Month: April 2013

TurretinFan & the necessity argument against the papacy.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • April 11, 2013 • Apologetics; papacy

 

Every now and then, an anti-Catholic apol­o­gist — he need not be Protes­tant; he could be an athe­ist, or a Hin­du, or an agnos­tic endocri­nol­o­gist — will try to dis­cred­it the papa­cy, or the priest­hood, or tra­di­tion, or Mary gar­dens, or some oth­er ele­ment of the Church, by wav­ing his hand and say­ing, “We don’t need it.” Thus the false god of Neces­si­ty is invoked against what very God of very God wants us to have as a pure and unmer­it­ed gift. Tur­ret­inFan (known on this blog as Mr. X) is the lat­est to make this odd claim about the papa­cy. I’m hap­py to put him to rights.

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Is Mr. John Bugay’s rejection of infallibility infallible?

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • April 9, 2013 • Apologetics; Papal Infallibility

 

John Bugay, the polem­i­cal rogue, has not met the dis­si­dent Catholic priest who hasn’t warmed the very tell-tale cock­leshells of his red and beat­ing heart. In his phan­tas­ti­cal efforts to dis­cred­it the Church he reject­ed of old, he turns to the cred­i­ble pens of those who also have reject­ed her. If these dis­si­dent priests con­tin­ue, some­how, to claim they’re still Catholic, all the bet­ter as far as Mr. Bugay is con­cerned. In the lat­est episode of this long, twi­light strug­gle, Mr. Bugay unearths a 1981 book by August Bern­hard Hasler. The title of the book is How the Pope Became Infal­li­ble.

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Dr.* James White, apologist for the Romanism of Steve Green.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • April 5, 2013 • Apologetics; Humor

 

What sur­prised me most was the pains Dr.* White took to praise a Steve Green song from sev­er­al decades back, enti­tled “Find Us Faith­ful.” He even took the trou­ble to put up a sep­a­rate blog post embed­ded with two—two!—YouTube videos of the song. What’s sur­pris­ing about this is that I would have sus­pect­ed Mr. Green’s song to have raised the ire of Dr.* White far more than “Jesus Friend of Sin­ners.” What do I mean? Well, take a lis­ten to the song, and you’ll dis­cov­er that “Find Us Faith­ful” is not much bet­ter than a sell-out to Roman­ism.

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Welcome Home, New Converts. May Truth Sustain You Always.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • April 1, 2013 • Liturgical Year

 

I extend a very hap­py “Wel­come Home” to all those who will be received into full com­mu­nion with the Catholic Church at the East­er Vig­il Sat­ur­day evening. As an RCIA team mem­ber, I have lis­tened to the emo­tions of new Catholics, after the Vig­il, as they recalled mak­ing their first Eucharist. In them there is one feel­ing, unmis­tak­able and com­mon to them all: joy, often to the point of tears that would not be refused. I have not met, in my years work­ing with RCIA and after, the Catholic con­vert who does not expe­ri­ence that same joy or call it up again when telling their own con­ver­sion sto­ry.

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