Catholicism

Catholicism
One Layman's Perspective

Reproduced above is The Resurrection,
painted in 1462-4 by Piero della Francesca
in the Palazzo Communale in Borgo San Sepolcro,
a town near Florence, Italy.
Click here for a much clearer version.

On Easter Sunday, after being dead and buried three days,
Jesus Christ rises at dawn's first light with His banner of victory.
At His right, the soldiers sleep and the trees are bare.
At His left, a guard is awakening and the trees are in bud.
The world is being renewed.

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My hope is to use these Catholicism pages both to highlight the many interesting links I have found on the web and to raise and debate a number of topics that fascinate me, but seem rarely - if ever - addressed elsewhere. I would also like to have some pages devoted to books I have enjoyed reading and to various passages from the Bible I find challenging.

Some Interesting Topics:
Some Interesting Books:
Some Interesting Bible Verses:
Some Interesting Links:
An Outline of "Independent Bishops":

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Nowadays it is a commonplace to hear that most Catholics
no longer know of, let alone believe in,
the Church's teachings on The Eucharist.
.
Modernists, of course, hate the expression "transubstantiation"
and, when asked if they believe in it,
will quibble that that word is so tied to a Medieval Scholastic philosophy
as no longer to be usable.
.
Instead, like the Arians of old, Modernists these days
will proffer expressions that may seem fully orthodox,
but are so permitting of easy mental reservations
as to be meaningless.
.
The term "Real Presence" is a perfect example.
.
Real Presence of What? to Whom? in What Sense?
.
Let's face it, even New Age pagans can use that term.
They, after all, believe that God is everywhere and in everything.
.
How, therefore, can one determine whether or not
someone believes in the Catholic Church's doctrine on The Eucharist:
.
Ask him or her
whether if, during that part of the Mass,
just prior to receiving Communion,
when the whole congregation,
are all standing, along with the "presider".
and together reciting aloud the "Our Father" prayer,
there is, or there is not, any bread in that sanctuary.
.
Even the most disingenuous Modernists,
always ready to say that Christ is "in" the Eucharist
or "is present" during Holy Communion,
will give themselves away by saying there is bread in that sanctuary.

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There is a great need for a registry
of all those claiming to be independent Roman Catholic priests
(i.e., of those priests professing to have Roman Catholic orders,
but acting independently of the bishops and religious institutes
in communion with the Vatican).
.
There are scores of such clerics
and I think such a registry
detailing when, where and by whom
they say they were ordained
and specifying what kind of seminary training
and priestly formation they say they received.
would be a valuable resource.

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For those who like controversy, this web site also hosts the pages of the Georgetown Ignatian Society.

(The Georgetown Ignatian Society is a lay advocacy group
determined to bring Georgetown University and the nearby Holy Trinity Parish
back to their Jesuit and Catholic identities.)
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.

A man asks a Franciscan "What novena should I make in order to get a Mercedes-Benz?"
The Franciscan responds "What's a Mercedes-Benz?"
The man then goes to a Jesuit and again asks his question.
The Jesuit, however, replies "What's a novena?"

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