You Cannot Be a Catholic and Be a Coward

I borrowed the title for this article from the lecture given by Fr. Dan Rehill which lasts about an hour.  It is well worth listening to.  It is the story of his conversion and the miraculous things that have happened in his life.  Fr. Rehill is pastor of St. Edward Catholic Church in Nashville, TN and was recently in the limelight for having banned the Harry Potter book series from the St. Edward Catholic School library. 

Sunday Meditation: Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother!

LITANY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

All the Blather That is Islamic Theology

This is not the Flight into Egypt.
This is Abraham Dismissing Hagar and Ishmael 

Discrepancies in Mohammedan theology are numerous, one being that originally Islam was not called Islam at all but rather what it actually was - Mohammedanism, meaning the religion of Muhammad, not God.

That being said, one major error in all the blather that is Islamic "theology" is this: If Muhammad was a prophet sent from God, why would God choose an Arab descended from a Hebrew?

Muslims believe that Islam is the PURE word of God, so why would God not have chosen a PURE Arab to dispense the PURE Quran to the world? Muhammad was not a pure Arab because he was descended from Ishmael, or so the story goes. Ishmael's father of course was Abraham, Abraham was a Hebrew, and while in his father's household, Ishmael would have practiced his father's Hebrew religion.

Bring Back Reverence! How? Here are a few suggestions.

"Jesus gives us his living, beating heart in the Eucharist." Bring back the Communion rail.
                                                                                                                     Fr. Mark Goring



Since Vatican II all kinds of abuses have crept into our liturgies. I remember the clown Masses, the home Masses with no liturgical vestments, the guitar and mariachi Masses, the butterfly vestments, the crepe paper rainbow and cracked pot in the sanctuary, the sand in the holy water fonts during lent. My goodness, the list is endless!

If I Were The King of the Forrest

We say this often without expressing it in those terms when we imagine how we would handle a situation where we are not actually in charge. “Well, if I were the president,” or “well if I were head of the FBI, or the Justice Department, or principal of that school, or mayor of the town.”

Topsy and Tuptim Hear a Voice in the Wilderness: Is Anyone Listening?

Bishop Athanasius Schneider

Topsy knocks on Tuptim's back door and enters carrying a take-out box with coffee and bagels.

Topsy: (Putting the goodies down on the kitchen table she gives her friend a good morning hug.) I just had to come by so we can discuss Bishop Schneider's statement on the Instrumentum Laboris (IL) for the Amazon synod. He reminds me of John the Baptist calling out "that fox" Herod.

Tuptim: (Ruefully) We sure have a lot of Herod look-alikes among the clergy today, a bunch of foxy-locksies aiming to gobble up the gingerbread people in the pews.

Topsy: Thank God for the remnant of faithful men like Bishop Schneider. We can always count on him to speak the truth! And we sure have plenty of Herods. I sure hope he doesn't get his head cut off.

Tuptim: Or his tongue cut out! (Spreading cream cheese on a bagle half) These look good. You know, I'm so sick of propaganda. The false voices from wicked bishops like Erwin Kräutler, need a response.

Observations and Comments on Muhammad's Fake Night Journey and His Fake Seven Heavens

Lightning shows off by flying loop-de-loops

     OBSERVATION: Keep in mind that Muhammad fabricated his Night Journey (Mi'raj in Arabic) which has no transcendent imagery whatsoever. If there was supernatural intervention it was demonic.

     COMMENT: If Christians said that Jesus flew into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on a winged horse with the face of a woman and landed on the Temple Mount we would be laughed out of existence. Obviously, those who believe in Muhammad’s claim to have traveled to Jerusalem either in body or in spirit rely on blind faith rather than common sense. After reading Humphrey Prideaux’s account of The Life of Mohamet, there is simply no compelling reason to believe that Muhammad’s Night Journey was anything other than a dream, unless of course Gabriel, as written before, is Satan in disguise which then makes the Night Journey demonic in origin, and Muhammad the prophet of Satan.

Thirteen New Cardinals: Bad Luck for the Church?

As soon as I heart Pope Francis was raising thirteen prelates to cardinal, my heart sank. Is this the Church version of "stacking the court?" Most of them will be able to vote in the next conclave and the clear majority will be Francis appointees. So what kind of men are they?

Muhammad Chats with Allah then Flies Back to Mecca on Lightning

Muhammad in the Presence of Allah and their Conversation

The Islamic Dome of the Rock on the Jewish Temple Mount in

Jerusalem is built on the spot where Muhammad said he

landed on Lightning during his Night Journey, then from there

ascended to heaven and talked to God.

We’re almost finished with this tortuous history of Muhammad’s so-called Night Journey. As foolishly irrational as the Night Journey is [especially Lightning] it’s important to know that it is believed by all Muslims, the proof being that the Dome of the Rock today stands on Jerusalem’s Jewish Temple Mount, built directly on top of the place where Muhammad said he landed on Lightning and which apparently has Muhammad’s footprint there. In addition, there’s a sacred space on the Temple Mount where Lightning was ostensibly tied to a ring in a rock while he waited for the angel Gabriel and Muhammad to ascend through the seven heavens, converse with God, then return again.

Muhammad's Fake Heavens 2-7

Continuing with Muhammad's description of his supposed Night Journey from Humphrey Prideaux's Life of Mohamet. Keep in mind that Muhammad fabricated his Night Journey (Mi'raj in Arabic) which has no transcendent imagery whatsoever.

He did not.

"From the first heaven Muhammad said he ascended up into the second heaven which was a distance of five hundred years journey above the first. He determines this to be the distance of each of the seven heavens above the other. As in the first heaven the gates were opened for him, where at the entrance he met Noah who greatly rejoiced at the sight of Muhammad and recommended himself to his prayers. In this heaven, which was made of pure gold, Muhammad tells us he saw twice as many angels as in the former and among them one of such an extraordinary size that while standing in the second heaven, his head reached into the third.