"A Humble Servant's Catholic Blog"

“The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher…(7) Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil. Deacons likewise must be serious…(10) And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. Women likewise must be serious…(13) for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.” (1Tim 3:1-13) “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,” (Eph 4:11) “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all p...

Christ said, “ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.    And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven.     Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah .”   (Mt 23:8-10)   Usually when Catholics are being pointed to the fact that we call our Priests “father”, it is only verse 9 that we see, “And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven”.   For some reason, those who like to hone in on “ call no one your father ” are willing to make exceptions for “ teacher ” and “ instructor ”, unless they are only reading the KJV, which translates “ master ” in those instances.   But even those are willing to make exceptions for our biological fathers.   There is a problem there, however, because this passage makes no distinction between spiritual and biological fathers.   It simply says, “ c...

My wife and I were sent a video link to a Fundamental Baptist preacher's sermon on the Virgin Birth, and what that means for Christians. ( The Virgin Birth as explained by pastor Charles Lawson.)  I half-expected the sermon to be the usual anti-Catholic hate-speech that I am sent from time to time by anonymous readers.  But instead of an anonymous person, this was sent to us by a good friend of my wife's, someone who genuinely cares about us and for whom we also care and pray daily.  So it should not have surprised me when the sermon was far from the usual.  While he did accuse Catholics of "worshipping" Mary a couple times, he spent most of his time sounding Catholic on the topic of Mary.  Compared to the usual, it was music to my ears.  In watching the video, I was excited to find that we have so much common ground on such an important person as Christ's Mother. I couldn't help but wonder if this pastor kn...