I along with my wife, and seven others were confirmed into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. It was a beautiful service full of celebration and joy. We all felt truly loved and welcomed.
It sounds cliche but I really feel like I have come home.
Some people are proclaiming that Pope Francis is in Hell. Others are saying he is in Heaven. To do either is to sin. Only God knows the result of anyone’s particular judgment. Whoever makes either proclamation is putting themself in God’s place.
Only Holy Church can declare someone to be in Heaven after a lengthy and exhaustive process. She never proclaims anyone is in Hell. And it is not for us to say.
The only appropriate response to anyone’s death is to pray for them. Charity demands it.
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I wrote this a few weeks back when Pope Francis was in the hospital. It will come up a lot now that we are in the sede vacante period.
Let us first pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis, that he may see the face of God in eternity forever.
Then, let us pray for the Cardinal-electors, who will be discerning over the next 15-20 d…
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There is one God and one Christ, and one Church, and one Chair founded on Peter by the word of the Lord.
—St. Cyprian
I admire JK Rowling enormously. Why? Because having attained professional success and wealth beyond the imagination of most of us, she could have taken the easy option and kept her head down. Instead, she put herself on the frontline to defend her fellow women, knowing that she would become a hate figure in the eyes of many. That takes guts and principles. Give her the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
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Remember when Francis became pope, how enchanted the world became with someone in that position who seemed to be deeply Christian? Christian in the way of Jesus, not religion. People know what that is supposed to look like, feel like, smell like. It’s why they are so understandably cynical about the church because they know the differenc…
I’m going to say something that shouldn’t be controversial but will be. If you are a Christian, you can support border control and immigration being legal vs illegal. You CANNOT celebrate deportations and get off on the cruelty, and be a real Christ follower. Period
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Now is the time to pray for Pope Francis, that God grant him a merciful judgment. It is not the time to praise or denigrate him. Nor is it time to speculate on who the next pope will be. Leave all that to worldlings and pray for his eternal salvation.
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Substack is in danger of collapsing under its own weight. There are just too many worthy accounts here now to expect readers to cough up $5 for every writer they want to read. There needs to be some kind of subscription/revenue sharing mechanism so subscribers aren’t constantly asked for money for every damned article they’d like to read. Sell tokens. Punchcards. Come on, SS, INNOVATE ALREADY.
Arches National Park in Utah 😍
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If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And, which is more, you'll be a Man, my son!
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You always own your intellectual property, mailing list, and subscriber payments. With full editorial control and no gatekeepers, you can do the work you most believe in.
