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 Let There Be Light(s), "Perfect" "Lights" - Illuminating the Urim & ThummimResearch By Kerry A. ShirtsThat Joseph Smith claimed to have the Urim & Thummim is simply remarkable. You mean the Urim & Thummim? Yes, but without doubt, most do not have much to go on concerning what they were, nor how Joseph Smith may have utilized them. This paper seeks to understand the Urim & Thummim from ancient times indicating how the ancients used them, why they used them, and how the Urim & Thummim helped Israel. This is the Biblical background for Joseph Smith in other words.To...

The Archaic Vocabulary of the Book of Mormon Royal SkousenInsights Volume - 25, Issue - 5Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute The views expressed in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In my work as editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project (which began in 1988), I was initially interested in discovering the original English-language text of the book. But I soon came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to fully recover...

A senior New Brunswick Roman Catholic priest is demanding the Prime Minister's Office explain what happened to the sacramental communion wafer Stephen Harper was given at Roméo LeBlanc's funeral mass.During communion at the solemn and dignified service held last Friday in Memramcook for the former governor general, the prime minister slipped the thin wafer that Catholics call "the host" into his jacket pocket.In Catholic understanding, the host - once consecrated by a priest for the Eucharist - becomes the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It is crucial that the small wafer be consumed when it is received.Monsignor Brian Henneberry,...

Father Fessio: A New Framework for Social Justice Pope Places Charity and Truth at Heart of Debate By Father Joseph Fessio, SJ NAPLES, Florida, JULY 7, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has something for everyone in "Caritas in Veritate" -- from praising profit (21) to defending the environment (48). But in these cases, as in all the others, he calls for a discernment and a purification by faith and reason (56) that should temper immoderate and one-sided enthusiasms. Once again, Pope Benedict shows himself to be a theologian of synthesis and fundamental principles. In the titles of his three encyclicals he...

ENCYCLICAL LETTERCARITAS IN VERITATE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS THE LAY FAITHFUL AND ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL ON INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN CHARITY AND TRUTHINTRODUCTION1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is...

I have unilaterally decided (meaning I didn't ask Matthew and there is nothing he can do to stop me) to add a new feature to the blog. The feature is "Today's Über-Catholic Open Question?" This feature may or may not be repeated. It entirely depends on you and whether your answers are interesting, funny, or foul. Don't let reason or proportion get in your way. Feel free to be more Catholic than the Pope. So, all you Über-Catholics who find fault with 87% percent of everything we write, what is your take on this question. What is the best Über-Catholic...

What You Need to Know: Subsidiarity The social teaching of the Church is based on the human person as the principle, subject and object of every social organization. Subsidiarity is one of the core principles of this teaching. This principle holds that human affairs are best handled at the lowest possible level, closest to the affected pesons. It is easiest to begin with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which enunciates the prinicple of subsidiarity in the context of man's social nature. When the principle of subsidiarity is ignored, governments often overstep their bounds in managing matters best handled on...

Featured Term (selected at random):SOCIAL SIN The sinfulness of society into which a person is born. Its premise is that modern socialization and collectivization have immersed everyone in other people's values and moral actions to an unprecedented degree. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Inside the Vatican, Today The New Encyclical July 8th, 2009 by Dr. Robert Moynihan "Greed is good " —Gordon Gekko, the name of an unscrupulous Wall Street financier who is the main character in the film Wall Street , 1987."When those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends, instruments that are good in themselves can be transformed into harmful ones. But it is man’s darkened reason that produces these consequences… " — Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate ("Love in Truth "), 2007.A New Christian Humanism and Social Justice? The "age of greed" is over. It ended today.A...

"Will the Baptist conventions come back together?" my father-in-law asked over Sunday lunch.Not in his lifetime.Most likely, not in my lifetime.And probably not until the Consummation of Time.Good question My father-in-law had a solid reason for his question. He had read my editorial about this year's Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. It describes the generation gap within the SBC and tells how the youngish leadership walloped the old guard.This is significant because the old guard comprises the remnants of the hard-line fundamentalist leadership that wrested control of the SBC from so-called moderates in a struggle that lasted from the late 1970s...

Reformed EgyptianWilliam J. HamblinThis paper is part of a series of FARMS papers intended to give clear, concise answers to criticisms that have raised against the Book of Mormon. As can be seen in the footnotes, much is owed to previous researchers who have addressed these criticisms. The foundation wishes to thank Matthew Roper for his help in gathering and summarizing large portions of the raw material for this series of papers.Critics of the Book of Mormon maintain that there is no language known as "reformed Egyptian."What is "reformed Egyptian?"Critics who raise the objection seem to be operating under...

