I have been intrigued by the commitment Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have made to give away at least 50% of their wealth to charitable purposes either before or at their deaths, and by their efforts (their successful efforts!) to get other folks in similar financial situations to do the same.
Although not many English-speaking Catholics are familiar with St. Martín, he is one of the most popular saints in Latin America. St. Martín was the son of the white, blue-eyed hidalgo (a Spanish noble) Don Juan de Porres and the freed black slave Ana Velázquez. Born in Lima on Dec. 9, 1575,
The whole human race, like this woman, was bent over and bowed down to the ground. Someone already understands these enemies. He cries out against them and says to God, “They have bowed my soul down.” The devil and his angels have bowed the souls of men and women to the ground. He has bent them forward to be intent on temporary and earthly things and has stopped them from seeking the things that are above.
Now Pope Benedict XVI is coming to Britain, and many would wish that he was not. He is soon going to beatify John Henry Newman. Some people will then pray ‘through’ John Henry Newman. In the spirit of deconversion I’d like instead to beatify Francis William Newman, although I will loyally keep to his stance of not praying through anyone.
We have some idea, perhaps, what prayer is, but what is meditation? Well may we ask; for meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously from their ignorance of the practice
It is good that faith is shadowy. It tempers the light to the dim-sighted eye and prepares the eye for the light. It is written: “By faith he cleanses their hearts” [Ac 15:19]. Faith, therefore does not extinguish the light but protects it. All that which an angel sees clearly, the shadow of faith delivers to me, stored up now in the embrace of the faithful, to be revealed in due time. Is it not expedient to hold that which is obscure when you cannot comprehend it in its nakedness?
The Episcopal Church is a member of the Interfaith Relations Commission of the National Council of Churches which issued a statement defending the right of
“Human beings are the only species in the world which no other species actually needs.” That is to say, the bear needs the fish, the fish need smaller fish, the beaver need the foliage, etc., etc. But no other species actually needs human beings for their existence.
If God had not intended that women should use their reason, He would not have given them any, for He does nothing in vain. If they are to use their reason, certainly it ought to be employed about the noblest objects, and in business of the greatest consequence, therefore, in religion.
These expressions of uncertainty gesture towards the relative lack of immediacy that relationships in the Communion (as compared to those in their local parishes or, in some cases, dioceses) held for most respondents. Events in the Communion of course had implications locally, but parishioners rarely engaged with issues at the Communion level as such, with these engagements being seen primarily as an activity for bishops.