Class is starting up on Sunday

We are beginning another year!  Please bring with you on Sunday ideas of what you would like to see us cover in the coming months.  There is a huge amount of material to choose from.
We will start this week by looking at this week's blog posts for Rediscovering Catholicism
Please have a look, COMMENT on the blog please, print out the posts and the comments if you are able and bring to class on Sunday.  We will be discussing The Mass and The Bible.  We will check out both topics in as much detail as we have time for.
See you on Sunday!
Steve

Patrick Madrid

You are in for a treat this week, as I will be gone!  Barbara will fill in and would like to introduce you to one of our favorite apologists, Patrick Madrid.  He has a marvelous blog, often linked on the NewAdvent home page, and is one of the most forceful, quick thinking, convincing of our group of modern Catholic speakers.  I say quick thinking because he is one of a handful who have CDs of actual live debates with Protestants.  These are wonderful and challenging to hear.  I hope you will enjoy this week's session.  We are off next week so no class on April 25.  We will resume on May 2 and that may be our last session of the year.

Fr. John Corapi

We are drawing to a close for the year!  Class tomorrow, April 18, May 2 and May 16.  Not to taxing a schedule I trust.
This week we will have a look at and a listen to Fr. John Corapi.  Many of you are already familiar with him, as he is on EWTN every Sunday evening at 8pm with his long running series on the Catechism.  I will be bringing the corresponding audio CD set to class to show to you, and we will be listening to one of his CDs on SCANDAL!.  Please do not miss it....he is a very powerful, indeed a fiery speaker and is not to  be trifled with!  If time permits we also have some video of him that we can explore.  He has been to Chattanooga for a retreat and is in high demand.  I have placed a link to his website vis his name above and also on our links page.  He has a subscription web site as well that you might want to explore.  We have had his powerful conversion story in our CD case, and I can provide a copy to you should you wish to hear it.  An amazing story to be sure.

Tim Staples

This week we will focus on Tim Staples, one of my favorite apologists.  We will listen the the CD of his conversion to Catholicism from the Assemblies of God community.  We had it in our CD case some time ago, and it is most entertaining and thought provoking.

Tim is now the "head apologist" for Catholic Answers, linked on the right in our link section and also available by clicking on Tim Staples title above.

Here is a good YouTube Video by Tim on Apostolic Succession, some of which is from his conversion story.  It is about 4:25 seconds and well worth the viewing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpptEntC3nw

See you tomorrow.
SLG

More Bars in More Places

This is Barbara's latest blog post.  We have it linked already, but I wanted to call special attention to it as we are all addicted to cell phones.  Can we say the same for the Church?  Just a thought.
Have a Blessed Day!
SLG

A Quick post Reformation History Lesson

The above link will give you a quick lesson in the origination of various Protestant Denominations.  There was a T-shirt for sale with this graphically displayed on the back at the Deep in History Conference in Colombus, Ohio last October.  I sort of wish I had gotten it.  Perhaps when WE (I am hoping for a group of us from OLM) go this coming October it will still be there.
SLG

Who told you you weren't beautiful?

WOW!  We all know about this stuff, but to see it happen is truly amazing.  Please take one minute and fifteen seconds and watch the video link at the bottom!!  ALL need to see this, but especially those with teenage children and young adults in the family....male or female!

At the end of this video you can link to this one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I&annotation_id=annotation_372272&feature=iv

This is a link to Msgr. Charles Pope, from the Archdiocese of Washington.  We will  be linking his blog to ours, as he is one of my favorites.  He is consistently "on the mark" and has a fantastic collection of links to timely and thought provoking images and short videos.

SLG

Hannity and Repentance

Hannity and Repentance

Folks have a look at this, especially if you listen to talk radio on the way home in the evenings!

Food for thought for sure!

SLG

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Father Larry Richards

In our continuing exploration of Catholic apologists we will turn to Fr. Larry Richards, whose CD on The Truth has been for sale in our CD case.  Hopefully some you have picked it up.  He is known for his engaging and challenging talks, especially his discussion of Confession.  I have downloaded his talk on this and will plan on playing it this week in class, so try not to miss it!  It is a wonderful talk and should help us all, as Confession is just around the corner!  I have added his web site to our link page, or you can go there simply by clicking on his name in the title.  As with most of our wonderful apologists, there is a wealth of information contained there.  You can sign up for podcasts, download talks, order CDs, etc.
Should you want to see another version of the talk on video, have a look at the video below.  You can go to it by clicking on the blue Vimeo Plus in the center of the square.  Being the newbie I am I do not know how to get permission to embed this in the blog, so consider this a big visual link.  Sorry.
See you on Sunday!
Steve


Fr. Larry Richards speaks on confession at 2005 Boston Catholic Men's Conference from George Martell on Vimeo.

Matthew Kelly

Here is a brief introduction to Matthew Kelly.  We will listen to his Lighthouse Catholic Media CD "Call to Joy" during class today.

Bio taken from his web site:

Matthew Kelly was born in Sydney, Australia, on July 12, 1973. Over the past ten years more than three million people in fifty countries have attended his talks, seminars, and retreats. Against the backdrop of his travel to fifty countries, millions more have been touched by his writings and appearances on radio and television programs.

Both as a speaker and as an author, Kelly possesses a powerful ability to combine the ageless tool of storytelling with a profound understanding of today's culture and the common yearnings of the human heart. As a result he captures our imaginations and helps us to see the challenges and opportunities of our everyday lives in a new light. With a keen sense of humor and heartwarming charm, Kelly seems to effortlessly elevate and energize people to pursue the highest values of the human spirit and become "the-best-version-of-themselves."

Google:  Matthew Kelly Catholic Speaker

Web Site: http://www.matthewkelly.org/

Books:

Rediscovering Catholicism

Building Better Families

Perfectly Yourself

The Dream Manager

A Call to Joy

The Seven Levels of Intimacy

Why Am I here

The Rhythm of Life

Living Every Day With Passion and Purpose

Mustard Seeds

The Book of Courage

Audio CDs:  Multiple

Posting comments on BLOG

It has come to my attention that actually posting a comment on this is not as intuitive as I had thought!  Clearly Jim has it together, but in trying to comment on his comment I ran into difficulty.  When you click on the comment area a box appears in which to type your comment, then there is a smaller box below which forces you to "comment as", click on the blue arrows and a menu drops down.  If you are not in any of the first things listed simply pick one of the bottom two options, name/url or anonymous, fill in the info and post the entry.  Simple??? Ha.  Let me know.
SLG

Steve Ray

Here is the information that we used as the basis for our discussion today on Steve Ray.


Like Scott Hahn,  Ray  is a former evangelical who came to find the Truth of Catholicism in an intellectual quest for Authority.  He began to delve in to the writings of the early Church Fathers in an effort to prove the basic tenants of Protestantism, and instead found, to his consternation and surprise, the teachings of the modern Catholic Church.

Google:  steve ray catholic

Here is the link to his web site, just click on his name below.  I have added it to our link list.  Check it out...there is a real wealth of information on his site.

Steve Ray

Books:
Crossing the Tiber
Upon This Rock
St. John’s Gospel, Bible Study and commentary
The Papacy Learning Guide
Faith for Beginners, Understanding the Creeds

DVD Series:  The Footprints of God

Audio CDs:  Multiple

Travel:  Hosts Biblical Lands Pilgrimages (5th Gospel)


SLG

Back from Ireland

We are back after a wonderful trip to the Emerald Isle, and can report that it is a wonderful place to visit, even in the dead of winter!  We saw most of the northern part of Ireland, and wish that we had had more time to spend most everywhere that we went.  The relative, actually total, lack of competing tourists made things smooth but then again some things were simply closed for the season.  Going to Mass was an important part of the journey and each one that we attended was wonderful and special.  Different, of course, and yet the same in that awesome Catholic way!

