Why Catholics Are ‘One Body’ — and Why That Isn’t Just Figurative…

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Video: Bishop Barron’s ‘The Mass’

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Full (Free) Episode of Documentary, ‘Catholicism’

NOTE: As in previous posts, I have embedded the entire video for aesthetic purposes only.  Feel free to watch that if you wish (the first 10 minutes consist of a preview of the “Catholicism” series as a whole), but for the beginning of this particular episode — titled “The Church: Christ’s Mystical Body” — click here.

Please enjoy the video, whether you are a Catholic seeking to delve deeper into the Faith or a non-Catholic person who is interested in learning more about the Catholic Church, even if only from a cultural or sociological perspective.

(Before you watch, I just need to make a quick note about the Crusades and the Inquisition: These were more complicated affairs than what has been presented to us over the centuries, and I think Fr. Barron was probably just unaware of some of the relevant research when filming this episode.

I am not saying this as a defensive Catholic trying to construe Catholic history as spotless and pristine.  Believe me, it is a fact that Catholics at all levels of Church life and hierarchy have done strange, terrible, and unconscionable things over the past two millennia.  But I would be remiss if I did not offer clarification in those particular areas where clarification is necessary.  But that’s all a matter for another post.)

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Video: ‘Thomas Merton, Spiritual Master’

A brief and thoughtful video on a great — and much misunderstood — spiritual writer of the twentieth-century.

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Video: Atheism and Philosophy

A recent Salon.com article cited statistics indicating that the greatest Western intellectuals — in both science and philosophy — are leaning more and more in favor of disbelief in God.

Frankly, my first response to this was to recall how God often uses the foolish to shame the wise, revealing to little children what He has “hidden from the wise and the learned” (Mt. 11:25).

But for a fuller treatment of the issue, I refer you to Fr. Robert Barron’s latest video.  He nails it, as always 🙂

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Another Free Invitation from Fr. Barron

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Video: Basketball, Heroism, and the Priesthood

It has saddened me in recent years that Catholics — members of a tradition that has over the centuries created such beautiful art, architecture, music, poetry, literature, and other forms of artistic expression — have had difficulty achieving quality in the art of film (with a few notable exceptions, such as “The Passion of the Christ”).

But I think a new “wind” is blowing, and that this an example.  If you have about 10 minutes, give it a watch.  You won’t regret it.

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