Musings of a Catholic Convert

I suppose that it is indeed Monday.  Back at the office for another the usual strain.  With so many projects going on at once, I have a tendency to feel overwhelmed.  My desire is to overcome the overwhelming feelings with resolve and purpose.  Easier said than done, I know, but at least I know the correct answer to the problem of anxiousness.  And I trust that whatever comes my way is a part of God's revealed plan for my life, whether it suits my fancy or not.

I'm learning to let go of my big plans and abandon myself in total trust to God.  It's not an easy thing to do, but I'm learning to trust God on a much deeper level than I have before.  I think this is going to be the cure for my fears.

Mother's day is always interesting at my house.  I hope that your respective Mother's day celebrations were filled with love and warmth.  I also hope that you have a good week and that God will bring you opportunities to share the hope and love he has given you with someone else.

1. The rules of the game get posted on the beginning.
2. Each player answers the rules about himself.
3. At the end of the post, the player tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read his blog.

What I was doing ten years ago:
10 years ago.  What was that 1998?  Hmmm.  Okay, I guess 10 years ago I was cramming for finals and hoping I would graduate strong.  A month later I would learn that my wife was pregnant with our first child.

Five things on my To-Do list today:
1. Wake Up.

2. Get the kids up and dressed. I guess they'll need to eat something too.

3. Keep the kids entertained while Kimberly has a Pampered Chef show.

4. Catch up on some writing.

5. Play Lego Star Wars with my son

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay off all my debts

2. Send checks to a bunch of ministies, especially Dominican Orders and my own parish.

3. Set up trusts to ensure my wife and kids would be secure.

4. Buy an RV and start travelling to all the cool places I see on RoadsideAmerica.com

5. Ride a mechanical bull.

Three of my bad habits/qualities:
1. Prone to Anger.

2. Pride/Arrogance.

3. Nail Biter.

Five places I’ve lived:
1. Knoxville, Tennessee

2. Jackson, Tennessee

3. Louisville, Kentucky

4. Germantown, Tennessee

5. Collierville, Tennessee

Five jobs I’ve had:
1. Youth Minister

2. Bookstore floor salesman

3. Collections Manager

4. Associate Pastor

5. Director of Sales and Marketing

Five books I’ve recently read:
1. The Marvel Encyclopedia

2. How to Be Happy - Archbishop Fulton Sheen

3. Dragon Naturally Speaking Instruction Manual

4. Learning PHP & MySQL - O'Reilly Books

5. Horton Hears a Who - Dr. Seuss

Five people or communities I’m going to tag:
1. Matt at Fresh New Tone and Air and Spirit

2. Chris Padgett at Chris Padgett

3. Saint George at Saint George

4. KOCM at the King of Catholic Media

5. Carolyn at Remember, O  Most Gracious Virgin Mary

So my father-in-law was odained into the Permanent Diaconate on Saturday.  Isn't that awesome?  Sacrament of Holy Orders!  I'm real excited for him as I know he's been preparing for this day for the past five years.  So much prayer, study, and preparation went into this weekend for 22 men.  Now, God has opened the door for ministry even wider in their lives and in the lives of their parishes.  I had to miss most of the ordination because my youngest wanted to talk.  What did I expect?  She's a one-year-old, and we were on the first pew.  Hey, but you know what?  Ordination still went on, even without me.  Amazing, I know, but totally true.  I'm glad I got to celebration this ordination with my family and I look forward to seeing what this latest group of Deacons is going to do.  

Think I'll ever become a Deacon?  Not up to me of course, but if God were to call, I'd sure like to think I'd say yes.  Time will have to tell I suppose.  

I also want to say that riverboat rides are a lot of fun when you have friends and family with you. I learned that Friday night when we took a - wait for it - riverboat ride on the Mississippi River.  Loads of fun to celebrate our new Deacon.               

Let me tell you something, brother. 

Friday was a great night of fellowship with my brother papists.  Anytime a bunch of Catholic guys can get together for carnivorous eating, card playing, and general "guy talk" it's gonna be a fun night.  But throw in the fact that we are all hardcore papists and you get a totally awesome night.  I feel so blessed to have friends who are not just Catholic in name, but who really live the Faith with gusto.  It is so natural to be talking about the Saint Louis Cardinals one minute, and His Eminence Christoph Cardinal Schönborn the next. 

