Evangelization – Catholic Light

Liturgies of self-affirmation? No, thanks

At the parish today, there was a rite of sending the catechumens (and candidates too!) for the Election rite to be held at the cathedral: and, man, was it overdone! Since the books on-line describe it as an “optional” rite, that probably means that some liturgist invented it out of whole cloth.
Here’s an excerpt from some old LTP book:

Reverend Father, these catechumens, whom I now present to you, are beginning their final period of preparation and purification leading to their initiation. They have found strength in God’s grace and support in our community’s prayers and example.
Now they ask that they be recognized for the progress they have made in their spiritual formation and that they receive the assurance of our blessing and prayers as they go forth to the rite of election celebrated this afternoon by Bishop N.

Ugh: “they ask that they be recognized” for their spiritual progress? Thank God I didn’t have to go through that indignity as a catechumen.

Denis Boyles on “The Pope, Faith, and Reason”

Denis Boyles of NRO agrees that the problem with journalists is that they have no idea what Christianity or Islam teaches, much less have a grasp on philosophy:

Part of the problem journalists face when they have to report on complicated, somewhat obscure topics, such as Roman Catholic dogmatic theology, is that graduate journalism courses like JOM926 may stress spelling & grammar, but completely at the expense of “faith & reason.” So maybe it’s not fair to blame journalists for the inanities in the week’s reporting of what was a very complex discussion by a scholarly pope concerning faith and reason in Christianity and in Islam. As you know by now, the pope quoted a 14th-century Byzantine whose millennial empire had been reduced to mere acres and whose people had been dispatched by the hundreds of thousands by Islamic armies who thought death was a suitable end for unrepentant infidels. The emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, ventured to a visiting Persian that surely there must be a better way to do missionary work. Somehow a graduate of JOM926 got hold of the pope’s speech, and that was all it took.

Full article

Welcome aboard, new Catholics!

Who’s going to be a new Catholic this Easter?
Well, among bloggers there’s Dawn Eden for starters; but then she was really one all along in potentia, I guess!
But there are other dear people on the way in, and I’m rejoicing with all of you. (This will be my 26th anniversary as a Catholic.)
Know that the saints, that great “cloud of witnesses”, cheer you on as you come into full communion with our Lord’s mystical Body. And one Heart desires it even more.

Know of any good one-volume apologetics books?

A regular Catholic Light reader e-mailed me for some help picking a catechism:

…I am basically looking for a catechism that explains ‘What do Catholics believe, and why do they believe that?,’ and it has to be orthodox. I have already purchased and read Surprised by Canon Law.”

He seems to be looking for a good apologetics book, not just a good catechism. The difference is that a catechism will tell you what Catholics believe, but apologetics will tell you why.
I could name a dozen good apologetical books, but I really can’t think of a single, all-purpose volume — sort of like a “Mere Catholicism” for the general knowledge-seeker. I’m sure they’re out there, I just don’t know about them. Does anyone want to name any favorites?

You may have thought of this already, but this is a teaching opportunity

The next month, as a new pope is selected, Catholics will have a great opportunity to explain why our faith is not incompatible with high culture, sex, education, personal hygiene, or any other good thing, small or large. There will be a lot of regular people who are curious about this whole Catholic thing — now is a good time to think of an explanation, if you haven’t already.