Recent content by ConanTheLibrarian

Philip the Deacon (Acts, chapter 8), feast day June 6th. Since I live overseas, I identify with his being comfortable interacting with people from different cultures. The words of the Ethiopian (Acts 8:31), sum up a key reason for my becoming Catholic: "How can I [understand the scriptures]...

I am less familiar with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, though I have prayed it. As far as imagery, for the Sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary, I often think of the corresponding scenes from Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. For other mysteries, I often think of a corresponding icon, if I...

This is from an Anglican site, but it's a good meditation on the poem, and Lent in general: http://www.lectionarycentral.com/ashwed/Curry.html

He was Anglo-Catholic toward the end of his life. I always try to give this poem a slow, thoughtful read every year on Ash Wednesday. The imagery is powerful, beginning with despair and ending with the hope of repentence.

One of today's featured articles in Wikipedia was about the Celtic festival of Imbolc. It was facinating to see how the Church was able to "baptize" it as "Candlemass," while keeping the tradiitional association with fire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc

Passages like these, and others, such as from Justin Martyr, show just how much the Catholic Church is in continuity with the early church. I guess that why I'm now Catholic!

That quote is mind-boggling. It is something to keep in mind in all of our interactions with others. St. Jack, pray for us.

C.S. Lewis would be high on my list of reasons for becoming Catholic. He introduced me to a Catholic view on so many issues. When I was going through RCIA last year, my instructor must have lost track of the number of times we'd be discussing something, and I'd say, "I read that in C.S...

Catholic Answers has a series on the sacraments, with citations from the early church fathers: http://www.catholic.com/library/sacraments.asp To read the quotes in context, the church fathers are available here: http://www.ccel.org/fathers.html

This is from a sympathetic Anglican perspective. I think we would mostly agree with what he has to say. He might go into more detail than you need to know: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~frmkirby/purgatory_and_indulgences.htm

This is consistent with what the Catechism teaches. Someone who is a Christian in any sense at all has some relationship with the Catholic Church (and therefore the Roman pontiff), however imperfectly, and however unconscious they may be of that relationship. (On the conscious level, they may...

As a former Lutheran, this was an issue for me. I think y'all have already mostly covered this, but just to add my two cents: We're all agreed about salvation by faith, through grace alone, the sticky point is whether by faith alone. Keep in mind what James 2:14-17 has to say, esp. verse 17...

It depends on the individual. We are not so concerned with the subjective experience or feelings, as with the realities. The new life, of course, begins at baptism, and reaffirmed at confirmation. (That's when we receive the "laying on of hands and gift of the Holy Ghost," as the Pentacostals...

Thank you for sharing that. It makes me want to learn Latin! I'd be curious to know more about the artist, and where the words came from.

As far as externals, such as mode of baptism, leavened or unleavened bread, etc., once we accept that Peter and his successor were given the authority to bind and loose, everything should fall into place. These things should not bother us, though I am grateful that these things have been...