|
|
|
KARL KEATING'S E-LETTER
TOPICS:
PLEASE HELP ME FIND NEW SUBSCRIBERS
WHY IS THIS EX-PRIEST AN ANTI-CATHOLIC?
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
I'm out of town again. This weekend I was at the Ignatius Press 25th
Anniversary Conference, and I am taking the scenic route home.
Today I am in Yosemite, and tomorrow I head to the White-Inyo Range,
which is east of Owens Valley, which itself is east of the Sierra
Nevada. I propose to camp Thursday night on top of White Mountain, the
third-highest peak in California. It is only 250 feet shorter than Mt.
Whitney.
After that, it's down Highway 395, one of my favorite roads, with the
Sierra on my right and Death Valley on my left, and onward to San Diego.
A LITLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS
May I ask a favor? This E-Letter is read each week by thousands of
people like you, and I suspect there are many thousands more who would
enjoy reading it and might profit from it, if only they knew of its
existence. I ask you to help me get the word out. Here's how:
In your e-mail program you have a list of addresses, the "address book."
You select one or more recipients when you write a message. As a favor
to me, please send a short message to every name in your address book.
The body of the message could read like this:
"I encourage you to read Karl Keating's E-Letter. I read it each week
and enjoy it and think you would enjoy it too. Karl is the founder and
president of Catholic Answers, a lay-run apologetics and evangelization
organization. His E-Letter is a weekly that is sent to many thousands of
people, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
"You can get a free subscription by going to www.catholic.com. Look at
the top of the main page for the appropriate link. Not only can you sign
up for your own subscription, but you can browse an archive of all of
the back issues.
"The E-Letter contains no solicitations or advertising, but it does
contain facts, opinions, and wit. If you ever decide you don't wish to
continue as a subscriber, you can cancel your subscription as easily as
you began it.
"Thanks for reading this. I hope you will join me in becoming a regular
reader of Karl Keating's E-Letter."
If you will send such a letter to everyone in your e-mail address book,
I would be most grateful. I like to think that you and the other readers
of my E-Letter find something useful in it (at least on occasion!), and
that leads me to think that your acquaintances might too.
WILL THE REAL RICHARD BENNETT PLEASE STAND UP?
In 1963, when he was 25, Richard Bennett, a native of Ireland, was
ordained to the Catholic priesthood. In 1985 he abandoned the priesthood
and Catholicism. Today he is a Fundamentalist missionary and decidedly
anti-Catholic.
He runs a small ministry known as the Berean Beacon
(www.bereanbeacon.org). At his web site he has an archive of articles,
one of which is called "The Antichrist Unveiled." The final line in that
article says that the testimony of "martyrs and reformers" "was that
Papal Rome is the Babylon of prophecy, 'that great city, which reigneth
over the kings of the earth,' and that its head, the Roman pontiff, is
the predicted 'Man of Sin,' or Antichrist."
Most Fundamentalists do not go so far as to claim that the pope is the
Antichrist. They realize that Scripture refers to the Antichrist as
being a particular man, and, if a pope is the Antichrist, which pope
would that be? There are so many to choose from! If they say, "the
current pope," they look a bit ridiculous, since John Paul II has not
performed a single act that is attributed by Scripture to the
Antichrist.
Bennett also offers his "Life Testimony" at his site. It reads as many
others read: lots of little facts, but big things seem to be missing.
The reasons offered for his disillusionment with Catholicism and
conversion to Fundamentalism just don't add up. They are too
insubstantial.
Do intelligent people really abandon the Catholic Church because they
suddenly discover that some Catholics, including some priests and
bishops, are venal or ignorant?
I can imagine how a youth who lived under overly protective parents
might venture into the world for the first time and be surprised, but
how long can that surprise last? Seminary life 40 years ago was more
sheltered than it is today, but were the new ordinands of 1963 really so
cut off from the world and from an understanding of human nature? I
doubt it.
If a man throws up his hands and says, "I can't be a priest any longer;
I can't serve with such men any longer," is there anything that
necessarily impels him toward Fundamentalism? Wouldn't it make more
sense for such a man to set aside religion entirely, at least for a
while, as he sorts out his life?
Something in Bennett's story just doesn't add up.
Go to his site and see the other conversion stories he has posted. One
is by A.J. Krause. Among other things, Krause discusses the meaning of
"rock" in Matthew 16:18. He seems unaware that the argument he proffers
has been refuted innumerable times by Catholic apologists.
No, in Matthew 16:18 "rock" does not refer to Jesus or to Peter's
profession of faith. The only interpretation that makes sense is that
the word refers to Peter himself, as I explained at length in
"Catholicism and Fundamentalism" and as many other Catholics have
explained in other books. Krause makes no attempt to grapple with the
Catholic rebuttal; he does not even seem to be aware that there is one.
The top page of the Berean Beacon web site sports photographs of Richard
Bennett and A.J. Krause. They look like regular guys. One could imagine
spending a pleasant evening with them, if the topic of discussion were
not religion.
Krause I take to be an enthusiastic new convert to Fundamentalism;
allowances must be made for him. Bennett is in a different category,
since he has every reason to know better. Like some other ex-priests I
know, Bennett brings to mind the young fellow who, having jilted his
girlfriend, now takes every opportunity to talk her down.
There is something ungentlemanly and unseemly in that.
|
|
|
[TOP]
C A T H O L I C A N S W E R S :
of
Index
Prior issue
Next issue
Sign up