Let me tell you something else.  We are a bunch of healthy carnivores too.  Big D grilled up some fabulous food for us.  Delish!   

This week seems to have flown by.  I can't believe it's already Thursday. Last night was my Catholic Social Teaching class, so I guess today really is Thursday.  Tonight at RCIA we are going to have a Passover Seder meal and look at it's similarity to the Mass.  The Seder meal is so full of symbolism.  I'm looking forward to an enlightening night and some excellent fellowship.  

This weekend is going to be busy.  I think I'll turn in early tonight and get a little extra shuteye.

While I'm thinking about busy, let me tell you something I heard from the King of Catholic Media.  The KOCM says that we are getting superclose to phase two of our catholic social network.  Blogs are working good, and I guess that means you're sending him your bugs and requests.  Phase two will add new elements to enhance the community and give us more ways to reach in and reach out.  He made me promise not to spill ALL the beans, but I think I've told you enough to get you interested, right?

I spoke with Jim Anderson at the Coming Home Network this afternoon.  We've put a new date on the Calendar.  Schedule your parties for Monday, April 14 at 8pm Eastern.  Barring anything unusual happening, I'll be back in Birmingham for another go at The Journey Home on EWTN.  

I've updated the countdown timer to the right so you won't forget.  

You should also know, should you ever venture to the Birmingham area, that Tavern on the Summit is a great place to eat.  Very friendly and attentive staff and reasonably priced entrees.  Not too hard to find either.  Just off the beltway and less than 10 minutes from Irondale and the EWTN studios.  It looks like there were some really neat stores as well, but we wanted to head home. 

After seeing numerous talking heads speaking of this latest Pew Forum report, I thought it best to download the report and read it myself.  I would like to see not only how the Pew Forum data looked, but also how they arrived at their reported conclusions.  The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey can be found online.  I do not have permission to reprint it on this site, but you can get a copy for your own personal use from them.

The American religious landscape is something I've studied quite a bit, both in my spiritual journey and discovery of the Catholic Church and in my studies toward becoming a pastor and teacher.  It makes sense when you think about it.  If one's religious history goes back only as far as the 16th century (if even that far), what does your Church history class look like?  You spend a few weeks, maybe a semester looking at the New Testament, a brief glance at the early Church Fathers so you can mention St. Augustine and the early Christological heresies, then you jump several centuries to the Schism that created the Orthodox Churches, then skip another 500-600 years and start talking about the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation.  Having covered a good 1500 years in one semester, one is then free to spend the remainder of the year on the past 500 years or so, and particularly the last 200 in the US.  

With that thought in mind, you can understand why my studies of the American religious landscape are filled with details.  It was mostly self study, aided by my studies of world history, that allowed me to see the rest of Christianity from the time of Christ to today.  Perhaps you can understand my curiosity with this new study.  

I am just starting my reading so I'll let you know what I find.  Right now I'm most interested in looking at the actual questions asked in their surveying.  Asking the wrong questions or asking leading/assumptive questions are dangerous data collection methods.  There are several pollster organizations that are guilty of this.  I suppose on some level or another, there isn't an easy way to avoid leading or assumptive questions altogether, especially with regard to religion, but at least try to be objective, right?

Have any of you read the study? 

"And if there's one thing I know, it's how to spot the genuine article. Because that's what you got to watch out for. Not the cops. You can always get around the cops. But the one thing you can never ever get around is the genuine article. And you, kid, are the genuine article."

Did you ever see the movie, "Leap of Faith", with Steve Martin playing the role of a faith healer?  That's where I got that quote.  Good movie.  Maybe you will watch it sometime. For now, look at that quote.  What is the problem that finally unseats this charlatan and ultimately makes him leave "the business"?  The genuine article.  A real healing by God.  You cannot argue with truth.  Well, you can try, but you cannot win.  That is how you spot the false.  Not by studying all of the counterfeits, but by studying the real deal.  When you know what the truth looks like, everything else shows itself as flawed and incomplete.  

