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Peter in Jail - Five Facts of Faith We Learn from His Story Msgr. Charles Pope • June 29, 2016 • Today’s Feast of Saints Peter and Paul honors two pillars of the early Church. While all the Apostles form the foundation, Peter and Paul stand out profoundly in terms of their influence and their work. And while some suggest a division between them, the Church insists that they must been seen together; hence their feast is set forth in this way.Indeed, those who see division between them base it on only one text (Galatians 2:11), in which St....

In some translations of 2 Peter 3, we see implied that the planet itself (heavenly bodies/elements) will be literally burned up. There are many reasons why this is not literally about the physical cosmos, but rather is about the coming events of AD 70 when God judged Old Covenant Israel. At that time, over a million Jews were slaughtered at the hands of the Romans, the temple was destroyed, and along with it the last vestiges of the Old Covenant order. 1. The Bible elsewhere anticipates a never-ending earth (Ecclesiastes 1:4; Psalm 78:69; 104:5; 148:3-6; Ephesians 3:21). 2. The context...

But at Your Command I Will Lower the Nets -- A Homily for the 5th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope -- February 6, 2016 -- Today's gospel describes the call of Simon Peter. It is a call that takes place in several stages. And while it is presented in a compact time frame, for most of us it takes place over a longer period, as the Lord works to deepen our faith and heighten our call. The upshot of today's gospel is that Peter's faith is strengthened by his obedience to the Lord's command.Let's see how the...

Early on in Pan, a young Peter Pan asks “where’s the bacon” when being served a watery bowl of gruel at an orphanage in World War II London. Little did British director Joe Wright and Warner Bros. know how prophetic the question would become. Over the weekend, the ambitious Peter Pan origin story bombed at the North American box office, grossing a paltry $15.5 million despite a $150 million production budget and a friendly PG rating. Pan, from Warner Bros. and co-financing partner RatPac-Dune Entertainment, could lose more than $100 million unless the live-action movie does huge business overseas, a...

The scene after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (RINO-CA) announced he was dropping out of the Speaker’s race… Out of the way!

Myth #3: Peter was important, but he had no special authority that could be passed on to a successor like the pope. Peter’s role as “chief apostle” is evident in the fact that he is mentioned more than any other apostle, often speaks for the whole group, and is placed first in every list of the apostles. Since Judas is always listed last, we can deduce that these lists were made in order of importance. Moreover, Christ made Peter alone the shepherd over his whole flock (see John 21:15-17), and the book of Acts describes Peter’s unparalleled leadership in the...

A Distinction Without a Difference or a Distinction to Die For? Wrestling With the Subtleties of John 21:16 – Peter, Do You Love Me? By: Msgr. Charles PopeLast week, as we wrapped up the Easter season, we read the beautiful dialogue between Jesus and Peter: “Peter, do you love me?” Analyzing this beautiful text is one of the great indoor sports of New Testament Biblical Scholarship: how to interpret the subtleties in that dialogue between Jesus and Peter.And thus Jesus asks, “Peter do you love me?” And Peter responds, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” This exchange occurs three times. But...

Season 1, Episode 3 — ‘The Spirit Arrives’Acts 2-4Editing Acts. The third episode of A.D. The Bible Continues is the first one that takes place entirely within the timeframe of the book of Acts, and it zips through the first few chapters so quickly that the final scenes are taken from Acts 4.  This is remarkable, when you consider that there are still nine episodes to go and the season as a whole is only supposed to get as far as Acts 10.  How does this episode get through the first few chapters of Acts so quickly? Partly by...

A commenter wrote: I was not aware that Newman concedes the point that there was no bishop in Rome during that period and I am surprised to hear that! Could you possibly reference that for me? I’m working with the 1989 edition, published by the University of Notre Dame Press. Newman (p. 12) in discussing the Rule of Vincent of Lerins (what was believed always, everywhere, by all — which he single-handedly dismissed) is quoting an imaginary Anglican interlocutor on the discrepancies in teaching from the time of the early church to his time in the 19th century: I shall...

Each time the word ROCK is used in the Bible in reference to any providing of the people, it is used as God being the one provided. Here is the first verse in the Bible in the KJV showing just that. (Exo 17:6 KJV) Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Who pointed out where the ROCK was? God did. What came out of...

Caesarea Philippi... Gates of Hades?Carol Brooks  “He asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven....

