Why Anglicans should pray the rosary

From The Living Church-

Every time I get on an airplane, I pray the rosary. Flying is nerve-racking for me, even after several years of routine air travel. Praying the rosary comforts me and keeps me calm: I feel protected and able to trust that the plane will be a safe place for me, no matter what happens.

I did not grow up praying the rosary. It was not until I became an Episcopalian in my early 20s that I took it up as a serious devotion.

Some people would probably find that surprising. The rosary is not a particularly common devotion for Episcopalians. In fact, the invention of the so-called Anglican rosary in the latter half of the last century was intended to give Episcopalians a way of praying with beads without being associated with anything that seemed too Roman Catholic.

More here-

http://livingchurch.org/covenant/2016/08/15/why-anglicans-should-pray-the-rosary/

Not All Evangelicals and Catholics Together

From Christianity Today-

An InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter can look very different in the fall than it did the previous spring. But the chapter at George Washington University (GWU) in the nation's capital is dealing with change of a more uncomfortable kind than absent graduates and incoming freshmen.
Shortly before students left for summer vacation, the D.C. chapter split when all ten student leaders resigned to form a new campus ministry called University Christian Fellowship.

More than half of the chapter's roughly 100 students joined them. At issue was student leaders' worry that the national ministry confuses the gospel by cooperating with Roman Catholics, and has a mission statement that Catholics could sign without violating church teaching on the doctrine of justification—how sinners are declared righteous before God.

Over the past decade, justification has become one of the most hotly debated doctrines at conservative Protestant theology conferences and in the catalogs of highbrow Christian publishers. But it has almost entirely stayed in the academy and a handful of churches and denominations. The GWU clash suggests the debate may divide parachurch ministries and reshape evangelicals' relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.

More here-

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/november/10.19.html

Tony Blair: Cherie inspired me to become a Catholic

From The London Telegraph-

Converting from the Anglican Church to Catholicism two years ago was like "coming home", he said.

"Frankly, this all began with my wife. I began to go to Mass and we went together. We could have gone to the Anglican or Catholic church - guess who won?

"Ever since I began preparations to become a Catholic, I felt I was coming home; and this is now where my heart is, where I know I belong," Mr Blair told the Communion and Liberation meeting in the Adriatic resort of Rimini.

The former prime minister, who now runs the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, switched to Catholicism soon after leaving office two years ago. His wife and children were already Catholic.
Last December, in an interview with the BBC, he said he had delayed his conversion until after he had resigned because to have converted while in power would have made him Britain's first Catholic prime minister and would have caused a "palaver".

He said he feared that discussing his religious beliefs while still in Downing Street would have led to him being branded a "nutter".

Mr Blair received a standing ovation for his speech in Rimini, during which he said he was "humbled" to address such an eminent gathering because he was a "very new entrant" to the Catholic Church.

The rest-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/6106582/Tony-Blair-Cherie-inspired-me-to-become-a-Catholic.html

Sunday Forum: What kind of Catholics are we?

Interesting op-ed piece in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

All you need to know to diagnose the state of the Catholic Church in America today is that Pope Benedict XVI -- who has a knack for ticking off both Muslims and Jews -- spent a recent week wandering the Middle East, yet Catholics here barely noticed. They were too busy fighting over Barack Obama's appearance as commencement speaker at Notre Dame or arguing about the fate of a popular Miami priest known as "Father Oprah," who was caught on camera sharing a seaside embrace with his girlfriend.

Is this what Catholicism in America has come to? Bickering about whether Notre Dame is really Catholic, or whether a priest can make out on the beach with his gal pal? Well, yes. And that should come as no surprise.

Since the emergence of Catholicism in the 19th century as a counterweight to the United States' reigning Protestant culture, American Catholics have struggled to balance their desire to assimilate into society with the fear of losing their faith in the nation's melting pot. These new controversies show that, in the Catholic saga, assimilation is winning.

That is because American Catholics -- and there are upwards of 65 million of us -- are going their own way on many matters of faith and especially on issues ranging from priestly celibacy to political candidates, and there seems to be little the bishops can do about it. If there is a true swing vote in the U.S. electorate today, it is the Catholic bloc.

More here-

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09151/973735-109.stm#ixzz0H513ktOc&A