"A Humble Servant's Catholic Blog"

In THIS article, my wife and I gave some background on our own journey through making the decision whether or not to circumcise our future boys. In addition to some feedback and discussion in that post, there have been some more questions and discussion points come up and I feel like these present a great opportunity for discussing this seeming “hot topic” in a way that isn’t contentious. The following are paraphrased from actual questions and comments, with answers and open-ended questions to encourage further dialog and consideration. “What about emergency circumcisions? Wouldn’t boys/men who have to have these emergency procedures have been better off if they had been circumcised at birth? We could spare them this medical trauma later in life by circumcising them now.” Do you really think that sparing them from a “potential” medical trauma later justifies putting them through a certain medical trauma now? Are you aware of how traumatic circumcision is to an infant? Have y...

It's a pretty safe bet that most of us do things without thinking. We have our habits and our routines, our particular personalities that shine through in our words and actions, and our core beliefs which shape how we respond to things and direct us in our actions. We also have past experiences which have shaped the way we see things, affect who we are and can influence the way we live our lives. But how many of us take time to think about the message we are sending to others by our choices, actions, behaviors, responses, etc...? I'll go out on a limb here and say that most of us don't think about it, and I'll be that first to raise my hand in shame. We all do things unconsciously that send a negative message to others that we don't intend to send. Worse yet, sometimes we do things intentionally to send a particular message, yet we don't realize it's a negative or wrong one, or don't realize what that message really says about us. For examp...

“ Of course we are circumcising our son…the Bible says so! ” If you’ve read the Bible much, especially the Acts of the Apostles or Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians, you know that this statement makes no sense. But if you are anything like me and didn’t pay attention in Sunday school as a child, or never really read much of the Scriptures growing up, or didn’t pay attention when your parents or pastors were reading Scriptures to you, then you might identify with that statement. I’ll never forget the day that I learned just how ignorant I was about circumcision and Scripture. My wife and I were meeting with a Priest to talk about receiving the sacrament of Baptism for our soon-to-be-first-born baby. We had no idea if it was a boy or girl, and were preparing for either one. When my wife first asked me what I thought of circumcision, I expressed the same sentiment as in that first sentence. After all, the Bible could not be any clearer. God said: “ This is my covenan...

Everything the Church teaches about Marriage and the purpose of the conjugal act can be linked back to “man” (both male and female) as being God’s creation in His image and likeness, and to the means of the generation of human life: " God is love and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in his own image… God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion " (FC 11). " God created man in his own image . . . male and female he created them " (Gen 1:27); He blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply"(Gen 1:28); "When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created " (Gen 5:1-2). (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2331, emphasis mine) Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul. I...

I once listened to a talk by John Martignoni of the Bible Christian Society called "One Church". If I had to pick a single message during my life where I really felt God was calling me to take a role in working to heal the divisions that have taken place in His Body, the Church (Eph 1:22-23), I would have to say that it spoke the loudest to me through that talk. I've listened to it several times, and I will post a link to it below, but here I am going to do my best to re-present it in writing*. From it, I want to share what I believe should be important to every Christian: unity in the Body of Christ. In Jn 14:6, Christ tells us, " I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me ". Jesus is telling us two important things here. 1) There is ONE truth. 2) The truth is a Person...Christ. We know this isn't the first time the Jews had heard something like this, because John writes, " Then Jesus said to the ...

It’s not so uncommon to run into a fundamentalist Christian who celebrates the reformers for leaving the “Roman” Catholic Church and “reforming” it. What IS uncommon, however, is running into a fundamentalist Christian who knows what these “reformers” actually taught and believed. Obviously, not all that they taught would be surprising, and less surprising is the fact that some of them disagreed with one another. But there are a few things that seem to shock some Protestants when they realize what their predecessors believed. I believe the reason it can be shocking is because Protestantism is an ever-changing thing, with no actual authority to draw a line anywhere on any topic, because every person is essentially free to interpret Scripture however they see fit, or however they feel the Spirit is guiding them, regardless of conflict with others. There is no basis at all for any person within Protestantism, including the so-called “Pillars of the Reformation”, to say what is or is not T...

Over the past few years I have lost count of how many times I've heard various prophesies, dreams and visions from Scripture get tossed around to 'prove' that " the world will end on [such-n-such date]", or " Rome is the great harlot ", or " the rapture will leave the sinners behind [in such-n-such fashion for such amount of time]".  Of course, it only takes a closer look at Scripture and history to see that these assertions are a gross misapplication of Scripture.  But there is one prophecy in particular that seems to get ignored.  While hunting through the various prophesies to 'prove' one thing or another, this one, for whatever reason, is simply overlooked by those folks who otherwise 'seem' like they are out to uncover the truth.  It is a prophecy tucked into the first chapter of the book of Malachi while the Israelites were being reprimanded by God. “ For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among...

I've heard it said before that Catholics don't hear as much of the Bible during our services, nor do we read the Bible as much as non-Catholics. I've even heard that the Church doesn't want Catholics to read the Bible. While I believe that ALL Christians can and should read their Bibles more often and learn the Scriptures, I will say these statements are false. I do have a feeling that if you asked the average Catholic if he/she reads the Bible regularly, you’d get a “no”. But, I think it’s likely that a non-Catholic would say the same thing, and I don’t think this speaks to the character of the Church, rather to the fallen nature of people who have not put God’s Word high up on their priority reading list. A set of polls [1] last year on Catholic Answers Forums showed that the Catholics there spend at least as much energy and time in learning the Scriptures as the non-Catholics. While these polls are limited in what they convey, reaching only a small audience,...