This week: The latest issue of New Evangelists Monthly is ready and calling you. Continuing my focus on confession with 4 videos: contrition / confession / satisfaction, why we confess to a priest, sacraments 101 / penance and the scriptural basis. Another look at the possibility of Hell – very remote or potentially common? Fr. Barron on the practices of Lent.
Issue #16, April 2014, of New Evangelists Monthly is ready for your enjoyment! Scores of faithful Catholic bloggers have contributed their very best pieces from March. This month brought these great topics: Spring again, praying, union, accountability, seasons, converts, chastity, metaphysical, death penalty, not a diet, the well, all failures, uniqueness, prayer bell, Propers, faithfulness, book reviews, humility, purity, children, courage, LDS, great race, seeking, blindness, cleansing, wounds, busy, chaff, disguised, loving Lent, scandal, action sites, priests, World Vision, diabetes, Aquinas, female dotc, Lent sacrifice, holiness, saying no, faith and mood, spiritual-hood, Man of Sorrows, trust Him, a poem, hope, thankful, Mother Theresa, evangelism, appearances, on the tongue, coming home, Come Spirit, fidelity, NABRE, not vending, creation, qualities, Lenten grace, follow, fasting, spread light, trust, water jar, renewal, Medjugorje, posture, veiling, miracles, molding, no zombie, Fred Phelps, Tolkien, long retreat, Laetare, her tears, not reformed, maturity, impostors, watered, trusting Him, the culture, mission trip, choices and Saints.
This monthly “meta-magazine” showcases faithful Catholicism from theology to family life and “everything in between.” Enjoy it now at NewEvangelists.org.
The days of Lent draw short, so if you have not already been… go to confession. Marcel LeJeune (Aggie Catholics) has posted an excellent overview: 21 Reasons To Go To Confession & Why Catholics Confess Sins To Priests.
Along with his post, Marcel includes the following 4 videos:
Father Barron explains why we confess our sins to a priest:
Sacraments 101 – Penance:
Tim Staples looks at the scriptural basis for confession:
Is Hell a possibility? Of course. However, is it a slim, technical, remote possibility for only an extremely few, if any, maybe no one at all? Absolutely not and that kind of “positioning” of Hell is exceedingly dangerous. I wrote about this almost 2 years ago in Is Hell empty?. With all due respect, I emphatically disagree with Fr. Barron’s presentation of this one (but very important) point, as do many others including Michael Voris in this recent video:
Other than on the “likeliness” of Hell, I remain a long-time fan of Fr. Barron. See for example, item #3 above and the following on the practices of Lent:
Some random thoughts or bits of information are worthy of sharing but don’t warrant their own full post. This idea was started by Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary to address this blogging need. So, some Fridays I too participate when I have accumulated 7 worthy items. Thank you Jen for hosting this project!
I’m disappointed you couldn’t find a voice less divisive and less strident than Michael Voris as the counterpoint to Fr. Barron. He clearly uses the term “Church of the Nice Crowd” in the pejorative. He says the talk is not about Fr. Barron, but then he, in a snarky tone, says that Fr. Barron established quite the credentials with the Church of the Nice followers. Couldn’t you have supported your position with less a divisive a resource?
I had mixed feelings about using it. Michael is more confrontational than I am comfortable with, but I felt that the good points he made in the video outweighed my issues with his style. FWIW, he does indeed intend “church of nice” as a pejorative reference to those who put tolerance and acceptance above standing for the truth. That I agree with, but I would be clear that Fr. Barron is not such a person (very nice of course, but not to the detriment of truth).
Of course there is a Hell. We do not know who is there besides Satan & his minions. We let God make that decision on who gets to go to the eternal fires because He truly knows what is in everyone’s heart. Fr Barron I’m sure knows this.
As to Michael Voris, he is extremely orthodox in his beliefs. Nothing wrong with that!—He keeps the clergy honest & the doctrine clean.
The Church needs Michal Vorises & Fr Barrons. The Fr Barrons of the world attracts the lost souls to God’s Church through kind truthfulness & the Michale Vorises are the graduate professors who teach the entire Truth in detail. Most Catholics don’t have the time to delve deeply into the teachings just like most people don’t have the time to pursue a PhD.
Does anyone really think that St Therese of Lisieux is on the same intellectual level as St Thomas Aquinas?