Ignitum Today, My New Home

Readers,

I want to give you a personal and sincere "thank you" for keeping up with this blog over the recent months or further in the past.

Blogger.com provides very little in the way of statistics to see how my content is and with robot search engines, blogger.com gets overwhelmed in faux views which seriously distort an accurate portrayal of viewership. Therefore, I cannot be remotely sure what and where my viewership is coming from. But your views are a great encouragement to me anyways.

That aside, this blog has been my little side project but I am moving on to bigger things along with it. I was grateful to learn early last week that Ignitum Today accepted me to fill one of their slots as a Columnist. There I will contribute regularly on matters of life, marriage, and religion and theology that targets an audience of ages 19-39, I think. This transition provides me the change to have a real editorial staff review my content and a robust team to help me generate better writing and more attractive columns.

I have already began writing there. You can view my first two articles:

"If The Church is Boring and "Redundant", Is Marriage Too?"
http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2013/11/20/if-the-church-is-boring-or-redundant-is-marriage-too/

and

"Call of Duty: Modern Christian"
http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2013/11/22/call-of-duty-modern-christian/

Ignitum Today (IT) is a wonderful site to gain commentary on all things Catholic and "mere" Christianity. There are over 50 columnist of men and women, married and consecrated that you will surely find your taste in authorship from. Topics from marriage, pregnancy, pro-life, religious, prayer, and much, much more are among the content you will find. Please consider including IT in your daily and weekly reading.

I will continue to post content here, but IT will be my primary place for now. Also in the works are a website, a shaunmcafee.com and a writing community I hope to build called "The Narthex". Much more to come on those in the future.

Thank you all,

Shaun McAfee

Door-to-Door Evangelism (from an unlikely bunch)

 

Its an early Saturday morning in the month of November in Omaha Nebraska. Families are more likely doing one of two things: 1) they are ramping up to get to Lincoln to watch the Cornhuskers plan some football, or 2) they are at the grocery store stockpiling for their at home view of the game, planning to watch from the living room, their man-cave, or even their party garage. Either way, the state of Nebraska is getting ready for some football.

On that Saturday morning though, there happens to be some Churchy folk going down specific streets, Bibles in hand, offering the doors they visit a warm "hello" from their Pastor and an invitation to join in prayer or any number of activities available to gain a closer relationship with "the Lord."

Spoiler alert: these aren't Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons. They aren't dressed in white shirt and tie, or 19th century recreations of Amish clothes. They are dressed in husker jackets, jeans, and are armed with bulletins and directories. They aren't offering conversions, or, perhaps they are offering reverisons though. They are Catholics.

(queue record stop sound effect)

Catholics going door to door? Catholic don't do that!

But some do. It's the recently created group at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish of Omaha, NE. Inspired by the recent book by Sherry Weddell, "Forming Intentional Disciples". The group, clever as could be, aptly named themselves "Forming Intentional Disciples". Novel, eh?

The group, at the direction and support of their Pastor, Fr. Steven Stillmunks, and under the leadership of Associate Pastor, Fr. Michael Voithofer, is set on going out on one Saturday per month to seek the existing members of their Parish. The intention is to go to their door and simply see how they are doing, invite them to a study group or other activity that fits their style, and ask them for prayers or any concern at all that we can bring back to the pastoral team.

Oops, I used the word "we" and totally blew my cover. The group wasn't my idea. I happened to call my great friend Sean Stevens one mid-summer night and he told me I should show up to their first meeting. That was summer 2013. Its now November. These Catholics take some time to get the old engine oiled up, eh?

Its a fabulous bunch.There are a number of people in the group but on our first day it was 6 going out. Sean Stevens is a self-employed shrink (I don't know how he feels about that title) who is married to a wonderful woman; they are parents to a college-age boy, Michael. Sean has said much on his blog about the formation of this group, read that here.  Beth Jareske is a mother of three, wife of one, and grandparent of several. She stays at home and helps build up her domestic Church day-by day. She is of the essence of life and happiness to me; indeed a special friend. Bill Beckman is the Archdiocese Director of Evangelism and Catechesis. This man, if you believe it, is the real Paul Bunyan. Though his hair flows with grace and some minor puff (he's going to kill me) and he doesn't have a beard, he appears to any as a 10 foot mammoth of a man, with a voice that ought to be used to preview movie trailers. He is a very merry man who knows his stuff. I hope to gain a lot of knowledge out of him in the coming future. Peter Matt, I know from the Parish golf league. A handy man with a passion for energizing others and bringing the gospel of life and forgiveness to all. He is a magnetic man with tough hands and a beautiful smile. Paul is the last. I know least about Paul. He is always urging others to attend the very popular "That Man is You" men's group at the Parish. He is a true champion for Christ in each way I can view him.

(Left to right: Peter, Fr. Michael, Bill, Sean, and Beth)

That's the group and what we do. More to come. More to learn.

Does your parish have a group like this? Are you interested in starting a group like this of your own? First, pick up the book. Second, pray about your mission and passion. Let God ignite your heard and the discern what it is you can do and make a plan. Then, execute. Contact me via this blog for any question, find me on Facebook or Google+. I am no expert on this, but I can find you the people who are. God Bless my friend.

Tradition and the Bible

When you tell your Protestant friends or relatives about the "Traditions" of the Catholic Church you're likely to receive some attention. The antithesis to a church that relies on the "Bible only" is not a church that relies on "Tradition only." That is what most objectors to Catholicism would like others to think - that we believe that Tradition somehow trumps the Scriptures. But that couldn't be further from the truth.

The Catholic Church teaches that the Bible is an authority, but not the authority. Just as the Church also teaches Tradition as an authority, but not the authority. And the Protestant must understand this and in order to make that happen effectively, the Catholic must be able to effectively communicate this.

One thing to bring up is that Protestants actually believe in Tradition more than they think. In fact, using the Bible at all is a step of faith in the Traditions of the Church. Why? Because there is no way of determining what books belong there in the first place, that is, which writings of the early Church are inspired or not. The Bible existed long before the Reformation and was trusted as "inspired" long before Luther removed certain books. Aside from that issue, the very fact that Protestants have the Bible at all is virtue of Tradition and the Authority of the Church. How else did they receive it? There is no place in the Bible itself that names which books belong there. And in addition, to assert the notion that, "we know in our hearts which books belong" as Calvin, the Geneva Reformer wrote, is the same sort of self edifying gobbledygook the Mormons use to justify their "inspired" texts.

That point has to stick in the minds of any honest reader. The celebration of Church services on Sunday is also a product of Church decisions, not Bible only teachings. If the Bible were the only source that we need to be guided to salvation, where is the unity among Protestants? The Holy Spirit is not a spirit of division! If one disagrees with a particular interpretation there is often one more division. If someone disagrees with that branch from there, another division starts. Sooner or later the religion and system is unrecognizable. One only needs to look at Lutheranism next to a modern Reformed Baptist to see the fruits of Bible only teachings. One was supposed to be the real deal, but then came along another dissident believer who saw things differently.

And here is the point: if the Catholic Church is so wrong in its authoritative structure, how come we still teach the same doctrine for close to 2000 years? That must count for something to any discerning heart.

Summa Blogologica - Questions 9 & 10: The Immutable and Eternal God

Today I decided that I would be running together two Questions from the Summa Theologica in one post.

The first is Question 9, God's Immutability. Immutable means changeless. Not changeless by ordination or by virtue of testimony, but changeless by nature. Below I will explain better.

The other is Question 10, God's Eternity. God exists forever. Always has, always will.

In this post I will introduce a term all philosophers or theology students need to understand, and that is "a posteriori" which simply means "by effect" or "when something is derived from observation". Second, remember what "potential" things are. It is anything which can undergo a change in order to become perfected.

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Question 9

God and God alone is a changeless being. Things which change are prone to potentiality; they are seeking perfection; things that are imperfect are finite. But God is infinite, everywhere, perfect, and has no potential. God is therefore unchangeable, or immutable.

Question 10

God’s eternal nature is due a posteriori (by effect) to His essence as existence. If He is existence itself then He has always existed. Further, His other qualities as immutable and infinite make Him the only eternal being, as eternity belongs to Him alone. What must be understood is that eternity does not share and is not the same thing as time, for God created and began time and is what our finite minds can conceive as “time” but not as a thing is created or born or began – God is outside all of these.

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I tell you truthfully, even though I wrote this and it all makes sense to me, it is difficult to decipher. Spend time on these Summa posts. Your understanding of God and His "awesome" qualities will provide you with such a humility and reverence for Him. Seek the truth!

Halloween and All Saints Day

In the Catholic Church we have obligations. We are to go to Mass each Sunday and also on certain Holy Days. Halloween itself is not a Holy Day, but it is the eve of All Saints Day in which we remember and celebrate the lives of all Saints who have left this world in faith. But Protestants are removed from that. I'll be completely honest with you, as a Protestant I grew more and more disgusted with the idea of Halloween. Ask my wife. It was to the point were I was ready to stop the celebration all together!

Of course, to a Protestant it is more than just a day of dress-up and candy. We have to give them credit, its also a day for family fun. But because Protestants do not celebrate the Holy Days as the Church has for so long its not even an issue to them. The time between now and the Reformation, circa 1530-ish has diminished almost all memory that Halloween is a serious day. For them, All Saints Day is a Catholic thing. It is interesting that they still celebrate Easter and Christmas - those aren't even "in the Bible" and few are even aware that the decision to celebrate Easter on a Sunday each year was the authoritative decision of the 11th Bishop of Rome, Pope St. Anicetus (155-165). The celebration is completely Catholic through and through. But that's just Easter. You don't want to get me started on the Catholicity of Christmas so I will digress.

Halloween is a special day now as a Catholic. It's more than candy and dress-up and the occasional scare-prank which are harmless. It's a day were we prepare to celebrate, which is just as important as the celebration itself. Why else have Advent if not to prepare our hearts for Christmas? Why else have Lent if not to prepare our hearts for Easter? The eve of All Saints Day might be only one day worth, but it gives the necessary time to prepare to say a "thank you" to those who have gone before us. It doesn't just include St. Gregory, or Thomas, or the "greats" but also our grandparents, our children who might have perished, or those whom our wives have miscarried.

This Holy Day is for all Christians, not just Catholics because the Catholic Church doesn't have a patent on making Saints. Adding to that, for the Protestant or "non-denominational" (which is still Protestant) reader, please understand that the Church sees you as our family as well. We don't share all the same beliefs but Protestants can't afford to lose out on All Saints Day. So if you don't celebrate it, give it a look. I hope that sheds a little light on this special Holy Day. Think of this as less of a day of obligation and more of a day of opportunity. A day particularly set aside for thanksgiving for our brothers and sisters who died faithfully, or even less than faithfully but still with the hope of the Savior Jesus.