I understand why those rightly decrying the evils of radical Islam would find the Apostates of Islam satisfying to see. However, there are peaceful Muslims in this world, and I don’t think this site is particularly respectful to them. How would we like to see a website called Apostates of Christianity? (Fedora Tip: Mark Shea)
Jerry Bowyer‘s attitude toward the Catholic Church is definitely a lot better than his predecessor‘s. Here are some podcasts from his show.
“Jerry interviews Ronald Rychlak, author of ‘Righteous Gentiles: How Pius XII And the Catholic Church Saved Half a Million Jews from the Nazis
‘, about the tremendous sacrifice European Catholics made to resist Hitler and save Jews, and dispels the myths that Hitler was Christian and that Christians turned a blind eye to the Holocaust. “
“Jerry interviews George Weigel, author of ‘God’s Choice : Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church
“Jerry interviews Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor-in-chief of First Things, about the long-standing relationship between the Catholic Church and the Democratic Party, and where they will go from here.”
“Jerry interviews Raymond Arroyo, the host of ‘The World Over Live’ on the Enternal Word Television Network, about Christian journalism.”
The 2006 Catholic Blog Awards are finally open for voting. This is the first year that Ales Rarus has been nominated for any awards. I’m up for Most Bizarre Blog and Most Creative. No, I did not nominate myself. ;P
What are you waiting for?!? Get your butts over there and vote! You can vote once per day, so vote early and vote often. 🙂
Be sure to visit all the nominees. I’m sure you’ll be exposed to blogs you’ve never even heard of. Expanding horizons is a good thing. 🙂
Calling all artsy folks in St. Blog’s Parish!
The Catholic Blogs and Resources page, St. Blog’s Parish Aggregator, and St. Blog’s Parish Web Ring are in need of promotional buttons. They should be at least 100px by 100px and no larger than 130px wide by 162px tall. Designs should be simple, elegant, and not based on any copyrighted images or phrases. An example from which to draw inspiration would be the Firefox and Thunderbird logos. I don’t want to offer any more suggestions for fear of stifling creativity.
I really have no way of rewarding the artist whose design is picked except in the form of attribution and gratitude. Are there any kind souls out there who’d be interested in helping out with this?
An interesting thought occurred to me as I listened to today’s scripture readings at mass. I’m speaking specifically of the Old Testament and Gospel readings. Here they are.
“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests…[If] he is a leprous man, he is unclean; the priest must pronounce him unclean; his disease is on his head. The leper who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean; he shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp.'” – Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46
“And a leper came to [Jesus] beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.’ But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.”
Today, I noticed an interesting contrast in these verses that I’d never noticed before. Hearing the passage from Leviticus, we picture a leprous man submitting himself to a priest. The priest declares the man unclean, thus sentencing him to a life outside of common society in order to prevent the spread of his contagion. Whereas in the gospel a leper approaches the Great High Priest, Jesus, who declares him clean and sends him back into common society. Once there, he tells of the good news of Jesus’ healing power, and that news spreads like a contagion. As a result, Jesus is unable to openly enter towns and remains in the country. In effect, Jesus takes the place of the leper.
I’m not entirely sure what to make of that, but I found it fascinating and wanted to share it. Anyone else have some light to shed on this matter?