Classically Catholic

From time to time my Protestant sisters in Christ have questions about Catholic teachings. For instance, during one of our PE classes we entered into discussion of Faith & Works , followed by a lively round of the Sola Scriptura controversy. Why do Catholics believe we can work our way to heaven? The answer is simple, we do not. Pelagianism, the heresy which denied original sin and held that man could be saved without grace- through human endeavor, was condemned in the 400's by St. Augustine, the Council of Carthage, and yet again by the Council of Ephesus. Of course, since this bit of history is not recorded in the Bible, my Sola Fidelis / Sola Scriptura Sisters were not satisfied. It can not be assumed that we are to ignore the call to take up our cross and follow Christ's example. Alas, Our Heavenly Father will not leave us in confusion. Today's readings (along with many others) are a reminder that we do have some responsibility in our walk with Christ on the road to...

My two youngest boys are HIGH ENERGY and full of wonder. Raising these guys requires some creativity. Cleaning the room has to be a contest against the clock or against each other. School, too, is different with boys. No lady-like sitting at the table with crayons lined up in a neat little row, painstakingly staying in the lines for them. Let's color all the bad guys black and finish the book in 10 seconds or less. Forget the table, Dominic learned to read on a big wheel. First round was letter identification with a trip around the driveway after each correct response. Then we moved to letter sounds, making the phonetic sound with each turn of the pedal. Eventually he worked up to reading a sentence before taking a whirl. He can now sit on the sofa and read several pages at a time, if there are no distractions to turn his curiosity in another direction. His younger brother can only recite the letter sounds while doing a Leapfrog dance... The B says "buh," the B says ...