On my way to Franciscan University in Steubenville Ohio to talk about Holy Land pilgrimages at Defending the Faith conference.
We have two pilgrimages with Franciscan Journeys and two with Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center.
To learn about the pilgrimages (including our St. Paul Cruise and our Egypt-Jordan Bible Land trip) visit http://www.stevegoes.com.
I will meet some friends and take a run while there too.
Anne Rice, who claimed to convert to Christianity a few years ago with the publication of her book on Jesus, has now renounced her conversion. She is the author of Interview with a Vampire. She says she is no longer a Christian. Seems like a ploy to sell her book if you ask me.
For more in the LA Times, click here.
More than 50 Comments on my Facebook page at JerusalemJones.
Thank you for your support. To read the story, visit the SaveDrKen Facebook page here.
University of Illinois offers to reinstate Catholic professor fired for his views
The University of Illinois has offered to reinstate a Catholic faculty member who was dismissed after he explained Church teachings on homosexuality. . . .
Click on the image to read the article.
I had to think twice before posting this. But my daughter Charlotte (the author; college graduation picture to the right) and my wife said it was OK – and since others have enjoyed and laughed — well, I thought I’d share it with a wider audience.
Charlotte was writing to a friend who was a medic in Iraq to prepare him to meet our family. We have taken my aged parents into our home. My son and his family are renting their house out so they can live with us to help with my parents — since we are traveling six months out of the year. He and Anna have four kids from seven years old down to one year old.
So we have four generations living in our home, from one year old up to ninety-one years old. My parents are celebrating their 71st anniversary. (See their picture on my couch below.)
So, here is our daughter’s e-mail to her friend who was preparing to come home from Iraq.
“I can’t wait for you to come to Michigan and meet my family. I hope SO much that you like them.
We are kind of a strange family as you can already probably tell, but I think it’s great! I think we are like the family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. We are noisy, we are happy, we are opinionated, and we laugh at just about anything.
We are made up of 10 months old all the way to 91 years old! Weird things go on in my house. I was just thinking about it last night and it really hit me just how weird and funny (and strange) some of the things are.
For instance … pooping is a really big deal in my house! Ha ha. With 3 kids, a baby, and now a constipated grandpa of 91 years old, when someone poops you are bound to hear about it! Even if it’s just “MOM, I POOPED, COME WIPE ME!”.
(Picture to right: Bella under my desk).
Last night Anna caught baby Bella just as she was pushing and about to poop in her diaper so she set her on the toilet to see what would happen. I think every single person in my family was crowded into the bathroom laughing and clapping and taking pictures of little baby Bella pooping on the huge toilet! The kids STILL haven’t stopped talking about it!
We don’t crowd around and clap for my grandpa or anything, but we do congratulate him, share the good news, and write it down in his hospice journal. LOL. This is really making me laugh writing this!
It’s really not as bad as it sounds, we are not a gross family I promise. We are refined and well educated too
so it’s not all bad. Is your family crazy or are they really prim and proper?”
I have to say, I love being a father, a grandfather a son — and a family. God knew what he was doing!
Obama health-care policy leaves opening for abortion funding, says Congressional report
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued a memo indicating that an executive order by President Barack Obama does not fully resolve the issue of abortion funding in the new health-care bill. The CRS memo has prompted a group of Republican members of the US Senate to call for more effective safeguards against taxpayer funding of abortion. . . .
For the whole article: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=7039
Someone challenged the qualifications of a few professors I know and it seems Canon Lawyer (another friend) took a bit of justified umbrage. The two professors I know are Ralph Martin and Janet Smith who teach at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Other names mentioned are Christopher West (Theology of the Body) and George Weigel.
The antagonist challenged Janet Smith’s credentials based on Canon Law. Well, this puts the debate right in Ed’s court, so to speak.
Ed Peters wrote: The answer to a canonical question is seldom found in a single canon. A simple observation, one would think, but it is routinely overlooked by canonical amateurs, often, with inconsequential results, of course, but sometimes with ludicrous ones. Take, for example, a recent post by one “skellmeyer” who, citing Canon 253, suggests that Dr. Janet Smith is unqualified to teach in a Catholic seminary!
Read the whole article here. You can see Janet Smith’s website here. She is a great lady, teaching and a leading opponent of contraceptives based on Catholic teaching.
