Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

Mmmmm-mmmmmm. Giant Donut.

Homer_giant

So the marketers for the upcoming Simpsons Movie have painted a 180-foot tall Homer Simpson next to the Cerne Abbas Giant.

I think it’s hilarious.

The local pagans, however, are annoyed, as they consider the giant (a) sacred or something like that and (b) a fertility symbol dating from ancient times.

In reality, it was made in the 17th century and may be a lampoon on Oliver Cromwell depicted as a naked Hercules.

In other words, it’s one more phony claim of a pagan survival in Britain. Y’know, like Wicca and stuff.

I’m just sayin’.

GET THE STORY. (WARNING: Story discusses the fact that the giant is anatomically correct and has images of such.)

MORE ON THE CERNE ABBAS GIANT. (WARNING: Article discusses the fact that the giant is anatomically correct and has images of such.)

An Itch For Information (A Cure For The Curious)

Things change when you have a live Internet connection in your pocket.

Most smart phones access a crippled version of the Internet, but the iPhone accesses the real deal–and it changes things when you’ve got an Internet connection as close as your cell phone.

I began to experience this the first night I had my iPhone. I had done a blog post from the phone itself and then gone square dancing, and at a couple of points in the evening we were between tips (a tip is a pair of square dance songs–usually one done as a patter call and one as a singing call) and I didn’t happen to be talking to anybody at the moment and I thought, "I’ll check the blog and see if anybody has commented," so I did.

I haven’t done that since, but I have used the phone to clean up nasty comment spam when I wasn’t at my laptop.

Yesterday I was in church and a spot on my back started itching, and I thought, "I bet Wikipedia has an article on itching and what function it plays for us. I mean, I know it involves the chemical histamine–and for some time I’ve wanted to know what useful function histamine plays, anyway, since I’m always having to take anti-histamines for allergies and such. What good is histamine anyway?" But, well, I was at Mass, and I didn’t want to pull up Wikipedia and start reading it during Mass, so I didn’t.

Afterwards I went to Wal-Mart to get some keys duplicated, and then I had to stand in the ultra-long Sunday afternoon line to check out, and I thought, "Hey! It wouldn’t be sacreligious to check Wikipedia here, while I’m killing time in an otherwise boring checkout line!" So I pulled out the iPhone and spent the rest of my time in line reading about itching and what it does for us (encourages us to scratch off parasites that might be clinging to us).

Then while square dancing on Sunday night my partner liked one particular song and wanted to know who did it (the song "I’m Gonna Be [500 Miles]), so I looked it up on the Internet to see who did it (the Proclaimers).

So . . . it’s just kinda different when you’ve got a live Internet connection in your pocket.

BTW, I’ve got requests from folks to give periodic updates on what the iPhone is like, so that’s what this is.

Oh, and . . .

HERE’S THE ARTICLE ON ITCHING THAT I WAS READING.

Ex-Catholic Anti-Catholic Bigot at CNN

“It’s telling to note the contemporary works that sparked Beckwith’s return to the Catholic Church. He cites the “Joint Declaration on the doctrine of Justification” by Lutheran and Catholic scholars and Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences by Norm Geisler and Ralph MacKenzie. He also refers generally to First Things magazine, the journal of religion, culture, and public life which is edited by Father Richard John Neuhaus, who was a Lutheran pastor before his own conversion.
Each of these works is concerned with promoting mutual understanding between Catholics and Protestants.”
Enough said.
Largest U.S. denomination
About 22 percent of the U.S. population identifies itself as Roman Catholic, the largest single denomination in the country. That figure is little changed from 1965…
One commenter says it all:
“The church is much bigger than any one parish or any one diocese. It’s not about the bishops. I attend because I believe,” said Mike, 41, as he left a lunchtime Mass at Saint Francis Xavier church in downtown Cincinnati Tuesday.
He is not an anomaly. According to figures put together in 2006 by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, a Catholic university in Washington, there was a slight dip in Mass attendance after the Boston scandals broke.
But it said an analysis of surveys and polls since shows little evidence Roman Catholics have left the church in significant numbers or cut back what they toss in the collection baskets.
Hopefully, all the blasted “Judas”es in the Church who committed such heinous crimes against both the innocent and God will be filtered out and a Renewal of the Catholic Church in America actually starts happening!
Largest U.S. denomination
About 22 percent of the U.S. population identifies itself as Roman Catholic, the largest single denomination in the country. That figure is little changed from 1965…
One commenter says it all:
“The church is much bigger than any one parish or any one diocese. It’s not about the bishops. I attend because I believe,” said Mike, 41, as he left a lunchtime Mass at Saint Francis Xavier church in downtown Cincinnati Tuesday.
He is not an anomaly. According to figures put together in 2006 by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, a Catholic university in Washington, there was a slight dip in Mass attendance after the Boston scandals broke.
But it said an analysis of surveys and polls since shows little evidence Roman Catholics have left the church in significant numbers or cut back what they toss in the collection baskets.
Hopefully, all the blasted “Judas”es in the Church who committed such heinous crimes against both the innocent and God will be filtered out and a Renewal of the Catholic Church in America actually starts happening!

UNBELIEVABLE. ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE.

Can’t even get the facts straight.

How do I contact someone at CNN to see about writing a response editorial?

Samson the Big Black Dog (And Friends)

If you’re of the right age, you likely read Clifford the Big Red Dog at some point growing up (as I did). Well, Samson isn’t as big as Clifford, but he’ll most definitely do!

He lives in the U.K. and stands 6′ 5" on his hind legs.

PHOTO:

Samsonmuttes_468x353_2


GET THE STORY.

Samson isn’t the only giant creature making the news at the moment. There’s also a giant mushroom in Mexico:

Giant_mushroom

It’s 27 inches tall and weighs 41 lbs.

