Catholic History, Dispelling the Myths, a video by Dr. Thomas F. Madden

ConciseHistoryCrusades_Madden

If the ignorant rantings of certain people–especially the recent and most ignorant ranting of a certain ignorant politician–have accomplished nothing else, at least they have brought attention to a subject that has suffered from lack of attention; or when it has garnered attention, the motive has most often been that of ill will, and rather than spreading light, has instead increased the darkness, already pervasive enough, even in Catholic circles. Perhaps especially in Catholic circles. That darkness and ignorance is partly our own fault for not taking it upon ourselves to dig and learn, and to demand that our teachers actually teach, and teach the truth; and partly the fault of a culture that has produced an education (I use the term loosely) system that both distrusts and even hates Holy Mother Church.

(Post continues below the video.)

The video above is a lecture by Dr. Thomas F. Madden, entitled “Catholic History: Dispelling the Myths.” He talks about the Crusades and much more. As Dr. Madden reveals, we Catholics have much of which we should be proud. This is not revisionist history; this is sweeping away the absurdities of the revisionists who foisted a great hoax upon us instead of teaching us real history. Listen up, Catholics. Seek the truth, find it, embrace it, hold onto it. And share it with everyone you can. Share it with your family, your friends, and share it with other Catholics. We need to know these things. We need to stand up and speak out. We need to be able to defend our Faith and our Church, now more than ever. Or, perhaps, now as ever. The Church is always under attack from her ancient enemy, her adversary and ours, who never sleeps, who goes about seeking whom he may devour.

St Teresa de Jesus

I am going to continue to post information and links and videos here often in order to help spread the good news about our Faith and our Holy Mother Church. This is the least I can do after all the Church has done for me, which is to completely change my life, to transform it, to bring me fully into the Body of Christ, and welcome me Home. One day I want to be able to say, at last, with St. Teresa, “I am a daughter of the Church.” May it be His Will. Amen, amen!

God’s Marines Leave No Souls Behind

Want to do something special during this Year of Faith? Want to help bring souls to Christ? Join The Four Men Prayer Groups, also known as God’s Marines. This world is a battlefield between the forces of good and evil and God’s Marines pledge to leave no soul behind on that field. Watch the video below. Get more information and sign up today at The Four Men.

The Four Men

Paul was Catholic, a marvelous podcast by Taylor Marshall

Updated Oct 17: Dr. Taylor Marshall (Howdy, fellow convert!) wrote a book called The Catholic Perspective on Paul which I devoured when I discovered it. (The ebook was released in Nov 2010 so it was sometime after that but I don’t remember when.) (Links to book and ebook below)

I’ve discovered that the author has a related podcast [dead link removed] on his site, Paul is Catholic [dead link removed]. I have read the book and listened to the podcast, and I can say without reservation that both of these receive the status of Highly Recommended! Plus I really like the podcast icon. ;) During this Year of Faith treat yourself to an easy and effective way to deepen your knowledge of the Bible and the Church with these excellent resources by Dr. Taylor Marshall. Peace be with you.

Paperback

Kindle

Full disclosure: When you make any purchase through my Amazon affiliate links (or my general Amazon link) on this site, I may make a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you. And thank you for your prayers and support.

Confession, An App Apt to Aid Your Interior Life

Confession: A Roman Catholic AppI love to visit the blog Sonitus Sanctus and today I found an unusual treat, Confession: A Roman Catholic App. Imagine having an aid to the daily examination of your conscience, complete with various prayers and acts of contrition, and the ability to customize the whole thing for your state in life, your age, etc., for one user or several and with password protection. Well, imagine no more. Now you can have all this on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Get it at the App Store. I’m going to leave a little review there now because I like this app and I want it to do well. Gotta do my part, no matter how small.

Get Confession: A Roman Catholic App at the App Store.
Read the original post at Sonitus Sanctus.
The App Store on iTunes (requires iTunes).
App Store Downloads Mobile (iTunes not needed).