Question: I was wondering how we as Protestants reject the doctrine of Apostolic Succession? Obviously, through Church history, this doctrine seems to be strongly affirmed, but when the Reformation took place, this doctrine was not continued along with other doctrines. Why not? I guess I am wondering what are the biblical mandates supporting Apostolic Succession and what are the biblical mandates and logic that reject Apostolic Succession? Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.Answer: When you say "through Church history, this doctrine [apostolic succession] seems to be strongly affirmed" you are correct because it certainly has been accepted...

Featured Term (selected at random):DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL General term in mystical theology to identify every form of purification through which God leads persons whom he is calling to a high degree of sanctity. It is called "night" to distinguish a person's normal spiritual condition of seeing, although dimly, by the light of faith; whereas in mystical purification a person is deprived of much of this light. There is a "groping in the night." It is called a "dark" night to emphasize the intensity of withdrawal of God's illuminating grace. The purpose of such purification is to cleanse the...

Does anyone know a good source about Jewish and Greek kinship terminology? I found some very interesting material about how most cultures of the world distinguish between "cross cousins" and "parallel cousins," also known as "ortho-cousins." A while back, I demonstrated on Free Republic how Jesus certainly had cousins named James, Joses and Judah; and that this James was one and the same as the apostle James; and that the Greek phrase, "the son of you," spoken to Mary indicates that Mary had no other children. Many believe that Jesus had James, Joses, Judah (and a fourth, Simon) were Mary's...

The Pope has called for the world economy to be restructured in line with the principles of "love, truth and charity" in a new encyclical issued today. He urges the reformation of the United Nations and economic institutions to address the global economic crisis, which he links to relativism, globalisation and the abuse of modern technologies. The encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, interpreted variously throughout the document as charity or love in truth, is Pope Benedict XVI's third but his first on social issues. It is timed to coincide with the G8 in Italy and is intended to bring objective moral...

When Karl Keating started Catholic Answers in the mid 1980s, he wasn’t setting out to create a new Catholic apostolate with an international outreach. He just wanted to hide behind a name. What started as a simple response to an anti-Catholic tract twenty-one years ago has blossomed into the largest Catholic apologetics and evangelization organization in North America. — By Tim Drake, Envoy Magazine (www.envoymagazine.com), 2001 — At the time, Keating was working behind a desk as a general civil lawyer. After Mass one Sunday morning he discovered an anti-Catholic flyer had been placed on the windshields of all the...

Sunday is the Lord’s Day. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday morning, so Sunday is reserved as the “Lord’s Day,� the day to remember the Resurrection and to offer our praise and worship. Sunday is the Christian “Sabbath,� a shift from the Jewish Sabbath that runs from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. God gave us the Third Commandment as a solemn obligation, not a suggestion or an option: “Keep holy the Sabbath day (Ex 20:8-11; Dt 5:12-15) (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Numbers 2174 – 2178).Regular Sunday worship dates back to the first generation...

Traditional Holy Mass Propers † FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARIA ZACHARIAH † Missa Exáudi, Dómine, vocem qua clamávi ad te ( "....The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear?...." ) 5 July 2009 Anno Dómini "....whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment...." "Nothing is so consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming, as the Mass, said as it is among us.I could attend Mass forever, and not be tired.It is not a mere form of words; it is a great action.The greatest action that can be on earth. It...

Ellis T. Rasmussen, professor emeritus of Religious Education at Brigham Young University. The best support for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Lord has exhorted us to seek that kind of witness not only of the entire Book of Mormon, but also of its parts. When Moroni, the last author in the Book of Mormon, gave the promise of spiritual confirmation, he spoke especially of particulars:“When ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ,...

Featured Term (selected at random):SPECIES Appearances, especially those of bread and wine, after the Eucharistic consecration. The term "species" is used by the Council of Trent (Denzinger 1652) to identify the accidents, i.e., the size, weight, color, resistance, tase, and odor of bread, which remain exactly the same after transubstantiation. They are not mere appearances as though these physical properties were unreal. But they are appearances because after the consecration they lack any substance that underlies them or in which they inhere. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with...