So where do you go to study the truth?

Good question.

There's an even "gooder" answer, because God knew we would need more than our own intellect and emotion to guide us, which we sometimes mistakenly think is the Holy Spirit.  No, God gave us something more concrete - a promise actually - that will abide and protect His truth for all time.  What did He give us?  If you said the Holy Spirit, you are on the right track.  But notice the WAY in which He has given us the Holy Spirit and the deposit of faith.

John 14:16-17 (mouse over the reference to read the Scripture)

John 14:24-26 (use that mouse again)

We, having been buried with Christ in baptism and raised from our death to sin in order to live as new persons, have the indwelling of the Holy Trinity.  The Apostles have this too, but they got something else.  They received from the Holy Spirit total recall of all Jesus had taught them, which St. John said all the books in the world could not contain.  All of this teaching has been faithfully protected by these Apostles, who are the first Bishops.  Their successors, the Bishops have been charged throughout the centuries to continue to pass along these things.  For example, read through 1 & 2 Timothy to see the instruction given to this young Bishop to hold fast to the teachings that were handed down to him.  This succession, this structure which is part of the Church Jesus founded in Matthew 16, has the protection from the Holy Spirit Himself.  He is the guarantor of truth for the Church Jesus said would never succumb to death.  As we are faithful to this Deposit of Faith, whether we be laypersons, Priests, or individual Bishops, we can be sure that we are in the Truth.  When we choose to be novel, to reject the authoritative teaching God established, and seek to carve our own road, we undoubtedly will teach error.  So what is the answer?  Remain faithful to that which God has revealed.

Sound easy?  It's not.  Want a good place to start?  Try 1 John.  See what St. John says the Christian life looks like.  It's no walk in the garden, but it is worth any struggle and any self sacrifice to be in true communion with God.   

Did you figure it out yesterday? 

You know two men could be standing in front of you wearing identical looking shirts.  They both have a Tommy Hilfiger trademark symbol stitched into the "chest pocket" area of the shirt.  Same color.  Same size.  And let's even say that the two men are actually identical twins!  One of them - let's call him Tomax - is wearing a knockoff and the other - we'll call him Xamot - is wearing the real Tommy shirt.  How do you know which is which?

There are actually two correct answers to this question.  I'll give you the easy one.  Tomax's hair is parted on the right side of his head and Xamot's on the left.  Also, there is a scar on Xamot's right cheek, and Tomax has no scar.  See?  Simple.  

Know let's make a stretch and assume you didn't know how to identify Tomax or Xamot.  You'd have to use the shirts then, right?  So how would you do it?  How do you spot the fake shirt?

I'm going to tell you how tomorrow.  There are ways to tell.  But for today, let's assume you cannot tell them apart.  You might say, "Who cares?  It doesn't matter to me if one of them has a counterfeit product."  You might even be persuaded to buy into the lie that this isn't hurting anyone and that it is harmless.  Somebody is saving a buck, right?

What about the real merchandiser who stocks the actual Tommy shirts?  What is he saving?  What about the manufacturing plant that produces the goods?  Are those plants and their workers saving a buck too?  What about the families supported by those plants?  How is their savings?  And what about the shirt itself?  Is it made of quality material?  Is it going to last?  Is it made of safe fabric, or could there be something potentially harmful?

The picture on the left shows two feet that were chemically burned by a pair of cheaply produced sandals (not name brand even).  Several people were injured by these products and countless emails were circulated warning of the very real problem (I checked it out, because we got so many emails).  The quality of manufacturing materials DOES matter.  

And that is just a shirt or a pair of sandals.  What about baby formula?  What about medicine?  People can be seriously injured by counterfeit products.  It is a big deal, beyond the fact that it is theft on several levels, which in itself is a grave sin. 

Let's make another application to this.  What about false teachings?  What about fake Christians and the things they teach through their living and speaking?  Do you think there is potential there to cause harm?  Eternal harm even?  Absolutely.  All paths DO NOT lead to God.  All theological viewpoints are not equally truthful.  Someone is wrong.  Everyone is not right.  And it matters on an eternal scale.  How do you spot the fake?

I'll tell you tomorrow.