Faith and Mission
An Adult Faith Formation program offered by St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Kennesaw, GA. Meets Sunday mornings at 9am.
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Mediatrix Advocate Queen
Mediation is used in a variety of senses to cover the basic dimensions of the economy of salvation (how God’s plan is worked out in creation). They are all interrelated. Mediation simply means that God will use beings to effect his plan; he does not always speak directly but frequently he speaks through people. Think Continue reading
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Co-Redemptrix
Co-Redemptrix When we speak of Mary as co-redemptrix, we are highlighting the integral role she played in the salvation through Jesus Christ. He made the sacrifice, but she was there with him at every step from the Incarnation to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. In that sense, she is such an intimate component of God’s plan Continue reading
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The Assumption of Mary
Assumption vs. Ascension Jesus ascended to Heaven by his own power. The others we read about in the Scriptures are “taken up” rather than going up by their own efforts. The first case is Enoch (Gen 5:24) who “walked with God, then was no more, because God took him.” The letter to the Hebrews explains Continue reading
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Immaculate Conception and Perpetual Virginity
We’re going to talk about the dogma of the immaculate conception, but it requires us to make our peace with an understanding of the predestination of Mary and her human son Jesus. What we mean by predestination is that we need a way to understand God’s action in the created world given that God is Continue reading
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Introduction to Our Lady
We will spend some time on the principal teachings about Mary, some of which are required for authentic membership in the Church of Christ, and some of which are teachings that may help us grow as disciples of Christ. Then we will spend some time on Marian devotions and Marian apparitions. Marian Doctrines are Christological Continue reading
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Concluding the Religion of the Day
Here are some suggestions that might inform how we present Christ and the Christian faith in light of our current cultural world. None of these is new, but they may need greater emphasis at this time. The centrality of the person of Christ The only answer to the identity crisis the world finds itself in, Continue reading
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Fighting the Lord’s Battles
St. Paul says to the Corinthians: “though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds.” (II Cor 10:3-4) The Scriptures make clear that the kingdom established by God is founded on sources of strength Continue reading
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Fighting Back
It’s always important to remember that God wins. So if we stay close to him, we win also. But the battle continues to be fought even inside the church. Judas was not the last betrayer. Arius was not the last heretic. It is precisely within the church that we are meant to fight a zealous Continue reading
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The Church on All Souls
We meant to continue to talk about how the Church is not simply a human-level non-government organization even if it is a large government contractor, but somewhere along the way we got to talking about Purgatory. (We go where the Spirit leads.) Because the church is set up as a heavenly society in the midst Continue reading
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Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
This formulation has gained a lot of attention, and it quickly became obvious that moralistic therapeutic deism was not just the belief of millennial teenagers but was characteristic of whole swaths of the Christian world. The prevalence of this approach to Christianity represents a degenerate and weak state of Christianity that is highly vulnerable to Continue reading
Bound in Love 