Chiasmus is "a figure of speech by which the order of the words in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second" (Oxford Companion to English Literature, 1985 ed.). One way of identifying a chiastic quote is to mark the repeated words or phrases with the letters ABBA. To illustrate, one of the most familiar examples of this is the phrase spoken at the foot of the Cross: "He saved others, himself he cannot save." Which becomes: A. He saved B. others, B. himself A. he cannot save. There is an excellent web site dedicated to the...

No Matter What, He Always "Acts Like a Priest" University President Speaks on Divine Providence By Father David M. O'Connell, CM WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 3, 2009 (Zenit.org).- I wanted to be a priest for as long as I can remember. I think it was my pastor's visits to my dying grandmother, in particular, that first attracted me. He was so kind to her and so gentle. He brought her holy Communion and what we called then the sacrament of "extreme unction" during her final illness. The whole aura surrounding his visits, the mysterious sound of the Latin prayers, and the...

Many Catholics just don’t know what to say when someone asks them whether they are saved. As Catholics, we're vaguely familiar with "saved" language. We don't usually ask someone, "Are you saved?" and when someone asks us this question, we often stutter and fumble for an answer. So how should we answer: "Are you saved?" Constantly. We are constantly being saved by the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why? Because salvation is dynamic, ongoing. It's a past, present, and future reality. Let me explain. Salvation is a past reality: We have been saved by the death of...

THE QUESTION that CHANGED MY LIFE -by David Ryser A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this:

A Timeline of Catholic Church history1-500 A.D. This timeline is researched and prepared by Suzanne Fortin Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. Other Timelines: Timeline of  how the Bible came to us  All Popes back to PeterTimeline of Catholic/Orthodox Church relations  AD Event 20s *c. 29 AD Our Lord's Resurrection. The First Pentecost. St. Peter preaches in Jerusalem and converts three thousand people, creating the first Christian community. 30s *c. 35 Saul of Tarsus has an apparition of Jesus Christ and is converted to Christianity. *c. 39 St. Peter baptizes Cornelius. This event marks the beginning of the missionizing to the...

Indefectibility 530. You have often hinted that the Catholic Church is indefectible, and that she will last forever. Is she not rather in her death-throes? No. She has scarcely ever been in a stronger position, and she will last till the end of the world. Even then, instead of going into oblivion, she will merge into the Church-Triumphant in Heaven. 531. You cannot know that the Church will last till the end of time! If I relied solely upon my finite intelligence as you do, I would not know. But I know precisely because the Eternal and Omniscient God who...

Featured Term (selected at random):SOLEMN VOWS Public vows pronounced in a religious order and recognized as such by the Church. The term has become technical since the recognition of simple but public vows in religious congregations and societies of common life. In practice, a solemn vow of poverty means the actual renunciation of ownership and not merely the independent use of material possessions; and a solemn vow of chastity invalidates attempted marriage. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Dear John Calvin, I pray this letter finds you well even at 500 years of age. Next week our church, named after you, will celebrate your birthday. Granted, your birthday was on July 10th, and even though many things have changed, most churches still worship on the Lord's Day. So we're going to honor your achievements during worship on July 12th. To be honest, if we held a celebration on the actual date of your birth, we probably wouldn't get anybody out to church on a Friday night. Sorry about that. You may be surprised to know (even horrified knowing...

The Five First Saturdays Devotion How to Precisely fulfill the Five First Saturdays Devotionas Requested by Our Lady of Fatima Our Lady of Fatima Promises all the Graces Necessary for Heavenif a Catholic Finishes the Five First Saturdays Devotion "Whether the world has war or peace depends on the practice of this devotion, along with the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is why I desire its propagation so ardently, especially because this is also the will of our dear Mother in Heaven." -Sr. Lucy (March 19, 1939) During her July apparition at Fatima, Our Lady said to...

Featured Term (selected at random):DEDICATION OF THE MONTHS Traditionally each month of the liturgical year is dedicated to some mystery of the faith or special saint, as follows: January, the Holy Name of Jesus; February, the Passion; March, St. Joseph; April, the Resurrection; May, the Blessed Virgin; June, the Sacred Heart; July, the Precious Blood; August, the Assumption; September, the Holy Cross; October, the Rosary; November, the Poor Souls; December, Advent, or the Coming of Christ. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

At the Roman Synod on the Bible in October 2008, which I covered for HPR, the most common topic mentioned was the need to recommend “Lectio Divina” as a pious practice among the faithful. You have probably seen the phrase mentioned in recent articles about the synod.“Lectio Divina” (LD) literally translated means “divine reading.” What it really means is praying with the Bible by selecting a passage and meditating on it. It can be done alone by an individual and it can also be done in a small prayer group. LD has a long history of being practiced in...

