Early Church Fathers and the Primacy of Rome  

Better one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.  Better the threshold of the house of my God than a home in the tents of the wicked.  Psalms 84:11*

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John Henry Cardinal Newman

In the last post, we considered the witness of the Church Fathers and the peculiarly-Catholic doctrine of purgatory. Continue reading “Early Church Fathers and the Primacy of Rome  “

St. Augustine believed in purgatory?

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Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman

What is truth?  The infamous hand-washer never waited for the answer.  When I asked and waited, the answer became a matter of conscience.  Continue reading “St. Augustine believed in purgatory?”

The light of history humbles Catholics and unseats Protestants

Blessed John Henry Newman’s An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

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Blessed John Henry Newman
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.  But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.”  (Jn. 16:12-13)

History exposing Protestantism’s unproven and unprovable assumptions is not enough. Continue reading “The light of history humbles Catholics and unseats Protestants”

The Captain of our Salvation

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Christ of the Trenches, Battle of Neuve Chapelle, The Great War

He saw that there was no one,
was appalled that there was none to intervene;
Then his own arm brought about the victory,
and his justice sustained him.  Isaiah 59:16 Continue reading “The Captain of our Salvation”

Heresy’s a hard word to swallow

JohnHenryCardinalNewmanJohn Henry Cardinal Newman helped me see that was me.  He helped me see through centuries-old, anti-Catholic error and prejudice.  And so Cardinal Newman helped me enter the Catholic Church. Continue reading “Heresy’s a hard word to swallow”

Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross

One beggar helps another beggar into the Catholic Church.

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Already I’ve introduced late-in-life Catholic convert, G.K. Chesterton; and, to a lesser extent, Walker Percy.  Percy studied medicine before taking up the pen Continue reading “Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross”