Meet Andy the Harmonica Man

I really like this guy!

Meet Me In Minnesota: Saturday, January 9, 2010

I'm grateful to have been invited to speak at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis's 7th annual apologetics conference, next month on January 9th, 2010. I hope many of you will be able to join us there. Please help me spread the word by sharing this blog post with your friends and family who might be able to make it to the conference. More details and a downloadable conference flyer are available here.

An 82 Year Old Woman Blasts Me For Warning Against Centering Prayer

Last Thursday, while I was taking questions on the "Catholic Answers Live" radio program, a lady called in to ask my opinion on what's commonly called "centering prayer" in some Catholic circles. I gave my opinion and, as you will hear in this clip, she did not like it, not one little bit.

I'm glad she called in, though, not just because I hope that maybe someday, upon further reflection, what I said about the dangers of centering prayer and how many of its practitioners are just factory-repping Hindu mysticism to gullible Catholics under the guise of "contemplative prayer" will sink in and lead to a change of heart for this woman. I am also glad she called because she's not unlike many Catholics who dabble in this dangerous "spirituality," opening the door to the serpent who wants so very, very much to find its way into and uncoil itself within as many unsuspecting souls as it can find.

The workshop on centering prayer which I (unwittingly) attended back in the mid-80s was loaded with rubbish about chakras and "awakening the dormant serpent within," all under the carefully presented disguise of "Catholic contemplative prayer." Check out the links below for more on that.

For those who wonder about what I say in this audio clip about "chakras," the difference between centering prayer and authentic Catholic contemplative prayer, etc., you can see more about what I mean here, here, and especially here.

Share This Funeral Sermon With Your Parish Priest

I had not been familiar with Msgr. Charles Pope (of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.) until recently, when some of his trenchant blog posts began popping up on the New Advent blog aggregator page. The one I saw there this morning is well worth bringing to your attention. It's the Monsignor's reflection on why priests must preach about the four last things — death, judgment, heaven, and hell — rather than merely deliver a comfortably bland message about how God loves us all.

Would that every Catholic priest was preaching funeral sermons that included, in addition to words of comfort and consolation for the grieving family, a clear and compelling call to conversion to each one who attends the funeral Mass.

"Because too many people are not [ready to meet God]. They're just goofing off, laughing their way through life, like everything's a big joke. They don't pray, they don't trust God, they're not in Church on Sunday, they're in serious mortal sin, and they think they're going to be ready to meet God, and it does not work that way."

Take a listen . . .