Comments for Catholic Pathways

Comment on Christian Prayer and Zen Buddhism by K.C.Thomas

K.C.Thomas — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:08:09 +0000

Why some catholics are attracted to other faiths or their way of worship/ meditation? It is because these catholics’s knowldge about catholicism is very shallow. Their catholicism is just sunday Mass or at the most contribution to church. Catholics rarely care to learn more deeply the faith, the founder, the real core. As there is some vacuum in their minds and as they are good hearted, they find something new and get attracted. Some of the film celebrities like Julia Roberts converted to Hinduism. They neither know any thing in detail about Hindusim or Christianity. The temples or a stanza of a religious text or the pomp the customs and show during cereminies like marriage might have attracted them

Comment on Christian Prayer and Zen Buddhism by Beatrice

Beatrice — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:19:26 +0000

I am so glad you saw that there was not a Christian symbol of any kind there. I believe the Holy Spirit will tell us if we are open to Him , what is not of God. Centering Prayer is another trap that a lot of Catholics fall in to. God bless you for not returning to the retreat. I just turned down a great job possibility in a flower shop because they show how to do feng shui and zen in their floral arrangements. We are going to find this type of worship in every aspect of our lives but should take serious note when we see it and not succumb to it . I believe God will direct me to aother job possibility because I did not complete the application at that place. I also believe Catholics are not given enough guidance from their parishes like in the bulletins. or maybe from the pulpit about avoiding these dangers. We should have more upfront guidance from our pastors even then , some of them do not realize the dangers. Listen to Johnnette Benkovic on EWTN and ask her about New Age. She is an expert on it.. God Bless. Beatrice

Comment on Faith Alone? by Aldaris

Aldaris — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:29:53 +0000

I came across this article and wanted to thank you for writing it. It was a sincerely interesting piece and reinforced much of what I believe about the Christian faith in general.

A good friend of mine happens to be a Protestant with a resounding faith. We have discussed the concept of sola fide in the past and neither of us would abandon our position. I looked into the concept of sola fide and noted that at one point it was declared that anyone who professed the concept of sola fide would be an anathema. I was writing to ask whether this would apply only to one who left the Catholic faith and began to profess this or whether it would apply to a Protestant who was born and raised with this belief?

Comment on The Dogma of The Holy Trinity by James Howard

James Howard — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:37:49 +0000

Just as a woman is pregnant with a child in her womb, so we as Catholic Christians are actually “pregnant” with our beautiful and joyful Lord God present inside of us.
He is sacred and because of this He makes us sacred since he dwells inside of us. This is the cure to feelings of poor self esteem: knowing that Our Holy Trinity dwells happily in us and Loves us and makes us holy and pure and sacred. This is why we are called to be saints and are saints since God is inside of us. This is glorious to contemplate. It makes me love Jesus and Our Blessed Mother that much more intensely and love and accept others and myself with gentleness and love and morality and compassion. “They will know we are Christians by our love”.

Comment on Should Abortion be Legal in Cases of Incest and Rape? by James Howard

James Howard — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:21:55 +0000

Beautiful article Fred. As Catholic Christians I am convinced that sometimes Our Lord and Mary call us to sacrificial love where we are willing to suffer and die for the innocent killed in our midst and for our Beautiful Church. No more do I consider my suffering evil or ugly, but a beautiful way I can with love suffer and make reparations for all the evil sins by which Our Lord and Our Mother are offended and save sinners who need to repent and be converted. Since Jesus died for us and Mary suffered for us we must with love be willing to suffer and die for Jesus and Mary and our brothers and sisters so that they can be converted. The path to Christian Holiness and Joy is through Christian suffering. I am willing and choosing to suffer and die for Our Church, Our Lord, Our Mother and our brothers and sisters as my personal crucifixion and act of sacrifice out of love for their salvation. Only then can we know true love. Real, true love, even in the midst of hurt and rejection. We are to love our crosses and with joy carry them and offer them up for others and for our Lord and Our Wonderful Blessed Mother. May Jesus Bless all who read this with immense love and peace and joy.

Comment on The Immaculate Heart of Mary: Gateway to Holiness, Purity and Love by Nancy D.

Nancy D. — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:00:34 +0000

For this new year, I hear the whisper of my Lord is speaking to go ‘deeper’ and focus more on Love, Holiness, & Purity for my life. So I googled love, holiness & purity and this site is what came to me! I am SO blessed! I should have known the Blessed Mother would be my spiritual guide! I am a devout catholic and love my faith. I am so glad to have someone else to share this Tradition because I am persecuted quite often for ‘being a catholic’ in the little town of Texas where I work and live.

Thank you blessed Mother for your guidance to this website and many blessings to F.K. Bartels!

Comment on Should Abortion be Legal in Cases of Incest and Rape? by jadarrious watkins

jadarrious watkins — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:05:06 +0000

this has inspired me to wait and be careful not to have sex

Comment on The Consequences of Silence in The Public Square by Susan Khan

Susan Khan — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:03:47 +0000

Beautiful, and thank you so much. You are right that speaking the truth is unpopular and one will be shouted down angrily. Sometimes one does feel one is standing alone. Thanks for the encouragement. My Catholic faith is indeed the greatest grace and blessing in my life. I was received into the Church at Easter vigil 2010, and I finally learned what the words to “Amazing Grace” really mean.

I just found your blog, and will be back for more! God Bless you!

Comment on Faith Alone? by F. K. Bartels

F. K. Bartels — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:34:43 +0000

Mr. Krumpos,

Thank you for your comments. You are right in stating that our decisions have to be based on what is expected of us. But the logical question is, what, indeed, is expected of us? Here we enter into subjects such as the of love of God and neighbor, Divine Law, the commandments, Natural Law, the conscience, etc. The concept of free will was used in the article above to show that the Protestant doctrine of sola fide (as it is often understood) ultimately denies the possibility of man’s freedom to choose or reject God — thus the many elements involved in a comprehensive discussion of free will are beyond the scope of this article.

However, I cannot agree with your other comments. Our free will does have the power to make eternal choices. Scripture and two-thousand years of Catholic Church teaching are very clear on that. And nature and society do not “imprison us.” On the contrary, the same God who created us also created nature: the created world is essentially good. Further, that same God created us as social beings who are in need of a life in community (society) so as to achieve what we could not by ourselves. We need others. Therefore society itself cannot be said to imprison us.

The last portion of your comment was deleted since it strayed beyond the scope of the above article, and sought to introduce non-Christian concepts of meditation. I don’t mind discussing New Age or Zen or Eastern Meditation, but this particular article and the comments that follow are not the place to engage in such a discussion.

Comment on Faith Alone? by Nick

Nick — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:26:46 +0000

While you are considerably right on the errors of Sola Fide, this Article will help you see more of the 'mechanics' behind it and thus how to more definitively refute it.