To Give a Defense

Mr. X struggles with metaphor, transubstantiation, and John 6.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • July 29, 2014 • Apologetics; Exegesis; Transubstantiation

Of late, the anonymous blogger, five-pointer, and crack theologian TurretinFan — known on this blog as Mr. X—has been struggling with the concept of metaphor as it applies to John 6. And a very hard struggle it has been, too. He argues that the expression “this cup is my blood” should be a clear sign that the text is not meant to be taken literally. For not even Roman Catholics will say that the cup itself is Christ’s blood. The poor man apparently needs the help of an English teacher.

In defense of Ben Seewald and his freedom to say dumb stuff.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • July 26, 2014 • Anti Catholicism; In the News

It is a reflection of how badly addicted we have become to outrage porn that anyone at all was outraged over what the nineteen-year-old boyfriend of Jessa Duggar had to say on Facebook about Catholicism. I read the excerpts; later, I read the full post. I wasn’t outraged. I was bored. They certainly were no great reflection on the originality of Mr. Seewald, but they shouldn’t have been. He’s nineteen. He’s repeating what he has heard elsewhere: likely, from his pastor, his parents, and his friends; and what he’s repeating are ignorant clichés that have been repeated to the point of slumber.

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome VII: Anna March unmasks pope’s brilliant disguise.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • June 25, 2014 • Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome

Before she published her major new essay on Pope Francis this past Sunday, I had never heard of Ms. Anna March. I confess it to my shame. Here is one of the great writers of our generation, who has penned a full seven articles now for Salon. Her titles alone convey the range and depth of her vision: “My Bad Sex Wasn’t Rape”; “My Shazam Boobs.” In the latter fine essay, Ms. March teaches us how hard-won is the lesson that “I can celebrate my tits without mourning their potential loss.” Hers truly is a voice for the ages, and she is yet but 44.

Did Cyril of Jerusalem teach sola scriptura? White vs. Matatics (1997), part 1.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • June 23, 2014 • Apologetics; Debates; sola scriptura

It is an old and tried (and tired) tactic of the anti-Catholic apologist to take a Church Father (by the Mass, even a saint and doctor of the Church!) and make believe that he is a Protestant. The games people play now. I have written of such things before. Sooth, there is not a false doctrine known to man since 1517, that has not been read into the Bible and the Fathers by Reformed folks who hath eat the drug of anachronism and washed it down with the tonic of desperation. Only the polemical rogue Mr. John Bugay is bold enough to quit and claim victory in the same breath.

Three books by priests from OSV.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • June 17, 2014 • Book Review

Fr. Mitch Pacwa’s name on a book is its own proof. Protestants who are attracted to the Church, but who find Mary an intractable stumbling block (I did) will be helped greatly by reading Fr. Mitch Pacwa’s book. Bible study classes will find this book a useful text. Indeed, Fr. Pacwa seemed to have had such an audience in mind, since the book comes with questions for review and discussion, as well as places to write study notes. Catholics who simply want to understand Mary better, and grow deeper in their relationship with her, will also find this book incredibly valuable.

Oops! Calvinist pastor Ken Temple appears to say Bible contains mistakes.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • May 28, 2014 • Apologetics; Exegesis

Do Reformed folks no longer believe in the plenary inspiration of Scripture? Can Pr. inform me? I mean, as grey an anti-Catholic eminence as Loraine Boettner himself was very clear on this point — that to deny the plenary inspiration of Scripture is a Modernist heresy. Once deny plenary inspiration, Boettner says, and there is “no consistent stopping place.” The very words of Scripture themselves are God-breathed! So what does Pr. mean when he says that the “language” of the New Testament on the sacrificial priesthood was a “big mistake”?

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome VI: After LCWR rebuke, liberals all out of hope about pope?

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • May 21, 2014 • Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome

They’re all out of hope. On April 30, Cardinal Gerhard Müller — and not for the first time—rebuked the Wyrd Sisters of the LCWR. In the weeks since, the liberal media has, as oft before, lashed itself into a pitch of outrage at their imaginary folk hero, Pope Fuzzy Francis. The man of their dreams, before whom their words swooned, has taken off the happy clown nose and become Pennywise. From the bite of their comical rhetoric, one might be tempted to think that the scales are falling from their eyes and the truth will fully dawn on them that the pope is Catholic.

