Presby-Musings

I visited one of those so-called "mega churches" once on a day that they happened to be celebrating Holy Communion.  There was easily 5,000-6,000 people in attendance that morning.   It's almost impossible to serve thousands of people Holy Communion in under ten minutes--unless you do something altogether radical, which is what they did.  A basket of sorts was passed down the aisle filled with little plastic containers that were sealed with a "pull-away" top.  Under the pull-away top on one side of the container was a piece of cracker.  Under the other was a small portion of grape juice.   This is what it looked like:  It was like being served Holy Communion on an airline.  I remember just staring at it for a moment before opening it up.  The thought occurred to me then that there was something incredibly wrong about the whole process, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  It just felt wonky.   But the more I thought a...

This guest post is from my good friend Fr. Christopher Decker, who serves two parishes in Louisiana in addition to being one of the creative engines behind the popular Catholic Underground. Fr. Decker and I slogged through Clinical Pastoral Education together many moons ago, and I would not have made it without his friendship, wit and deep faith.  I asked him to jot down some thoughts from the Catholic perspective about Hell & Purgatory to dovetail on my recent sermon on Hell last week.     Visit Catholic Underground .   Follow Catholic Underground on Twitter.   Visit Catholic Underground on Facebook.   Of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the one that often turns up an eyebrow is “The Fear of The Lord”. What is it? Doesn’t the Lord Himself say to the apostles who are startled at his appearance upon the stormy seas, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.”? It would seem that this gift contradicts Jesus who wishes to be known and to make kno...