June 10, 2014Upon This Rock by Nathan Busenitz In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said to Simon, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”Roman Catholics interpret Matt. 16:18 to mean that Peter is the rock upon which the church is built. That interpretation then becomes the basis for the doctrine of papal succession. If Peter is the rock on which the church is built, and if the bishops of Rome are Peter’s successors, then it follows, they say, that the papacy remains the foundation of the church.But...

Gov. Chris Christie has called on President Barack Obama to demand that Cuba return a woman convicted of killing a New Jersey State Police officer in 1973 before the United States moves forward with a plan to restore diplomatic relations with the communist nation. The Republican governor wrote in a letter to Obama that he profoundly disagrees with the decision announced last week to re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba, saying he does not share the view that taking that step "without a clear commitment from the Cuban government of the steps they will take to reverse decades of human rights...

Since Peter Pan’s first adventures to Neverland in 1904, by way of the Duke of York’s Theatre in London, his story has been retold in countless variations on stage, page, and screen. More recent versions, including tonight's Peter Pan Live! on NBC, have been rewritten in attempts to unburden the text of its disturbing racial stereotypes. Peter himself has also been reincarnated many times over. Where his Edwardian roots cast him as an impish child, still with all his baby teeth, contemporary storytellers envision a prepubescent boy physically and emotionally tottering on the edge of teenagedom—that stepping stone to adulthood...

Boys like Peter are Not Afraid of WOLVES An Edgy Re-Telling of Prokofiov's Class Musical Children's Tale  Peter stares out the window as Grandfather reinforces the fence, to the sounds of a high gale blizzard and the howling of the wolves.http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1e62ead3ff/peter-the-wolf-avitar-style-animation?rel=player Set in a realistically shabby, modern Russia.  The animation realization of Peter's facial expressions highlights the fully artistic maturity of today's digital media.  More traitional tellings, like Peter Ustinov's 1960, seem to imply events taking place in warm weather. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK_dkBC_Cno

The same newspaper that crucified President George W. Bush for the Abu Ghrab scandal even though Bush was many, many layers of government removed from the American military guards at the heart of the Iraqi prison scandal has given President Barack Obama absolution for the gross incompetence of the Secret Service even though Obama is in direct contact every minute of every day with the agency charged with protecting his life. Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times has written a churlish, excuse-making article published Tuesday night that at once hints Republican lawmakers want to see...

The Gospel today sets forth the biblical basis for the Office of Peter—the Office of the Papacy—for Peter’s successors are the popes. The word “pope” is simply an English version (via Anglo-Saxon and Germanic tongues) of the word “papa.” The Pope is affectionately called “Papa” in Italian and Spanish as an affectionate indication that he is the father of the family, the Church.That Peter receives an office and not simply a charismatic designation we will discuss later. As to certain objections regarding the Office of the Papacy, we will also deal with them later. But for now let’s look at...

Antakya (Agenzia Fides) - The cave church of St. Peter in Antioch is still closed and restoration work is not yet complete. But the prefecture authority has granted permission, however, to the Christians of Antioch, Iskenderun, Mersin and Adana to visit the cave church on June 29 to celebrate with a moment of prayer, the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. This was confirmed to Fides Agency by the Capuchin Franciscan Fr. Domenico Bertogli, pastor of the local Catholic Church of the Latin rite, editor of the news magazine entitled "Chronicle of Antioch". "There is still much...

Congressman Pete King (R-N.Y.), a familiar pugilist on cable television, took his message of a robust American foreign policy to New Hampshire for the sixth time over the weekend. This was after a week of jousting with GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.) about the direction of the Republican Party. He called Cruz a nihilist and Paul an isolationist. (SNIP) King’s pretty good at math, or at least he understands the basics of demographic change, and as son of Irish immigrants, he has a reflexive distaste of xenophobic latter-day know-nothings. Now, King probably wouldn’t have been invited...

No doubt, if you read DWT with any regularity, you've noticed that we keep an eye on the DCCC. We rarely have much to say about the NRCC, not because they're any better than the DCCC or less corrupt or incompetent, but,… who cares what they do? Unlike the DCCC, the worse the NRCC are, the better for normal Americans. (SNIP) The only congressional district in the country with a PVI of zero that isn't being fought over by the NRCC or the DCCC is NY-03. Steve Israel's Long Island district. A Republican could easily beat him if the NRCC...