Title Varies Slightly

When I first emtered RCIA, I was fascinated, amused and appalled at the anual Catholic cry, “It’s Lent. Time for a Bible study group.” When you come from a sola scriptura. very conservative background, Bible study is something you do before you even understand the words. A friend of mine used to “teach” the Baptist [...]

Scot McKnight’s new book The Real Mary is intriguing and ultimately frustrating read, one I highly recommend. McKnight attempts in this book to delineate only what can be known from Scripture regarding Mary, and to examine the further claims of the Catholic tradition regarding her in the most charitable light he can muster. And he [...]

It has always been one of my favorite Bible stories. Esther is the beautiful young queen with an important secret; her identity as one of the conquered Jews. Then vain and power-hungry Haman tricks the king into issuing a decree that all the Jews must be killed. Esther faces a choice: hide behind her new [...]

Evan Almighty is not a great movie. But it’s not the bomb most critics are claiming it is, either And there are elements of sound Catholic theology among the hit-in-the-pants-with-a-board physical comedy and the cartoony characters.
Congressman Evan Baxter has won office on a platform to change the world; but when God (played by Morgan Freeman) [...]

Almost everyone has probably been through it… the first few days on a new job, when you’re taken around and introduced as the new “Fred,” where “Fred” is the name of the person who had the job before you. Now, perhaps Fred is a total mystery to you, of whom you can only catch glimpses [...]

It’s true. The model for tenure is in the Bible; specifically, Genesis, chapter 27.
Jacob works for seven years to get the desire of his heart, Rachel. And he believes he has succeeded. But the morning after the wedding night, he discovers he has married Leah, her sister. He must work another seven years for Rachel. [...]

Today’s first Mass reading has always been one of my favorites. When I was little, I loved it because Peter healed the lame man, and I thought maybe Jesus would heal me the same way someday. (That was a dream that died a hard death, and is something I should blog about soon.)
Now I [...]

I love being in parishes with an RCIA program — but I have some regrets. One of them is that every Lent, you hear the alternate Gospels for the Scrutinies, rather than the scheduled readings. And so, yesterday, I heard about Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, and that was wonderful.
But I didn’t get to hear the [...]