Roman Catholicism and Genesis A review of The Doctrines of Genesis 1–11: A Compendium and Defense of Traditional Catholic Theology on Origins by Fr Victor P. Warkulwiz The Catholic Church’s belief about Genesis 1–11 has been in a muddle for a long time—ever since uniformitarianism and evolution came on the scene. This situation is similar to Protestant churches, sadly for both liberal and conservative ones. Within the ‘traditionalist’ churches, this book is a welcome addition to the book Genesis, Creation and Early Man by the Russian Orthodox heiromonk Seraphim Rose,1 who documented that the Church fathers of Eastern Orthodoxy from...

A week before his audience with Pope Benedict XVI, President Barack Obama addressed eight questions from Catholic reporters and editors on July 2. The president began: I've had a wonderful conversation with the Pope over the phone right after the election. And we in some ways see this as a meeting with any other government-- the government of the Holy See. There are going to be areas where we've got deep agreements; there are going to be some areas where we've got some disagreements. So in that sense there's a government-to-government relationship that is already very strong and we want...

Friday, July 03, 2009 Gregory of Nyssa's Unwritten Traditions.... Here's an interesting tidbit I didn't find, but is well worth pointing out why one should check sources and references, particularly those put forth by the advocates of Romanism. Sometimes when they mine nuggets from the church fathers, what they weigh on the scale of truth is Pyrite, fool's gold. The following is from Revds. J. Berington and J. Kirk, The Faith of Catholics, Confirmed by Scripture and Attested by the Fathers of the First Five Centuries of the Church, three volumes, Third Enlarged Edition, with Preface, Corrections, and Additions by...

I begin by asking all of our readers to pray for Fr. Geoffrey Farrow. He was the pastor of the St. Paul Newman Center at California State University at Fresno until he was suspended by his Bishop and removed from his position. This strong action was required and intended to be remedial, as are all canonical sanctions. Fr. Farrow openly defies the teaching of the Catholic Church concerning marriage and human sexuality. He also openly condemns the Catholic Church in public for her defense of marriage. Let me be clear, Fr. Farrow needs our prayer. We ask the Lord to...

TORONTO, JULY 1, 2009 (Zenit.org).- We know today's Gospel story well, perhaps too well! It would have been customary for Jesus to go to the synagogue each week during the Sabbath, and when his turn came, to read from the scriptures during the Sabbath service. His hometown folks listened ever so attentively to his teaching because they had heard about the miracles he had performed in other towns. What signs would their hometown boy work on his own turf? In today's story, Jesus startled his own people with a seeming rebuke that no prophet of God can receive honor among...

"LET US MAKE MAN..." Gen 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." To Whom was God speaking? Was the Father speaking to the Son? Or was the Son speaking to the Father? Was it the Holy Ghost speaking to the "other two"? Is there a proper interpretation of this verse which does not divide God into...

The cause for beatification of Pope John Paul II has moved a step forward, according to a report by Andrea Tornielli of the Italian daily newspaper Il Giornale. Tornielli-- who has accurately predicted several recent developments inside the Vatican-- says that theological consultors working with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints have delivered a positive verdict on the positio, the full case in favor of a pronouncement that the life of John Paul II was marked by "heroic virtue." The positio will now be forwarded to the full Congregation for the Causes of Saints for a vote later this...

Thinkers in the ancient world sought to plumb the depths of ultimate reality. With that quest for ultimate reality came the birth of the discipline of philosophy. Some philosophers focused on one particular aspect of philosophy called metaphysics (ultimate being). Others focused their attention on epistemology (the science of knowing). Still others stressed in their investigation the basic principles and elements of ethics (the study of the good and the right). And others focused on the ultimate foundations for aesthetics (the study of the beautiful). One philosopher stood out as being deeply involved in the study of all of these...

Featured Term (selected at random):VITANDUS "To be avoided." The most severe form of excommunication, seldom imposed and only then expressly by the Holy See. It means that, as a remedial measure, the faithful are not to associate with the person "except in the case of husband and wife, parents, children, servants, subjects," and in general unless there is some reasonable excusing cause. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

I remember some things about the fall of 1987, but none nearly as vividly as our high school football team playing in the state championship. The whole city seemed caught up in the anticipation of what was happening. There was even a coach's quote that made it onto sweatshirts, bumper stickers and business signs: "never, never, never, never, never give up." Sadly, few in the stands wearing the shirts realized that they and the coach were actually quoting Winston Churchill. Nothing could deter our enthusiasm to cheer for our team! "NNNNNGU" was seen all over town. In the semifinal game,...

