A dear friend of mine, who grew up Catholic and then left the Catholic Church some years ago, became an evangelical in his adult life. This good friend then returned to his birth church several years ago. His reasons are both thoughtful and prayerful and compel me to respect him and love him all the more. My friend continues to be a lover of all of Christ’s people, thus of the global catholic church. He supports me personally and profoundly challenges my vision in ways that he doesn’t even know. I count this brother, who I almost never get to see in person as I would like, to be a unique and true friend. He recently sent this important and passionate email to me:

Dear John–

Your charitable handling of things Catholic in your blog and the Act 3 Weekly help to “reign in” my anger and frustration, but this has been a difficult week.

On Sept. 24th the German Bishops declared that if you don’t pay the church tax, then you cannot receive […]

Evan Thomas, writing in the October 1, 2012, edition of TIME observes that both President Obama and Governor Romney have been called “aloof.” I have, earlier on this blog, called them introverts. They both possess a significant degree of shyness. I know this seems impossible, on the surface of things, but I think a little careful study of character and human psychology reveals that such people often become public leaders. I have studied this a great deal because contrary to what some people think about me as a public person I am actually an introvert.

Thomas reflects on this so-called “aloofness” in the two candidates. He harkens back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He says Ike would have been appalled at the personal attacks that have become standard fare in this campaign. He would have thought Obama was debasing his office while Romney would have made him cringe at the jokes he tells that are not very funny. And he would not have understood why candidates wives should give speeches or why aspirants to the White House should […]

After my early childhood conversion experience the memories that I have, at least until around age fourteen, are mostly of baseball, friends, church, school and family. No surprises there. My family was a two-parent home (then the norm and today, sadly, not so normal). I had an older brother, Tom. Tom and I were never bitter rivals but I suffered my share of teasing and modest sibling conflict even though I would say now we were always pretty good together. (When Tom went away to college to Baylor University I missed him and we soon became even better friends!) I was, of course, the “little brother.” This meant that at times I was a little pest. Tom loved me and still does. He claims to have attempted to evangelize me when I was four but I rejected my first gospel presentation. He tells me I had a bad heart! Tom had a very different temperament from my own but I had no idea what this meant in childhood. I was proud of him […]

Last week I ended my article in my ACT 3 Weekly series on Understanding the Bible by asking if the Bible alone is all that we need for healthy Christian thought and practice? Is this what sola scriptura, the popular slogan of the Protestant Reformation, actually means? I suggested that the Bible alone was not equal to sola scriptura, not if the idea behind the slogan is rightly understood.

I believe we must always begin our Christian education with Scripture. (Many come to faith with little or no knowledge of the Bible itself while others come by reading the Bible for themselves. The Holy Spirit is not limited!) In the Scripture we have the witness of apostles and prophets, which is the solid foundation of the Christian church. I believe everything that we teach and practice, at least in terms of faith and ethics, should have reference to, and retain highest regard for, the Bible. But the Bible does not provide us with everything that we need as Christians. If this was true we would not need […]