John B. Manos
PBS Frontline: Secrets of the Vatican – a secular review of the symptoms of error
Yesterday, PBS Frontline ran a show titled, “Secrets of the Vatican” – an hour and a half show. PBS’s own description of the show is as follows: In Secrets of the Vatican, FRONTLINE tells the epic, inside story of the collapse of the Benedict papacy and illuminates the extraordinary challenges facing Pope Francis as he tries…
Lent Preparation: Earn an eternal merit badge this year
I’ve written before on the notion of lent being a time to fast and on the power of fasting to cast demons away. Today, people have totally shifted their concept and consider a fast “too much.” Those who say that have that luxury only today because the Church has mitigated the impact of the second law. Consider…
Do the American Bishops hate fasting?
I was shell shocked today by an omission I can hardly believe. At Mass, I heard the Gospel about the possessed boy out of whom the Apostles could not drive the demon. We all know the tale: Our Lord drives the demon out, and the Apostles ask, “Why could we not drive out the demon?” And Our…
Medjugorje
For decades now, I’ve been assaulted by people who insist that Medjugorje is worth attention. They would send messages, daily messages, and talk of it endlessly. Some are still that way. I’ve never been convinced. I’ll talk about Fatima all day long. The alleged events at Medjugorje have always struck me as “off.” Since I’m on a roll of…
Fr. Hardon: Three reasons why the devil is so strong today.
Fr. Hardon gives the 3 reasons causing “the rise of heresy and the participation of priests & religious in the acceptance of homosexuality … why is the devil so strong today.
Catholic Dictionary: Menticide?
I was looking for something recently in my copy of Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary when I noticed an entry that caught my eye: Menticide. Mind killing. “The systematic effort to break down the beliefs and allegiances of a person by physical or psychological means, in order to substitute one’s own. Also called brain-washing, it…
Weeping Statue of Mary in Israel? Probably not.
In the past couple of days news stories have sensationalized the story of a statue at the home of a Greek Orthodox family in Israel. Ordinarily, Greek Orthodox don’t have statues, rather they have icons. There’s some controversy among orthodox on the propriety of icons, in fact, so it’s surprising to see this. The raw…
FEMEN and the Gerasene Demoniac… Full of Devils
News today that Femen has raided a cathedral in Spain. They are screaming “Abortion is sacred.” The woman is naked, has an upside down cross painted on her back, violent, and seems to have a problem with identity, “My name is Femen, for we are many.” I can’t help it but to think of the demoniac…
Memory Eternal, Penny Lord
There’s some people you meet who you just can’t forget. Years ago, I was delighted to make acquaintance with Bob and Penny Lord. Bob and Penny have had fun documenting a lot of saints around the world and bringing these first hand experiences to people through their books and videos. You have to smile with…
Cincinnati’s Curious Masonic Church
Cincinnati has long appeared to have a revolving door between the Masonic lodges and the Catholic Church. Having grown up there, I can recall discussions of various people who were both in Knights of Columbus and Masons, and rumors of parishes that were pagan experiments. People talk, and that sort of talk happened way before blogging. In…