The Last Confession of the Vampire Judas Iscariot: A review of the debut novel by David Vermont.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • April 15, 2014 • Book Review

I am impressed by a novel of the wandering Jew that avoids its clichés. Judas is not Cain; nor is he aimless, but he has a purpose. He is not just trying to keep himself alive by blood. He seeks something from John Vianney, from Maximilian Kolbe, from Raymond Breviary. It is only Fr. Breviary, in the end, who understands what will both defeat Judas and give him what he is really seeking. He is able to do so because he is the first to develop a relationship with Judas. Mr. Vermont uses all these traditions, but his novel is not defined by them. It reorders genre for its own particular purpose.

The Catholic Men’s Bible: Devotional, call to holiness, and study Bible.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 24, 2014 • Book Review

Fr. Larry Richards, who is known for teaching Catholic men how to be men and Catholics, has come out with a study Bible (the NAB translation) specifically for men who want to live their faith more fully. If you belong to a men’s group at your parish, or if you just want to search more deeply for the holiness to which God has called you as a man, while making an analytical study of the Bible, this is the one you must own. In addition, spread throughout the text, are 88 mini-essays on topics of particular relevance to Catholic men. No. 27, for example, reminds men that family comes first.

Even my book reviews worry Protestants, and other quick takes: 7QT XVIII, seriatim.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 21, 2014 • Apologetics; Book Review; Seven Quick Takes

Some people think that comboxes are their blog. You know, like this guy. (I’m guessing it’s a guy; who knows; I could be wrong.) He was so out of sorts at my review of Devin Rose’s The Protestant’s Dilemma that he couldn’t wait long enough to start his own blog to respond, so he wrote a blog article in the combox at Free Republic. (He posted a link to it in my comments, which is the only reason I know of it.) Have you ever seen anyone attempt to refute a review, rather than the actual book? I’m not sure whether to write a review of the review of the review.

The Protestant’s Dilemma by Devin Rose: A review.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 18, 2014 • Apologetics; Book Review

If a Protestant looking into the claims of Catholicism were to ask me, “What one book should I read, where I can find a quick answer to any question I have?” I would tell him to read Devin Rose’s new book The Protestant’s Dilemma. I would also recommend this book to Protestant apologists, even those of many years, well-skilled in polemics. It will remind them of the heavy burden of proof they face, and the weakness of their position on point after point. The truth may set them free and bring them home too. (It has happened.) All this may seem like obligatory praise, but no.

A sovereign pope would do things my way, and other quick takes: 7QT XVII, seriatim.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 14, 2014 • Seven Quick Takes

Yesterday marked the pope’s first full year in office. Good job, Pope Francis. In one full year, the number of doctrines you changed was zero. Still, and no surprise, the fringe was out, hand-wringing and sniping. On one blog, I read that the pope we should have had would have been “a father and a sovereign.” But instead of a sovereign, we got a pope who obstinately decided to “do things his way.” That explains it. A sovereign never does things his way; he does things my way. I mean, who does this Francis think he is? The pope? The Jews wanted Messiah to be an earthly sovereign too.

Good Shepherd no different than Fisher More.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 11, 2014 • Church Scandals

If traditionally-minded Catholics have it in their mind that this is what a Novus Ordo parish is like, it is no surprise that they seek refuge in the Extraordinary Form. It is no surprise they have the passion they do. This is the kind of — excuse me for being blunt—crap that bishops need to stamp down, immediately and clearly and with no apology. The bishop should investigate, and discipline Deacon Sandy Sites, and ensure that no more outrages and abuses occur at Good Shepherd.

Why Latin Mass Onlyists are destroying the Latin Mass.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 6, 2014 • Blind Guides & False Prophets; Church Scandals

What is happening in the Catholic Church is that the Latin Mass is becoming the province of a faction of spiteful, spitting lobbyists. The Latin Mass is becoming associated with those who view Vatican II as an invalid council and think that people who attend the Novus Ordo are lesser Catholics; who act as though the Latin Mass somehow makes them better and superior and more holy, and their halo more sure, perhaps even complete. That (not the Latin Mass itself) is the “danger to your soul” to which Bp. Olson referred.

The fight between Mardi Gras and Lent.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • March 3, 2014 • Liturgical Year

Mardi Gras reminds us that feasts must be bought with fast; we are still here, and not yet there. Rightly understood, Mardi Gras is the day when families use up all eggs, fats, and butter in the home in preparation for Lent. The idea is, one does not want those materials to spoil and go to waste. That’s not really gluttony; that’s thrift. You get fat, or gras, not for the sake of fatness but to get rid of all that tempts discipline of will. Mardi Gras does not mean do your sin in public today, for tomorrow you will do it in private.