20 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in Update
Tags
As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. Today marks for me five years as a Catholic priest and I cannot believe it has gone so quickly. At this time I should really be writing my sermon for Sunday but wanted to take a moment and post the following picture.
That is my son, Jack, vested and ready to serve for the first time – at my first Mass as a Catholic priest. Isn’t he cute?!
25 Tuesday Nov 2014
Posted in Loving our Neighbor, Salvation, Sermons, Submission to God, Update
(Editorial note: the comment below by Dr. Delaney is worth noting and, as he suggests, would have fit into my sermon very well. In addition, it was pointed out by one of the deacons at the parish that we in America do not actually have a true democracy but instead a democratic republic. Both of these mistakes find their origin in my own ignorance, which can be attributed to my always taking the easy way out in my studies earlier in my life. I am now trying to remedy that problem. I have left the sermon as is, though, because this is how I delivered it.)
Sermon for Christ the King Sunday
November 23, 2014
What is a king? This is the question posed to us by our celebration today. But secondly, and more importantly, what does it mean for Christ to be our King? Regarding the first question, in an absolute monarchy, the king is one who exercises complete political power over a specific group of people. And if these people are good subjects then they will obey the king’s decisions and follow where he leads. But, of course, this kind of monarchy only works if the king is good and has the good of his subjects always in mind. And this is why earthly kingdoms which have absolute monarchies do not work – because the concerns of an earthly king often devolves into either a concern for what is good for himself or other petty concerns that hurt his subjects. Because of this, when this country was founded, we chose not to have a king, but instead established a democratic system with elected officials. And even though at this time many of our elected officials act more like dictators rather than ordinary citizens who have been elected to represent the people, nevertheless, our choice of government seems to be the best model for a planet of fallen and sinful people. We are all sinful and selfish and therefore, no single one of us should have absolute power over the rest.
06 Monday Oct 2014
Tags
Clarification on the last post…which is why this is called part 2 continued
My last post is one of those instances of pushing the ‘publish’ button too soon. If I had reflected on it more, specifically the last paragraph, then I probably would have noticed a change that needed to be made before posting it. I say ‘probably’ because I am not actually the one that noticed the problem – it was pointed out to me by my friend (who is also the one that has prompted me to write this particular series).
The paragraph in question is as follows:
If this interpretation is accurate we could therefore say that the ‘plan of salvation’ is simply God’s desire for all mankind to be saved, which is true and therefore, ‘plan of salvation’ does not somehow make Islam, or any other religion, equal to the one and only true religion established by Jesus Christ.
The problem with this paragraph centers on the wording “simply God’s desire for all mankind to be saved.” The reason that this is a problem is because the plan of salvation is much more than “simply God’s desire” for all mankind to be saved. Instead, it is God actively working throughout the entire history of mankind to bring about our salvation. Although, it could be argued that since God is pure act then His desire for something to happen is the same as the action itself. Nevertheless, for the sake of clarity it should have been stated more precisely to begin with.
02 Thursday Oct 2014
Tags
Yesterday one of my friends sent me an email in response to my post yesterday. He made some excellent points on how to deal with the situation in which we find ourselves with Islam. There were too many points he made to discuss it all at once, especially because I do not have enough time. Therefore, it is my plan to do several posts over the next few days to work through what I have learned from my friend.
The first thing that needs to be discussed is the picture that I posted a link to yesterday. Supposedly it was a Muslim cleric who did this recently, but the website found here says that the picture was actually from several years ago and that the man responsible was in fact arrested. This information has given me sufficient doubt about the situation that I have decided to delete yesterday’s post. But let me add that the deletion of that post does not mean that I have changed my mind about Islam. I still do not believe that it is a religion of peace. Certainly there are Muslims in the world that want to live their lives in peace but I do not believe that the religion itself is peaceful. Nevertheless, in this series I will reflect more on this issue and see if there is perhaps something I am missing that has caused me to see Islam incorrectly. After all, we should never blindly hold to an incorrect understanding about anything, instead, we should always seek the Truth.
26 Thursday Jun 2014
Posted in Update
The two or three of you who regularly look at my blog may be wondering if I have fallen off the face of the earth since I have been posting so sparsely. I could make excuses and say it was because I was out of town on vacation, which I was. But the main reason is that I do not feel I have had much to say. There is a reason for this.
