Two editorial shorts to offer on this early afternoon away from work...
We took in Ben Stein's new movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, last week. To say it was moving, impactful, and emotional understate the importance of this film. I am grateful to God for the time I spent studying Catholic apologetics, the writings of the Fathers, and early Church history, but Expelled provided the epiphany of seeing the real "fight" isn't with our Protestant brothers and sisters, but rather, New Age spiritualism, moral relativism, and atheism. Father Dwight Longenecker of St. Joesph Catholic School in Greenville, North Carolina offers this thought provoking missive on differences between Catholic and Protestant thinking, yet concludes with a call to pose a united front in today's culture war. (On a related aside, if you're interested in reading a solidly written movie review on Stein's film, one that isn't skewed by the secular mainstream media, click here.)
Secondly, I want to praise New York Cardinal Edward Egan for publicly criticizing former New York mayor and presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani for receiving the Eucharist during Pope Benedict's recent visit to the United States. Giuliani, who is openly in favor of abortion rather than the seemingly mandatory pro-life stance any conscientious, practicing Catholic embraces, received Holy Communion and, in doing so, broke something of an agreement he had with the Cardinal. Catholics aren't free to pick and choose which Church doctrine they'll follow and which they feel like ignoring, so I'm pleased with Cardinal Egan for taking a stand in the name of orthodoxy. Full story here.
We took in Ben Stein's new movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, last week. To say it was moving, impactful, and emotional understate the importance of this film. I am grateful to God for the time I spent studying Catholic apologetics, the writings of the Fathers, and early Church history, but Expelled provided the epiphany of seeing the real "fight" isn't with our Protestant brothers and sisters, but rather, New Age spiritualism, moral relativism, and atheism. Father Dwight Longenecker of St. Joesph Catholic School in Greenville, North Carolina offers this thought provoking missive on differences between Catholic and Protestant thinking, yet concludes with a call to pose a united front in today's culture war. (On a related aside, if you're interested in reading a solidly written movie review on Stein's film, one that isn't skewed by the secular mainstream media, click here.)
Secondly, I want to praise New York Cardinal Edward Egan for publicly criticizing former New York mayor and presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani for receiving the Eucharist during Pope Benedict's recent visit to the United States. Giuliani, who is openly in favor of abortion rather than the seemingly mandatory pro-life stance any conscientious, practicing Catholic embraces, received Holy Communion and, in doing so, broke something of an agreement he had with the Cardinal. Catholics aren't free to pick and choose which Church doctrine they'll follow and which they feel like ignoring, so I'm pleased with Cardinal Egan for taking a stand in the name of orthodoxy. Full story here.





