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It is hard to read Augustine’s Confessions without understanding human nature better, and particularly our own weaknesses. Writing in the form of a prayerful reflection on his life and a general confession of his faults to God, Augustine carefully describes the course of his life from his birth to his conversion at age 31. Then he concludes his confession with an examination of the current state of his soul. He closes the work by reflecting on the nature and meaning of God’s creation of all things, including man. I have been reading the Confessions again this year. For obvious reasons,...

Christianity began in the East, not the West, yet today Christians in the East are enduring an all-out-assault by Islamic terrorists, while Christians in the West live their lives largely oblivious to it all. This has to change. This is no imaginary persecution; in Syria alone there have been reports of kidnappings, Christian communities intentionally displaced by militants and, worst of all, shootings and beheadings of Christians who refused to convert to Islam. In Egypt radicals have recently destroyed dozens of churches, and the once vibrant Christian population in Iraq has been decimated. Christians in the West should stand up...

For millennia the Catholic Church has consistently opposed unnatural vice. Here is a brief sampling of useful quotes from Saints, Doctors of the Church, Church Fathers and Ecclesiastical Writers who condemn homosexual vice in their writings. 1. Athenagoras of Athens (2nd Century) Athenagoras of Athens was a philosopher who converted to Christianity in the second century. He shows that the pagans, who were totally immoral, did not even refrain from sins against nature: "But though such is our character (Oh. why should I speak of things unfit to be uttered?), the things said of us are an example of the...

Many of us grew up in theological backgrounds where the psalms were known, but not sung. These theological backgrounds are anomalies throughout the history of the Church. E.F. Harrison observed that "Psalmody was a part of the synagogue service that naturally passed over into the life of the church." Calvin Stapert speaks of the fathers' "enthusiastic promotion of psalm-singing" which he says, "reached an unprecedented peak in the fourth century." James McKinnon speaks of "an unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for the psalms in the second half of the fourth century. Hughes Oliphint Old argued that Calvin appealed to the church...

Link to Facebook page (with discussion and news): Restless Heart on Facebook.com Filmed in Europe, RESTLESS HEART is the first full-length feature movie on St. Augustine. Born in North Africa, Augustine studied in Carthage, becoming an accomplished but dissolute orator. After converting to Manichaeism, a guilt-free religion, he was called to the imperial court in Milan to serve as an opponent to the Christian Bishop Ambrose. But when the Empress Justina sent imperial guards to clear out a basilica where Augustine's mother, Monica, was worshipping, her constant prayers and the witness of Ambrose won him over to Christianity. Serving in...

430 AD. The Roman Empire is beginning to crumble. The Vandals and other marauding tribes spill through the gaps in Roman defenses. And one of the greatest saints of the Christian church stands between his flock and the barbarian invaders. As he attempts to negotiate between the proud Roman authorities and the implacable Vandal king, Bishop Augustine recalls his own life before Christianity...

From Reformation 21, Carl Truman writes: A friend brought my attention to the following trailer and promotional website this morning.  It is hard to imagine how a film of Augustine's life could fail to be interesting.  And with Franco Nero in the cast, we can assume it will be excellent.  We can only hope that he plays his character as a reprise of Django, the coffin-dragging hero in Sergio Corbucci's great spaghetti Western.

St. Monica  Patron Saint of Married Women and Model for Christian Mothers   Born: 333                           Died: 387   Children: Augustine, Navigius, Perpetua Feast Days: May 4, August 27 Patroness of Married Women        Our knowledge of Monica comes almost entirely from the writings of her much-loved son, the great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine of Hippo. His relationship with his mother was a close one, especially during Monica's last years. In Book IX of St. Augustine's Confessions he gives us many details of...

It is nice to make connections which show us how the Church was always alive throughout the centuries before our own time. Today is the feast of St. Pope Sixtus III, whom you will remember as having been involved with the “Liberian Basilica”, more commonly known as St. Mary Major in Rome.Pope Sixtus has an entry in the Roman Martyrology: 6. Romae via Tiburtina iuxta Sanctum Laurentium, depositio sancti Xysti papae Tertii, qui inter Antiochenum patriarchatum et Alexandrinum dissensiones composuit atque in Urbe beatae Mariae basilicam plebi Dei dedit in Exquiliis. … At Rome in the Via Tiburtina near (the...

Former APS deputy superintendent's new job in doubtUpdated: Jul 25, 2011 8:51 AM EDT By Christopher King ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) - The former deputy superintendent of Atlanta's public schools will find out Monday whether she gets to keep her new job. The Desoto Independent School District, in a suburb of Dallas, TX, is scheduled to vote on whether to keep Kathy Augustine as its new school chief. The board selected Augustine as superintendent last spring. Her job is now in doubt following revelations that she is a key figure in the investigation stemming from allegations of widespread cheating in Atlanta...