That is by way of an excuse for not posting a blog entry for awhile.  Sorry for that!  At our last meeting on Feb 21 we talked about Fr. Robert Barron's Word on Fire ministry, and I shared some of the DVD content with the class about his exciting project to tell the Catholic story from within.  I have added his site to our link page, please go there to learn more and check out some of his wonderful short homilies on You Tube.
Here is the link to the one we discussed:   Fr. Robert Barron on Taking the Disipline

We will be having about 7 more sessions before the break for the summer.  Here are the dates that we are scheduled to have class:
March 7, 14, 21
April 11, 18
May 2, 16

In our discussion last week we kicked around ideas for the completion of the year, and tentatively decided to use the remainder of our sessions this year "looking at" a variety of Catholic Apologists.  I will introduce them to you with some information about them, where to find them on the web, lists of their books and other ways that you can access their content.  When possible I will try to bring something to see and or listen to from them for class so that you can get a "feel" for their style and content.  There are many wonderful folks out there ready to supply us with marvelous thought provoking ideas meant to help us along in our faith journey.  I, for one, find this to be very exciting, but also a tad confusing....after all we only have so much time and there is so MUCH out there!  As I have said before in class, to try to take it all in is like trying to drink water from a fire hose!!  I think the trick is to find several who "work" for you and then make a habit of visiting their blog or web site on a regular basis to check in on what they have to say.

I will be doing the same and trying to post things that I find interesting here, so another hope of mine is that we will use this site to communicate with each other not just now during  "school season", but that we can continue to learn and dialogue with each other via this blog through the summer and the entire year for that matter.  Our on going Catechism does not end simply because school is out.

In an effort to kick start that I am going to quit sending you the content of this blog in an email (with the exception of Marykatharine has no computer) and will simply send you an email notifying you of the new posts as they go up.  So please come here often and DO leave some comments with your thoughts and concerns!!

Yours in Christ
SLG

Topic for January 14

Posted below is the content for the discussion next week, a link to an article by Mark Shea on Catholic Exchange.  I was quite taken with the content of this, and Jimmy and I discussed it some before the session on Baptism today.

I think that it is a wonderful analysis of the situation that we find ourselves in today in our country and in our culture.  I am sure there is a good bit in here for you to resonate with, and likely some things that you might disagree with.  If so, good!  Hopefully this will spark a lively discussion!

Oh....the items on the web page are liked to other material on the web. Pull it up if you have a desire to check out some of these links....like Jesus was a woman, and items 10-25!?!?!?!?.  Anyway, have some fun with this, print it out, read it and mark it up and come, as always, with your thoughts!

http://catholicexchange.com/2010/01/06/125113/

Have a Blessed Week!

Steve

Archbishop Wilton Gregory Visits St. Katherine Drexel Mission Church

We did have to cancel the class today on Baptism due to circumstances beyond our control, so we will hold that topic until next week, January 17.

I had the privilege of attending Mass at St. Katherine Drexel Mission in Trenton and to shoot some images of the event and of the Archbishop's hands for our project.  It was a very moving service con-celebrated by Archbishop Gregory and Msgr. Herbert.  This little parish is at the far end of the frontier of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and the event was one of celebration complete with dinner in the parish hall following mass.

Baptism will be our first topic of 2010

Folks
I will be down in Trenton this Sunday for our Photo project and will be unable to see you at Adult Bible Study which resumes this Sunday, January 10. Hal Hill has graciously agreed to take the class and you will be discussing Baptism.  Below is an outline that I have suggested to Hal, but he will take the discussion in whatever direction he (and you all ) wish to.  Sorry to miss it.
Have a Blessed week, and do try to  "read up" a little on this using Oatis, the CCC and some of the other materials if you have access to the internet.
Yours in Christ
SLG



Adult Bible Study

January 10, 2010

Baptism

It is through Baptism that we are brought into the family of God and are made his children.  “ Baptism is not merely a ceremony, not merely a rite of passage.  It is our entry into a New Covenant bond, a new family, a new life, a new birth, a new creation.”  Dr. Scott Hahn Signs of life pg. 34  Baptism makes us “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pt 1:4).

Most Protestants in reality deny the sacramental nature of Baptism and so cannot appreciate the importance that it has in the lives of those in the Catholic Church.

Catholic Answers:

http://www.catholic.com/library/Necessity_of_Baptism.asp

http://www.catholic.com/library/Infant_Baptism.asp

http://www.catholic.com/library/Early_Teachings_of_Infant_Baptism.asp

New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02258b.htm#XI

CCC:
         1213-1284

Regarding infants see:
         1252,1261**,1283

** regarding children who have died without Baptism