GET THAT STORY.

Meanwhile, there’s a giant squid in Australia:

Giant_squid

It was originally 26 feet long and weighed 550 lbs (they think).

GET THAT STORY.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the size spectrum (and bringing us full circle back to dogs), one of the world’s smallest dogs has been voted its ugliest.

See for yourself:

Ugly_dog

His name is Elwood, and his owner has a high opinion of him (EXCERPTS):

"I think he’s the cutest thing that ever lived," said Elwood’s owner, Karen Quigley, a resident of Sewell, New Jersey.

Quigley said she rescued Elwood two
years ago. "The breeder was going to euthanize him because she thought
he was too ugly to sell," said Quigley.

"So ha ha, now Elwood’s all over the Internet and people love him and adore him."

Now there’s a pro-life sentiment for you.

GET THE STORY.

That Catholic Show

That_catholic_show
A reader writes:

Hi Jimmy,

I don’t believe you and I have ever traded emails before, but my name
is Greg Willits from Rosary Army and SQPN.

I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see it, but my wife and I have
recently launched a new online video series called "That Catholic
Show."

We just posted episode 6 yesterday entitled "You Are A Priest Forever."

If you have a moment, I’d love to have you take a look at it.  So far
we’ve posted 6 episodes and they can all be seen at
http://www.ThatCatholicShow.com

Below is a direct link to the latest episode, as well as a link for
embedding, should you
want to share it on your site.  Any help you can give in getting word
out about That Catholic Show would be greatly appreciated.

By the way, my wife and I will be the guests on Catholic Answers Live
on August 3rd.  I believe Jerry will be hosting that night.


http://www.sqpn.com/?p=1567

Thanks for writing, Greg; it’s nice to make your acquaintance! I’ve heard really good things about That Catholic Show, but this was the first episode that I’ve had a chance to watch. I’m very impressed, and I especially appreciate your use of humor! (Humor is kinda special to me.) Very pleased to get the word out about the show, so here’s an embed of it:

Good luck on Catholic Answers Live and, BTW, if I can ever help in any way with the show, be sure to let me know!

The Don’t Show Me State

Missouri has just passed a law banning Planned Parenthood and other pro-abort groups from participating in classroom sex ed programs.

WOO-HOO!

The law also re-classifies abortion clinics as ambulatory surgery centers.

EXCERPT:

Planned Parenthood of Missouri complained that the new law will
require them to spend up to $2 million to refit their abortion centers
to meet the new standards.

Paula Gianino, president of Planned Parenthood for the St. Louis
Region, said the new law could leave only one abortion facility in the
state.

And Missouri’s governor, who signed the bill, lived up to his last name:

"I say if they can’t meet the same basic requirements that other
(medical) providers do, then they should shut down," [Matt] Blunt stated.

Go Missouri!

New Phone

I’ve been needing a new phone for a while. My old phone had been dying on me for some time and behaving more and more erratically. I’ve spent the last few months trying to just get by until my renewal date came up and also a couple of new phone models that I was interested in came out.

Last time when I bought a phone (a cell phone, that is–I only have a landline in case of emergencies, so I use my cell as my primary phone), I decided to get one that would play mp3s so I could listen to them, for example, while waiting in the chiropractor’s office. I got one that Verizon said would do this–as well as browse the web and other cool things–but BOY was I disappointed!

It turned out that the phone had minimal mp3 capability–none of which was even documented. I mean, it was so primitive that it had no way whatsoever to pause the mp3. If you had to stop for any reason then you just had to start the mp3 over again (NOT good with audio books!). I also never used its web features because Verizon wanted to charge me an arm and a leg for them (their rate is twice their competitors’), and the connection would have been really slow and the encoding would have prevented me from viewing many sites–including my own blog!

I really felt like Verizon had sold me a bill of goods, but I decided to bide my time and wait for the technology to mature and get a full-featured smart phone the next time.
The question was: What phone to get?
Globe-trotter Steve Ray has a Treo that he swears by, and I know others who really like their Treos, and for a time I was planning on getting one of those. However, I decided to also investigate something else: an iPhone.

I researched them thoroughly, waited for them to come out, read the reviews,and carefully weighed the pros and cons. In the end, I decided to take the risk, and today I got one.
I’m pleased to say that so far I am extraordinarily happy with it.

Other smart phones may have features it doesn’t (yet) have, but the user interface (the main feature I bought it for) is extremely intuitive, and the overall package is wicked awsome. The potential problems I was concerned about also have been non-issues. The virtual keyboard works well, and AT&T has ramped up the speed of its EDGE network so that it’s comparable to other 3G networks, and I haven’t noticed any problem with pages loading too slow.

So–at least as of this moment–I’m pleased as punch.

I’m also blogging from it–right now. That’s how easy to use it is. I’ve only had the thing activated and usable for an hour or so, I haven’t read its instruction manual, and I’m using it to compose sizable blog posts.

Commentary on Summorum Pontificum

This will be lengthy, so I’m putting the commentary below the fold so that it doesn’t clog up the front page of the blog (a clogged blog is no fun at all).

I’ll do a separate commentary on the accompanying apostolic letter so that we can keep what’s in the motu proprio and what’s in the apostolic letter separate (which is important for an element’s juridical status).

BTW, this commentary will be on the unofficial English translation. I may revise it when we get an official one or if mistranslations are discovered. This commentary may also be revised as I have the chance to look up points regarding the celebration of the Tridentine use of the liturgy. (I’m doing this on the fly, the same day as the release, so forgive me if I don’t have everything at the tips of my fingers.)

This will also be the first full-scale commentary on the motu proprio that I am aware of, so it may be of interest to other bloggers.

Click the link to read the full commentary.

Continue reading “Commentary on Summorum Pontificum”