"What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home"
These lyrics came to mind earlier this week as I learned about a new ad campaign that was recently launched by my home Diocese of Brooklyn. The ad depicts an image of the bottom half of a person (presumably Jesus) clad in a robe and wearing a pair of scuffed Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers. The ad simply reads: THE ORIGINAL...
Protestants need not worry about Catholics worshipping Christ's mother and the saints. It's taken us some 2,000 years to figure out four dogmatic truths about the Blessed Virgin Mary—that she is the Mother of God, a perpetual Virgin, immaculately conceived...
Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m a pushover for products that have the word "miracle" on the label. I can’t tell you how many miracle cleansers, sealants, detergents, or garden plant foods I’ve bought over the years, each promising to do something exceptional. Some come close to living up to their claims, others not so much. While I don’t buy every product with a promise, I still read the label and wonder if it could be true.
I also like formulas or strategies that are ‘proven...
In the Q&A department here at Catholic Answers, year in and year out we get what I like to think of as the seasonal questions. At Christmas someone will ask "What time is the midnight Mass?" (No kidding, and not as obvious an answer as you might think in many American parishes.) At Halloween, someone will want to know if the holiday is pagan. And, at Lent, not just "someone" but everyone seems to ask "Why do Catholics eat fish on the Fridays of Lent?"
The short answer has...
Unlike most converts from various strains of Protestantism, I never had much of a problem with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Perhaps it was because my Christian background was more or less nominal and lacking a good deal of Christian catechesis. Or perhaps it was because I had a natural attraction to the idea of saintly intercession and the communion of the saints.
Whatever the reason, I did not have difficulty accepting the Marian dogmas, and I enjoyed the folk piety of ordinary lay...
“All the books and magazines that you sent me helped re-enforce my new-found Catholic beliefs. After reading them and praying, I now have no doubts about the Catholic faith and I am rejoicing in the truth. It is good to know the truth! God bless Catholic Answers!”
"That by her holy prayers she may reconcile me to her Son, my Lord Jesus Christ."
