Feb 18, 2010
Trinitarian Belief In Christianity: An Eternal Struggle To Understand The Nature Of God
The nature of God in Christianity is a debate fraught with difficultly. Chief among these difficulties is the establishment and nature of the Trinitarian doctrine. This doctrine states that there are three distinct persons (The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit) unified by a single essence into a Triune God. This is probably the most central belief in Christianity, and it has been the subject of... read more
Jan 22, 2010
Vodou: The Syncretic Child Of Vodun And Roman Catholicism
One of my recent articles about Pat Robertson’s impressively vicious attack on the native beliefs of Haiti has resulted in people asking me questions about Haitian Vodou. While my experience with the different schools of Vodou is limited, I have done a fair amount of reading about other Afro-Caribbean and South American religions, so tackling the basics of Vodou should not be a very big stretch. Haitian... read more
Apr 11, 2009
One Easter With Two Different Dates
Often times the Orthodox and Roman Catholic celebration of Easter falls on different days. Why does this happen? Easter Sunday is the Sunday immediately following the Paschal Full Moon, or the first full moon of spring. Don’t let that term fool you, though. Technically it is the first ecclesiastical full moon. Only in the early days of Christianity was actual astronomical data gathered to do this... read more
Apr 6, 2009
Cardinal George Is Right! To Hell With Barack Obama!
Cardinal George Is Right! To Hell With Barack Obama! Cardinal George is right about President Obama and Notre Dame. I am not shocked or disappointed that Cardinal George is doing what he was appointed to do, which is stand up for the teachings of the Church. If you want to be a Catholic you cannot support someone that approves of abortion, period. It does not matter who this person is, whether it be a... read more
Jan 28, 2009
Will The Cold War Continue Between The Russian Orthodox And Roman Catholic Churches?
A few days ago the Russian Orthodox Church elected a replacement for Patriarch Alexy II. On the 27th of January Metropolitan Kirill of Moscow was appointed Patriarch-elect for the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia. The choice has been generally well-received by the Orthodox community. The Russian Orthodox Church is often said to be the largest community in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. The influence of... read more
Jan 23, 2009
The Society of St. Pius X And Cardinal Ratzinger
In a curious, though not altogether unexpected, series of events, the little-known Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has burst on to the international news circuit. Several members of this obscure Traditionalist Catholic organization were excommunicated in 1988 after their leader, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, conducted the infamous Econe Consecrations. Now, in early 2009, it looks as if Pope Benedict XVI may be... read more
Jan 16, 2009
The Substance of Transubstantiation
One of the least understood parts of Roman Catholic theology is the sacrament of Eucharist, or so I have found over the years. The doctrine of transubstantiation is a subtle idea, one that plays with concepts of what an object is, and what it appears to be. This relationship is often referred to in terms of ‘substance’ and ‘appearance’. In this doctrine all matter has both substance and appearance,... read more
Dec 31, 2008
New Year Around The World
In a season of religious holidays there is an oddly secular feel to New Year celebrations in the Christian world. Indeed, the revelries surrounding the birth of a new year were (and to some extent still are) seen by Christians as excessive and paganistic. The Roman Catholic liturgical year does not recognize January 1st as the New Year. Rather, Advent marks the beginning of Roman Catholic yearly cycle. (It... read more