Manhattan Declaration and Birmingham connection

DomeI was reading the Manhattan Declaration all the way through and looking at the list of original signers again and I just noticed this: one of the three members of the drafting committee is Timothy George, Dean and Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School*, Samford 
University. That’s right here in Birmingham! (I suppose it would actually be in Homewood, which is right outside of but not part of Birmingham properly speaking.) How about that? Made me smile when I saw it. Oh, here’s another local signer: Dr. David Platt, Pastor, Church at Brook Hills. Well, well, whaddaya know? Other names of note (that I noted because I recognize them) are listed below.  Continue reading “Manhattan Declaration and Birmingham connection”

The Manhattan Declaration, A Call of Christian Conscience

The Manhattan Declaration

I just signed a very important and historic document. I hope you will read on and that you will add your name, whether you are Christian or not, to the growing list of Evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic Christians and other citizens who are uniting “to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good.” In signing this document, I consider myself to be in excellent company. Here is the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience, with the original signers listed at the end it. Continue reading “The Manhattan Declaration, A Call of Christian Conscience”

Eastern Orthodox liturgical chant sampler CD for free

I found this Eastern Orthodox liturgical music sampler the other day. Check it out, it’s free, just fill out the page at the Liturgica site and then download the zip file. And poof! Instant beautiful sacred music from our Eastern brothers and sisters. And, by the way, these seem to be full-length songs. Free, beautiful, full-length. Three out of three! :) (Track list below.) Continue reading “Eastern Orthodox liturgical chant sampler CD for free”

Grace versus works?

Once again someone has attempted to confront me with the old issue of grace versus works, implying that her religion is biblical and that mine is not. The phrasing of the issue itself is misleading because it mistakenly sets grace and works against each other. as if grace and works were unconnected, even opposed to each other. Now it is true that we cannot earn grace by works or else grace would not be grace. Grace is gratuitous, freely given and not compelled by any means. God gives us grace freely in that He is not compelled, He is free to act and to bestow His blessings on us as He pleases. He is not required to give us anything, not grace or anything. Continue reading “Grace versus works?”

Beauties, Beasts and Bible Battles

As I said in the last post, I was switching back and forth this morning between Bible Battles on the History Channel and Beauty and the Beast on Chiller. Now you might wonder what in the world these two shows might have in common. Well, I’ll tell you. First, I’ll have to tell you about the episode of Beauty and the Beast (BATB). It was Fever (Season One, Episode 18), the one where Mouse finds a sunken ship under the city under the city. (I know that’s clumsy, but, for the life of me, I couldn’t think of a better way to say that. It was under the underworld which is under the city.) Well, Mouse finds treasure in the wreckage of the shipwreck and, since he’s such a nice fellow, the first thing he wants to do with it is share it with his friends.

And that’s when all hell breaks loose in the underworld. So to speak. Friend turns against friend as more and more of the community find out about the treasure and each one sees lifelong dreams coming at long last within reach. Most want to share the treasure equally, but one among them has dreams that do not include such generosity. Mouse found the treasure and revealed its whereabouts to two of his friends. (Actually, they may have followed him to it; I saw that part long ago and I missed it this morning.) One of these friends wants to share the riches with all the others, but one of them (Cullen) wants to take his share (his third!) and cash it in. Needless to say, cashing in relics from a sunken treasure chest proves to be a bit problematic. Where does one take heaps of gold to exchange for large sums of money, keeping the source of said gold shrouded in secrecy?

Continue reading “Beauties, Beasts and Bible Battles”

Introductions

Welcome to the site where I’ll be blogging my journey into (and within) the Catholic Church. More than a decade has passed now since I was received into Holy Mother Church and I won’t say it’s always been easy. But I will say that it has been powerful, intense, joyful and life-changing. The best thing I ever did was say Yes when I heard that still small voice calling me. I’m still learning to say yes. Things always work out better when I do. Listening, that’s important to learn, too. Of course, I’m still learning about that. Sometimes I don’t listen very well at all. (Everyone around me knows this. I was the last to know.) But enough about me. Let’s talk about the blog. And what I’ll be talking about on the blog.

Continue reading “Introductions”