My friend Marwil from the Philippines is a great apologist and has offered to debate Marian Devotion. He would explain and defend the proposition that Marian Devotion is biblical.
If you know a Protestant who would like to take Marwil up his challenge have them visit my Facebook wall at http://www.facebook.com/jerusalemjones
Does anyone know any good interactive Catholic programs for kids on iPhone or the Internet? If so, please inform us in Comments below. Thanks!
For lots of good suggestions and links, visit my Facebook page here.
Club Penguin (not specifically Catholic but recommended by Catholic users here)
Catholic Trivia Junior version in the iPhone aps on iTunes. Set up in a “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire” format. There’s an adult version too.
http://www.saintcast.com
Pocket Chapel
Holy Heroes Adventures for kids based on the seasons of the year. Also uses the Rosary with good explanations. See the video below.
If you come up with others, please let me know.
St. Peter in the New Testament
What Do We Know About Him?
Peter is the big rugged fisherman who became the humble servant of the servants of God. Jesus chose him from among the Twelve to be the leader and the visible head of the Church.
What do we know about Peter from the New Testament? More than most people realize. As we celebrate the Feast Day of Peter & Paul, it is good to remember this man that Jesus specially chose.
Click on the link to read Steve’s article Peter & the Primacy in the New Testament,
To see the whole life of Peter filmed on location in a rollicking and adventurous format, check out our DVD Peter, Keeper of the Keys. To hear Steve’s talk, Peter: the Rock, the Keys & the Chair, click here and scroll down a page.
I also have three articles on INFALLIBILITY:
In the early 2nd century the early Church held a document in very high regard. From this document we learn about the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her own birth.
Since today is the Feast Day of Joachim and Anna, I thought I would provide a link to the Protoevangelium of James so you can read the fascinating story for yourself.
Remember, this is from about 150 AD and was read in many churches in the early years.
To join one of our pilgrimages, or to learn more, visit www.SteveGoes.com or call (800) 727-1999 and ask for Suzanne at extension 121.
On Monday I will be on Sean Herriott’s and Drew Mariani’s radio shows, heard over the Internet at www.relevantradio.com.
Our topic was “Raising Rebels, Bringing up Kids in a Pagan World” — how to direct our kids to fight against sin, unchastity and the Culture of Death. You can listen to the archived show here. For other listening options (like MP3) here.
Questions answered:
1) Are there any interactive websites for computers and handhelds that are for children that will help educate my kids in the Catholic Faith?
2) If we made mistakes raising our children, what can we do now to challenge them to live a fulfulled Christian life?
3) What do you do when a child goes against everything you’ve taught them and move in with their boyfriend?
And many more like that.
Dog receives communion at Anglican parish
A dog has received communion at an Anglican parish in Toronto. Pets are permitted in the church. . . .
Newt Gingrich, new convert from Baptist to Catholic, on the idea of building a Muslim Mosque at Ground Zero in New York where Muslims killed over 3,000 Americans.
http://www.torenewamerica.com/gingrich-ground-zero-mosque
We will miss our friends in Australia and the Philippines. We finally go home Friday after over a month away. Already making plans for return visits to both countries! Apologetics is terribly needed in both places.
We are home for a week before heading to England to give talks at two Biblical and Theological conferences. Whew! Then a month and a half home to write a new book for Ignatius Press.
2,000 Muslim militants go on rampage in Faisalabad; acquitted Christians murdered
Two Pakistani Christians acquitted of blasphemy charges were murdered on July 19 as they left the courthouse. A police officer who accompanied them was injured in the attack. . . .
For more visit here: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=6964
Here is a very nice summary — written on an Australian website — summarizing some of my talks in Australia.
http://www.therecord.com.au/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1851&Itemid=27
LOTS of pictures of our talk at Woodrose Girls School today. Also pictures of all our other talks. The Filipinos are adding pictures like crazy!
We talked about God and boys! Great time!! High School girls were laughing their heads off and even crying and wouldn’t let us leave. Visit www.facebook.com/jerusalemjones
This is good news for faithful Catholics but probably not good news for pro-abort politicians.
Sorry I’ve fallen behind on my blog but time is very limited and I’ve not had Internet access readily available. I’ve been limited to my iPhone.
