WOW, I have some doozies on the reading list for today ...

Legends about Luther: Nailing the 95 Theses to the Door of the Castle Church indirectly derived from Against the Grain

Everyday I learn some universal fact that generally is accepted by everyone is not true. I find it really bothersome that the teaching of historical facts gets so muddled in school. I am sick of being a college graduate who is having to constantly unlearn things that I was taught year after year all the way through college.

Conscience and the Cafeteria Catholic - I plan to read this soon as it mentions one of my favorite books "The Spirit of Catholicism" by Karl Adam. That book is a must read for all Catholics. It is one of the best overviews of Catholicism that I have found.

"Mamma Rosa" Beatified: Mother of 11 children! - Apparently this is part of a movement towards highlighting the lives of people who live lives like most of us do. It is hard sometimes to connect with numerous saints from the religious life. My wife, for example, looks to St. Margaret of Scotland. Still, how many of us are kings or queens? We need more examples of "moms with bunches of kids".

The recently discovered early Church (photos). Makes that point that "the Church in the Third or Fourth Century was concerned with beauty in worship, as it still is".

Fuel's paradise? Power source that turns physics on its head from Life in Australia The one thing I find most interesting about this is how scientists, of all people, seem to be guarding the "old way" as if it is the truth itself. I thought only the backwards thinking Church did that? Scientists? C'mon ... the world is upside down. Just goes to show, as I have learned many times over in my career as a software devloper. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. The idea of change is highly bothersome to most people. That is why a company I used to work for made sure that all of the highly complex key-strokes of the character version translated to the GUI version. Nevermind the fact that using the mouse made many more interesting and faster things possible. If eleven tabs didn't get you to exactly the same place it used to get you to, then heads would roll. Just click the button folks ... eleven tabs is ten actions too many.

How do homeschoolers change a lightbulb? Excellent funny ...

Catholic 'gay' clergy policy 'helping Anglicans': US bishop and of course we know all is really well with the Episcopal church. There is no pending Anglican Split.

You know, I hate that anyone would leave the Catholic Church but it is becoming more and more clear the dynamics of what is happening. You have devout mainlines and evangelicals finding their way into the Catholic Church. You have liberal Catholics finding their way into the mainline Protestant denominations. I see it as the Holy Spirit at work.

And speaking of Episcopalians, Cacœthes Scribendi mentions that an incident where the IRS has contacted a church about its anti-war stance prior to the 2004 presidential election is creepy. I totally agree. Despite the fact that this church likely supports most everything I am against I think the precedent here is a bad one. If being against a single stance of the incumbant administration is tantamount to supporting a candidate then in all reality what church or politically active organization can be tax exempt?

Surprise: Halloween's Not a Pagan Festival After All from Mark Shea which fits in nicely with my rant on why Christians should participate in Halloween as it has become in the United States