only one who's deepest longing is to make me whole.  This is my desire and my true joy so that the pure love with which He heals me can be poured out to all those He has given me the honor of sharing life with, to you my family and friends, to the stranger, the needy and to the broken.  Then maybe the next time there is a closet to clean or memories to unpack, I'll have a little more courage to jump right in and a little more joy about all that God has done to heal my own brokenness."

Christian Bookstores and Sola Scriptura

"If Protestants truly believed in the Bible Alone(sola scriptura),
then shouldn't "Christian" bookstores only be stocked with Bibles?" Michael McCleary, former evangelical, now Catholic convert asks.

Bryan Kemper Pro-life Presbyterian Now Catholic

Bryan Kemper recently shared his conversion story on the Journey Home. Saved out of a horrendous drug addiction he found Jesus. 20 years later he found His Church through his associations with Catholics in the pro-life movement like Father Pavone, Lila Rose, Theresa Tomeo and others.  Check out his story:

An Evangelical Pastor Lauds Catholic Seminarians: "A Visit To Heaven"

Peter J Hamm, a worship leader and evangelical pastor in western PA spent sometime at Mount St. Mary's Catholic seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland last May, at the invitation of his brother, a Catholic seminarian. He wrote about it here. What a breath of fresh air to hear a Protestant say that Catholicism has been misrepresented and misunderstood by his fellow Christians! May God use Peter Hamm to help others re-consider the Catholic faith.