Let us see then what Manichæus teaches me; and particularly let us examine that treatise which he calls the Fundamental Epistle, in which almost all that you believe is contained. For in that unhappy time when we read it we were in your opinion enlightened. The epistle begins thus "Manichæus, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the providence of God the Father. These are wholesome words from the perennial and living fountain." Now, if you please, patiently give heed to my inquiry. I do not believe Manichæus to be an apostle of Christ. Do not, I beg of you, be...

In this post I take Physicist Stephen Barr to task for his misquoting Saint Augustine's position on the dating of God's creation -- e.g., old or young earth" The problem with Dr. Barr’s summation is that he has failed to take into account that people’s views on matters change over time. For instance, R.C. Sproul (evangelical scholar, professor, and President of Ligonier Ministries) mentioned that through most of his teaching career he accepted the old-age position. However, late in his career he changed his position to that of the young earth creationists. For most of my teaching career, I considered...

Twice a year (Labor Day and Memorial Day) I enjoy a picnic provided by one of my former seminary professors, along with many of his former students, mostly from classes that came years after me. During that last one, I toasted my old teacher in gratitude for the fact that he had always maintained, in my defense, that one can still believe in the Bound Powers theory, in spite of the language used in Vatican II. He smirked, and asked the younger priests there if they had ever heard of the Bound Powers theory; and no one raised his hand....

Augustine: young earth creationist--theistic evolutionists take Church Father out of context --snip-- Augustine was not vague about the age of the earth, the historicity of Adam and Eve as our first ancestors, or the events in the Garden of Eden and the worldwide flood later in Genesis. However, his doctrine of creation was complex...

St. Augustine of Hippo Rome, Italy, Sep 4, 2009 / 10:08 am (CNA).- In a letter he sent Thursday to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,  Pope Benedict XVI has underscored that the teachings of St. Augustine are a path seeking unity with the Orthodox. The message from the Pope was sent to Cardinal Kasper as the 11th Inter-Christian Symposium gathered in Rome. The meeting was organized by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical University Antonianum and the Aristotle Orthodox Theological Faculty of Thessalonica.In his message, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude...

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 30, 2009 / 11:14 am (CNA).- At Sunday’s Angelus prayer in the courtyard of Castel Gandolfo’s apostolic palace, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the previous week’s liturgical memorial of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine of Hippo and model and patron of Christian mothers. “Much is recounted about her in her son’s autobiography ‘The Confessions,’ a masterpiece among the most read works of all time,” Pope Benedict said. “There, we understand that St. Augustine imbibed the name of Jesus with maternal milk and was educated in the Christian religion by his mother, the principles of which...

Just War According to Catholic Teaching Written by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo    Thursday, April 10 2003 The Church teaches that military action is justified as a means of re-establishing order. After the brutal September 11 attacks, the United States must once again wage a war in a foreign land.As always, the problem of the legitimacy of using military action for revenge as a means of re-establishing justice comes to the fore. Thus, it is in the interest of our readers to bring to their attention the traditional Catholic doctrine on the subject.Saint Augustine (354-430)The great Saint Augustine provided the...

From the Bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, in the most recent issue (Sept. 5, 2008) of The Catholic Sentinel: I certainly commend the public official for going to Saint Augustine, a great theologian and philosopher, for views on morality but Augustine’s views need to be read and adopted in context. It is highly disingenuous, deceptive and intellectually dishonest to take this ecclesial sound bite from 1,500 years ago and treat it as if it is the last definitive word on the subject. This is particularly true since Augustine himself “vigorously condemned the practice of induced abortion” despite the...

Now that Nancy Pelosi's spokesman issues a statement in response to the slew of statements about her misrepresenting Church teaching on abortion.Father Z posts the statement and responds Madame Speaker, you can't reduce the Church's teaching to a 1500 year old sound bite which you don't understand. Maureen at Aliens in This World takes a look at the Latin of what St. Augustine said and gives us a translation and some analysis. Democrats constantly complain about what they say being taken out of context, but that is what is done with the passage Pelosi's spokesman gave.With St. Augustine's feast day...

Speaker Pelosi is deep in it now. I am still looking for a link, but Amy reports that Brendan Daly, Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman issued a statement about her remarks on Meet The Press: “The Speaker is the mother of five children and seven grandchildren and fully appreciates the sanctity of family. She was raised in a devout Catholic family who often disagreed with her pro-choice views. “After she was elected to Congress, and the choice issue became more public as she would have to vote on it, she studied the matter more closely. Her views on when life begins were...