We have been giving 2 to 3 talks a day of 2-3 hours each. Exhausting and not leaving a lot of time for getting to Internet access to update my website. But we finally get back home on Friday (after over a month away here and in Australia) and will get caught up!
You can see a lot of what we are doing and pictures on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jerusalemjonescebook.com/
and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jerusalemjones
I can update these easy with my iPhone and other people here are adding pictures and comments too.
We are having a very productive time here teaching the Bible and the Catholic Faith and helping the Filipinos to defend the faith while supporting local apologetics groups. We are giving an 8 hour (over three evenings) over view of salvation history while speaking at high schools and colleges during the day.
I am still getting in my daily runs to keep up with the keep up with the plan of my son Jesse and I to run 1,000 miles this. Our chart is on my Home Page at Fun Stuff.
More soon!
I thought it would be a good time to respond to an e-mail I received a while ago. It was a questions from a friend wrote to ask me for my take on Mary. He was corresponding with someone that said Catholics worship Mary and got this practice from pagans who had worshiped Artemis in Ephesus. He asked what I thought. Here is my response:
Dear Friend: Catholics are often accused of “worshipping” Mary, the Saints, icons, statues and the like. Your friend mentions several example which he assumes, based on his Protestant tradition, his lack of familiarity with the ancient Christian traditions and customs, and his Protest-ant reading of the Bible, that these actions are inherently acts of worship and therefore idolatry.
“Bowing before a statue must certainly be worship,” says the Evangelical who has not only abandoned the idea of images (only of a certain kind, as we shall see later) and is very inconsistent in his own practice, but has never taken the time to understand Catholic and liturgical Christianity.
Have the vocal opponents of statues, icons and the like ever asked the little old lady in her babushka if she is actually worshiping the statue in front of which she kneels? Does this holy, and wrinkled woman in Poland believe she is worshiping the icon of the Black Madonna? Does the Mexican mother surrounded by her kneeling children consider her veneration of our Lady of Guadalupe the same as her worship of God? Of course not. It would only take a few such questions, should the wondering Protestant care to learn the truth–that these common folks would be shocked at such a thought of worshipping Mary in the place of God.
To read the whole letter, click here.
Steve Ray talks about Mother Mary on DZMM this Sunday July 18, 8:30 pm. You can listen to him on radio, or you can watch him on DZMM Teleradyo on Skycable or you can watch the video stream live at http://www.facebook.com/l/c7daeTTe-FtAdrTeQ9uNkerYPjw;www.dzmm.com.ph/dzmm-stream.html .
I hope people react and make this University feel the pain for their ignorant and intolerant violation of Freedom of Speech and Dr. Howell’s rights. Dr. Howell is a friend of mine, a convert and a man who deserves every bit of support we can give him!
“University fires Catholic professor who said homosexual acts violate natural law”
“Following a student complaint, the University of Illinois refused to renew the contract of Dr. Kenneth Howell, an adjunct religion professor, who wrote in an e-mail that “Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY” and that “sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same.” Dr. Howell, who taught courses on Catholicism at the university and was recognized for excellence in teaching in 2008 and 2009, wrote the e-mail to his students to help them prepare for their final exam; in the e-mail, he compared utilitarianism and the natural moral law. . . . .”
Article here: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=6915
There’s lots you can do — visit http://www.facebook.com/SaveDrKen
Replies to Ron Modras’ six questions on excommunication from my friend and canon lawyer Ed Peters:
No single individual, indeed, no medium-sized office of people, would suffice to provide adequate replies to the mostly-junk theology routinely put out by the National Catholic Reporter. But rather than curse the darkness, I light here a candle against a single paragraph of Ronald Modras, “Does excommunication do any good?”, NCRep on-line 12 July 2010.
Read my replies to Modras’ six questions on excommunication here: http://canonlawblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/replies-to-ron-modras-six-questions-on.html
In the Light of Law: http://www.canonlawblog.blogspot.com/
To be removed from this list, just send us a note by reply email.
To see pictures of students I spoke to at Stella Maris Academy – over 1000 – visit my Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/jerusalemjones
Just posted a new Running trip, “2010-07-18 Davao Wakes Up”, to EveryTrail. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/9j2JQZ
It was great seeing all these smiling people in this Catholic nation. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Blog RSS
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter