Actor Shia LaBeouf converted to Catholicism. I hope he is sincere.
In a sit down interview with “Bishop Barron Presents” (below). Bishop Barron talks to the actor about his upcoming acting role in “Padre Pio,” which put him on the path to conversion.
I feel I need to say that I have a problem with Bishop Barron's practical Universalist views. Many consider him orthodox, but he is very wrong on his ideas about salvation.
We live in troubled times. We don't have a good pope.
Pope Francis frankly is doing a very bad job as pope. He has entertained pro-abortion politicians, like Nancy Pelosi, with no correction...etc... the list is long. He has recently changed the teaching on the death penalty in the Catechism. But a catechism is not an official use of Papal Infallibility. Catechisms are summaries of the Faith that also contain theological opinions of their times, and can be inaccurate.
As pointed out in the introduction of the classic catechism of the council of Trent:
Catechism of the Council of Trent- Fifteenth printing, TAN Books, Introduction XXXVI:
“Official documents have occasionally been issued by Popes to explain certain points of Catholic teaching to individuals, or to local Christian communities; whereas the Roman Catechism comprises practically the whole body of Christian doctrine, and is addressed to the whole Church. Its teaching is not infallible; but it holds a place between approved catechisms and what is de fide.”
"This brings us to the question already mentioned before, regarding the authority of the Catechism. In order to find the answer, let us first consider a bit more closely its juridical character. We could express it in this way: analogously to the new Code of Canon Law, the Catechism is de facto a collegial work; canonically, it falls under the special jurisdiction of the Pope, inasmuch as it was authorized for the whole Christian world by the Holy Father in virtue of the supreme teaching authority invested in him. . . .
This does not mean that the catechism is a sort of super-dogma, as its opponents would like to insinuate in order to cast suspicion on its as a danger to the liberty of theology. What significance the Catechism really holds for the common exercise of teaching in the Church may be learned by reading the Apostolic Constitution Fidei depositum, with which the Pope promulgated it on October 11, 1992--exactly thirty years after the opening of the Second Vatican Council: "I acknowledge it [the Catechism] as a valid and legitimate tool in the service of ecclesiastical communion, as a sure norm for instruction in the faith."
So, the Catechism contains teachings of the Church without elevating them to a doctrinal status nor above what they already have. So, other authoritative sources are needed to establish the doctrinal weight of any particular teaching in the Catechism.The individual doctrine which the Catechism presents receive no other weight than that which they already possess. The weight of the Catechism itself lies in the whole. Since it transmits what the Church teaches, whoever rejects it as a whole separates himself beyond question from the faith and teaching of the Church" [pp. 25-27].
This brings us to Fr. Schmitz' new project. I think this podcast can do a lot of good. I don't mean to denigrate in my above comments the new Catechism, but we must put it in its truthful place. While important and extremely useful, it is not infallible nor Holy Scripture.
Fr. Mike Schmitz is famous for his "Bible in a Year" podcast. It was number one podcast in the world last year.
I'm looking forward to is a new podcast called "Catechism in a Year." It will start in January 2023.
While no one can excuse evil, especially the scandal of it done in the name of the Church, some of these accusations are exaggerated or not true.
The problem is the human condition. We are a fallen people. We desire good but tend to do evil.
If we look at any institution like anti-Catholics look at the Church, how well would they fair?
We are seeing this applied to western civilization by "Critical Theory."
Most would agree that a civilization or a country or any group of people should not be defined by their worst moments.
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| St. Cyprian |
Emperor Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251 AD–not a long reign. But he did a lot of damage and something new. He launched an empire-wide persecution of the Church. Not since Nero was there such a universal persecution, before this, it was usually just local and sporadic. Nero outlawed Christianity and the law stayed on the books, but was only enforced when politically convenient, usually by regional authorities
During his reign, Decius attempted to revitalize the Roman Empire, in January 250, which led to persecution, because he blamed the slow decline of the empire on Christians. He began by killing Pope Fabian, and other bishops. In the past, Nero and Domitian had killed popes, but it was more by chance, than by design.
I recently saw a post on FB mocking Christian miracles.
I believe miracles happen, but some "Christians" make it into a superstition or a business. They DEMAND a healing from God. Magic is when one claims power over the world according to one's own will, not God's.
Why does God allow bad things to happen ? I don't know.
But when we pray we ASK not demand a miracle. Prayer is always submissive to God's will. That is not to say that one can not keep praying, but it is pleading and asking not demanding. Jesus even said to persevere in asking.
Luke 18:1 : "Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart"
Here is an example of a miracle below. A woman was healed from being blind here in Phoenix, about 5 years ago.
There are millions of miracles all over the world. But in the Catholic Church it needs to be documented to classified a miracle.
Meaning -- if it is an illness, the illness needs to be well documented by medical science, and it needs to be documented as an unexplainable healing, again by scientific investigation.
On the Journey with Matt and Ken and Kenny, Episode 99:
Matt Swaim and former Baptist pastor Ken Hensley are joined by Kenny Burchard, a former Foursquare Church pastor, to begin a series discussing what led each of them to embrace Catholic teaching on Mary.
Ken and Kenny share how they used to preach about Mary as Protestant pastors, why they used to think about her as unimportant, and what it was that began to open their hearts to start thinking of Mary as more than just a background character in the Bible.
Fr. Chris Alar explains the incredible life, miracles, and incorruptibility of St. Charbel (or Sharbel) Makhlouf of the Maronite Rite in Lebanon. His feast day is July 24.
Since 1950, the year the monastery began to formally record the miraculous healings, they have archived more than 29,000 miracles, Matar said. Prior to 1950, miracles were verified only through the witness of a priest. Now, with more advanced medical technology available, alleged miracles require medical documents demonstrating the person's initial illness and later, their unexplainable good health.
