Purify Your Bride

Ken has responded again in the comments below. My original words are in red. Kens are in green
Even today the pope is not the “bishop of bishops.” He has a different role. The office of bishop is separate from the office of pope.
You have just separated out the historical argument for the development of the [...]

I finally found someone who gets where I am coming from on politics. John Allen says what I have been trying to say, only better. Here is a quote:
Here’s a thought exercise: In the abstract, what would the political fortunes be in America of a candidate who actually embodied the full range of Catholic social [...]

Ken Temple has been getting a lot sharper in his treatment of the Catholic church. He was reading and commenting on Dave Armstrong’s blog for years. Anyway, my orginal comment is in red. Ken’s words are in green.
Only the Catholic church has the promise of Christ that the gates of hell cannot prevail.
The original [...]

I often wonder about the right time to bring up hard questions. When people seem to be firm in their faith but it is not the Catholic faith. It seems like moving them towards the Catholic church would require them to question where they are at. The trouble is they could do a whole lot [...]

I am often confused at how the pro-life position got associated with conservatism. The way I understand things is that liberals believe in government acting toward the good of society. Conservatives believe in government letting people do as they please. By that rule the prolife position is liberal and the prochoice position is conservative. Somehow [...]

Reflecting on this a little more it seems you could get rid of most of the problems if you applied it to yourself. Sure there is the difference between a darkened intellect and actual stupidity. But people tend to take these things less personally if you apply it to yourself and not to them. The [...]

Most people recognize this as one of Mark Shea’s signature lines. I do wonder about it though. It is based on the biblical notion of sin darkening the intellect. I don’t think that is the same thing as making you stupid. You can still remain very smart in a host of other areas. You mind [...]

One thing that strikes me is the gap that exists between what Jesus asked of His followers and what a typical Catholic parish asks of its members today. Jesus demanded so much it shocked his followers time and time again. Just one example from Matthew 10:37-39:
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me [...]

It is amazing to see the lengths society will go to to accept immoral behavior. Election time is when the standards really start to drop. All you hear is that everyone is behaving badly and there is not much anyone can do. The trouble is it isn’t true. Not everyone is doing the same thing. [...]

If the visible church and the pope are so important then why isn’t there more obvious evidence for it in scripture? That is a question that bothered me and has bothered many who are contemplating becoming Catholic. To be sure, I have also wondered why God didn’t leave more evidence around for the divinity of [...]

I listened to Dobson the last 2 days. He talked about how in 1990 he wrote a book called Generation At Risk that detailed to conflict between people who believed in God and those that did not. His guest, Dennis Prager, pointed out that many liberals do believe in God. So he refined Dobson’s categories [...]

If a man isn’t a liberal by the time he is 20 he has no heart. If he isn’t a conservative by the time he is 40 he has no brain.
Something like this is often quoted by conservatives to try and explain why they are so far superior to liberals. Of course, it isn’t true. [...]