North of the Shire

Franciscans of the Immaculate, The sisters singing behind a video excerpt of the Latin Mass

I had a discussion recently with someone who was adamantly opposed to the Catholic Church and asked him the question;

What does Scripture say is the pillar and ground of truth? Continue Reading »

Two years ago almost to the day I wrote these posts as a two part series that summed up what I understand to be the point of stall of much of the Renewal of the Catholic Church. I think even many Charismatics, whose movement I discuss here, would agree that there has come a point of slowing down, of being stalled. I sense this today in 2009, sad to say, although personally I am wiser in other respects and I know as I have always known that the Church is not abandoned by God but sometimes the life of the Church is not as visible. This has come to me through my own recent experiences, and I suppose the change in me is one of optimism. But I would not change the message of these two posts one iota.

NEW PENTECOST

NEW PENTECOST PART II

I have read part way through Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate, and along the way I have read some of the commentary, from Catholics, about the content of the document.

There is one huge elephant in the room. Let us see if we can point our flashlights in its direction and identify it.
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Here is a part of today’s gospel reading (July 13/09);

Matthew 10: 40 - 42
40 “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. 41 He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”

Here is another famous passage in the same Gospel;

Matthew 25: 31 - 46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, 32 and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ 44 Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ 45 He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ 46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

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Something very powerful came to the forefront the other day as I listened to a formal debate on Sola Fide between John Martignoni and a Dr. James Saxon from the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia. (That debatecan be found here,and is free to download)

Without going into a complete repeat of the arguments of both sides it struck me that while John Martignoni is exactly right about the teaching of Scripture on this subject, there is another whole dimension that the Protestant is addressing with Sola Fide, beginning with Luther himself, that Martignoni does not even get into but really must be answered, not just for the sake of the argument or evangelization of Protestants, but practically for most Catholics as well. Continue Reading »

Recently I have listened to a couple of discussions of Sola Scriptura by different Catholic apologists, and before I summarize and pull some of that together, there is one thing that John Martignoni pointed out in his discussion that I would like to emphasize. This was indeed my own turning point from Protestantism to the Catholic Church.

The issue that underlies all issues is authority. Amen. That is the conclusion that I came to as well. I think also we might say that the first foot forward away from the Catholic Church is the Sola Scriptura doctrine. Some would say Sola Fide, but in order to attempt to “prove” that doctrine, Sola Scriptura must come first. And it is clear, when we step back to the core issue of authority, the rejection of the Apostolic authority of the Church by Luther, et. al. in the 16th century necessitated a replacement of that authority. Otherwise, how can the truth be known? The doctrine of Sola Scriptura was the answer. Continue Reading »