Why Be Catholic? 6: Divine Intimacy Posted Jun. 10, 2009 8:19 PM || by Dr. Jeff Mirus || Among all the concepts of God the world has known, only one draws the believer into the most profound intimacy of love. This intimacy is completely dependent upon the unique way in which the Christian God interacts in its three persons, and in which the Catholic God interacts with men. I refer, of course, to the doctrine of the Trinity and its wonderful relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary, leading to the Incarnation of the Son who accomplishes our Redemption through a...

"It is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." (From this week's Torah portion, Balak, Numbers 23:9) Currently, Israel's very essence is its unrequited ambition to be reckoned among the nations. Official Israel does all in its power to be "normal -" in other words, to be like the nations of the world. Israel yearns to be accepted, to "belong," to enjoy the patronage of the nations. It will settle for almost anything. As long as it will not have to dwell alone. Jewish home in outpost. Sign says "G-d is King." But...

Apostolicity 524. What do you mean when you say that the true Church must be Apostolic? I mean that the true Church must be able to exhibit as an historical fact that she possesses lawful and uninterrupted succession of her Bishops from the Apostles, her faith, worship and discipline remaining ever the same in all essential things. Briefly, this means the identity of the Church today with that of the Apostles. 525. Are not the Greek Churches Apostolic? No. The mere fact that they are in schism involves secession from the Church of the Apostles, and a direct violation of...

  Saint Thomas the Apostle   Saint Thomas, a First Century Jew, is thought to have come from Galilee, of humble origins. His name is Syrian and literally means "twin". This is why you often see him referred to as Didymus, Greek for twin. We do not know how he first came to Our Lord's attention; it is not thought that he was a fisherman like Peter and his kinfolk, but rather a carpenter like St. Joseph. His symbol is the carpenter's square and he is the patron of builders. Tradition is our guide here and while we must...

St. Thomas the Apostle (First Century)   CaravaggioImage courtesy of ChristusRex The Apostle St Thomas (also called Didymus, 'twin') is the subject of a masterly character sketch in St John's Gospel. It is important because he is not unlike many well-meaning people of today who have received a technical education and nothing else, and believe only what they can see and touch. He comes to notice when, against the protests of the frightened disciples, Jesus insists on returning to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead. Thomas, loyal and pessimistic, enlists the others to go too, 'that we may die...

Featured Term (selected at random):IMPASSIBILITY Quality of the glorified human body in being free from every kind of physical evil, such as sorrow or sickness, injury or death. It may be defined as the impossibility to suffer and to die (Revelation 21:4). The inherent reason for impassibility consists in the perfect compliance of the body and emotions to the soul. (Etym. Latin in-, not + passibilis, able to suffer; impassibilis, incapable of suffering.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

“In Nixon tapes, Billy Graham refers to ‘synagogue of Satan’” That headline, which appeared yesterday in USA Today, is the latest damaging revelation about the great evangelical leader to come out of his conversations with President Richard Nixon. In the Bible, the term “synagogue of Satan,” which appears in Revelation 3:9, referred to those “who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie.” But in contemporary times the phrase has been grifted by conspiracy theorists and anti-Semites to refer to a Jewish cabal hell-bent on, and only moments away from, world domination; a Google search for “synagogue of...

God created man in his own image. (Genesis 1:27) On the sixth day of creation, after making cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts, Elohim, in a marvellous intra-Triune council decided to create man in his own image. The word 'image' in Hebrew literally means to cut from a stone, much like what Michelangelo did when cutting out his statue of David from that huge piece of marble. The word 'likeness' is a further explanation of what Moses means by image. Martin Luther wrongly taught that the image of God in man was totally lost at the fall into sin. John...

Before coming to Fordham to teach graduate students full-time, I taught many undergraduate courses over seven years at Boston College and Santa Clara University. During that time, I collected a list of “student bloopers” gathered from their assignments. I did so inspired by the years of laughter provided by the memory of an article I read in the early 1990s by Richard Lederer, then at St. Paul’s School, titled “The World According to Student Bloopers.” (That pre-Web article can now be found everywhere on the Internet.) Early on in my trundle through thousands of undergraduate papers and exams, I realized...