I have mentioned in previous posts that I have been reading more books of a philosophical nature. It started with von Hildebrand and from there to Josep Pieper. I have learned a great deal from these two wonderful authors but I have also learned something else – how much I do not know. Unlike most of my brothers in the priesthood I do not have any background in philosophy. The reason for this is that philosophical studies are not a part of the curriculum at the Episcopal seminary I attended (or any other Episcopal seminary as far as I know). Due to this lack of knowledge I have felt that I have nothing worth saying.
I addition to this general feeling of ignorance I have also been mentally kicking myself for all the time I wasted earlier in my life. I spent so much time just watching TV or playing video games and had no real desire to learn. All that time I wasted that I could have been laying the groundwork for what I now need to know. Instead, I indoctrinated myself (through the seemingly tame influence of television) in the wrong thinking of our modern society. And now, how much I have to unlearn and how much I have to learn!
Thanks be to God I have a friend at the parish (who is a systematic theologian) who has agreed to help me get ‘up to speed’ in my deficiencies. And I ask you, the reader, to pray that God may open my mind to understand.
30 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted in God's Will, Priesthood, Update
Below is my response to a good friend of mine who happens to be a canon lawyer. In her email to me she made some very good points and has changed my thoughts on 'discussing' a married priesthood.
Your points are very good and perhaps you are right – perhaps there should not be any discussion of this at all – at least not by those without any decision making ability. And maybe I didn't even really mean to bring up the idea of “discussion”. I think, for me, the problem resides in the fact that almost all the faithful Catholics that write or speak on the subject (many of them priests) seem to either simply dismiss the subject or speak against it angrily. And I, believing myself to be a faithful Catholic priest, am very hurt when they seem to be so vehemently against the idea. The result is that I feel like a second class priest or that I am not a real priest somehow – at least in their minds.
Nevertheless, the more I think about it the more I think you are correct. This kind of discussion amongst the members of the Church can too easily lead to very bad situations. But, does that mean we don't discuss it at all? I don't know. After all, as you said, we can and should support all those celibate men now studying and who will study to enter the priesthood; but what happens if we run out of those men? Perhaps God is giving us the answer with having more married men as priests but we are not willing to see it? But then again, we must trust that the Holy Spirit does guide the Church and we don't want to be found fighting against Him. And, ultimately, it is up to the Pope and Bishops in communion with him to discern where the Holy Spirit is trying to lead us. But in contrast to that we cannot forget about the sensus fidei, although that applies not just to those members of the Church here and now, but throughout all time. I guess this could go on and on and that is why this is such a difficult topic.
But, I just realized something else. This is not just about my hurt feelings, although that probably is what spurred me on to track down Dr. Peters' email in order to contact him. Another issue that should be considered is this – my two boys (along with other married priests and their boys). The only thing my boys know and experience on a daily basis is a married priesthood. This is how they are being formed as Catholics and therefore what do we do when one or both of them desires to be both husband and priest?
So, what is the answer? I do not know and the decision to have a married priesthood or not in the Catholic Church does not reside with me. As I said in yesterday's post on this subject – I am not trying to start a crusade. But, I will continue to encourage my boys (and of course my girls as well, but we are talking about the priesthood here) to follow God's will and plan for their lives. And if one or both of them feel God calling them to be both a husband and a priest then I will encourage and support them in that and do all I can to help them fulfill God's plan for their life.
09 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted in Update
If you know me, you already know I love motorcycles (especially Ducati motorcycles, which is the brand in the picture). I am also very fond of dogs (especially small dogs, like the one in the picture). Therefore it is needless to say that this picture makes me very happy. This guy must have found the road mentioned in my last post!
25 Tuesday Mar 2014
This is my shield, crest, seal, emblem…actually I am not sure what to call it. I don't want to call it a logo because that is usually associated with businesses and is commercial in nature. This, on the other hand, is intended to represent (to a certain degree) who I am and what I believe. I am writing this because I will be putting it in a prominent place on my blog and I wanted everyone to understand the meaning behind each of the parts. Continue reading
18 Tuesday Mar 2014
Posted in Update
Please note that this blog is now http://www.truthwithboldness.com. I have dropped the WordPress designation in the address, although it is still a WordPress site. (And, by the way, you can still reach it through the original address.) Hopefully this change will make it easier to share this site with people you know. It also give me the ability to have a new email address attached directly to the site: FrMoore@truthwithboldness.com.
With these changes I would like to encourage reader participation with this site through comments or by sending me questions or topics on which you would like me to write. Also, please send this to others – family, friends, etc. Be on the lookout for new content; as I learn more about WordPress I will be adding new features.
