The faith mouse cartoon today refers to the Planned Parenthood superhero animation and also to Dawn Eden. Dan Lacey the cartoonist behind faith mouse also maintains a blog here. Mr. Lacey also wrote to tell me about this previous cartoon of his.
Rantings of an obnoxious Seminarian a fairly new blog by you guessed it an obnoxious seminarian who in his tag lines says "My hobbies consist of harassing liberals, and watching pirate movies." [Via Veritas nunquam perit who is only a rambling seminarian]
In somewhat related news Vivificat concludes a six part series on Fr. O’Leary titled a neocatholic strikes back.
Even Mary at Ever New responds to Fr. O’Leary’s post in a must read one titled Catholic Sex (and other wonderful things)
One of the funniest things about receiving the Neocath tag is that the wording just makes no sense in reality. I believe that those he identified like Jimmy Akin, Peter Kreeft, Amy Welborn, the Blossers, and myself would feel right at home if we could converse with orthodox Catholic throughout the ages. If we could time travel back who would they see us as the "new Catholics" or resurrection and Hell deniers like Fr. O’Leary. In fact I think even heretics of old would not put up with the nonsense of many progressive Catholics today.
Here is an interesting new blog by Zach Brissett called In Toon With the World. Zach does editorial cartooning on his blog and I especially liked this one. Zach also maintains a site called sainthoodpress.com where he also links to some cafepress merchandise based on his art which include people like G.K. Chesterton, St. Terese, and our late Holy Father.
NEW YORK, USA, August 3 (CNA) – For years, the exact nature of the religious beliefs of Bono, lead singer songwriter of the band U2, have eluded fans and music experts. But now, in an interview published in the new book Bono in Conversation by Michka Assayas, the Irish superstar makes some very strong statements about Christ, grace and the nature of salvation.
Although the Irish-born mega star professes to be a Christian, and although many of his song lyrics reflect it, some say Bono’s actions, "rock star antics" and various statements contradict this.
The interview however, throws some new light onto the faith of a musician who grew up watching first hand the bloody battle between Catholics and Protestants which wracked northern Ireland for years. Bono grew up in Dublin with a Protestant mother and a Catholic father.
Perhaps in light of this, Assayas asks Bono if he thinks "appalling things" happen when people become religious. The singer responds by showing the deep personal relationship the Christian faith calls believers to with God, rather than the violent extremism the interviewer seems to be prodding to.
At one key point in the interview, Bono talks about the difference between Karma and Grace, a difference which he says, is a "mind blowing concept…that keeps me on my knees."
"At the center of all religions" Bono tells his skeptical interviewer, "is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics-in physical laws-every action is met by an equal or an opposite one."
"And yet," he says, "along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that. . . . Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff."
Unwilling to divulge the "stuff" in question, Bono admits "I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge…It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity." [Source]
As a long time U2 fan (since the October album) it is pretty cool to see grace explained like this. If only he would stop hawking embryonic stem-cells at their concerts.
Ignatius Insight has a good interview with Fr. Fr. James V. Schall, S.J which is part 1 of a three part series. Some interesting insights on both teaching and about reading good books.
I like this tag line from Veritas nunquam perit
I am a seminarian for the Memphis Diocese of the First Apostolic Full Gospel Church of Jesus Christ Unreformed–Roman Assembly, and attend St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana.
This reminds me of the naming of Catholic Apologist John Martignoni’s apostolate called Bible Christian Society.
Update: Judging by the comments some people did not realize that the seminarian is truly a Catholic seminarian and that “First Apostolic Full Gospel Church of Jesus Christ Unreformed–Roman Assembly” is a parody based on Protestant church names, but if you look at it closely will realize that this is truly an accurate discription.
Archbishop Chaput is what I consider a complete bishop. His columns are always edifying and cover the range of the Gospel. His column this week is "Homelessness: Issue goes to the heart of living the Gospel."
Christopher at Against the Grain has a Pope Benedict XVI roundup that includes information about why some of the facts in an article (posted below) in the American Spectator about the Holy Fathers’ time in Tübingen was factually incorrect.
Interesting article in the American Spectator called What Made Benedict Conservative? I goes into more of the background of what happened at Tubingen with the student protests. Though I do think the concept of Josef Ratzinger being once a progressive becoming a conservative is mistaken. More likely it was his views that did not change, but the labels around him that were shifting.
Interesting article of a painting of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg as Saint Jerome by Lucas Cranach the Elder and the symbolism of the painting.
Interactive link of painting.
