Bill Kassel's Blog

Occasional reflections on religion, culture, politics, and anything else that comes into my mind...

bill kassel

Faith & Religion

To Read, or Not to Read

By 5 Comments

THE KINGDOM STIRS ANGER
AT FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY

A fellow who heard that my novel, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER, focuses on James, the Lord’s brother, wrote me charging that the book must be some kind of Protestant screed.

Didn’t I know that Mary remained a virgin and never gave birth to any other children? If I wrote that Jesus had a brother, surely I must be dabbling in heresy.

I explained to him that the book draws on early Christian writings (the so-called “non-canonical gospels”) that describe Joseph as an older widowed man with children at the time he took Mary as his wife. It doesn’t conflict with either the Bible — which says nothing about Joseph’s age and family circumstances — or with Christian Tradition. In fact, it’s been certified by the Catholic Writers Guild as being consistent with Church teaching.”

His misassumption reflected the fact that he’d only heard about the book and hadn’t read it. But then, that’s key, isn’t it. Not only can’t you judge a book by its cover, you can’t fully know what ideas it espouses until you’ve read it.

This truth is relevant to a controversy swirling around Franciscan University of Steubenville.

[Read more…] about To Read, or Not to Read

A Token of Good Will

By 3 Comments

THE GREETING “MERRY CHRISTMAS”
EXPRESSES GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT

While our annual debate over the holiday greeting “Merry Christmas” seems to have lost some sharpness, the issue is far from settled.

There are plenty of folks who still charge Christians with cultural imperialism. Likewise, the impulse to defend the traditional salutation asserts itself regularly.

While I surely see that some of the anti-“Merry Christmas” sentiment expresses rejection of Christianity (or even outright attacks on the Faith), there’s also a good deal of simple misunderstanding about what the greeting really conveys.

Back in December of 2013 I posted an essay that attempted to clarify what people mean when they wish someone “Merry Christmas” (or at least what I mean by it). I’ve reposted the piece in subsequent years.

As it remains relevant, here it is again…

[Read more…] about A Token of Good Will

Complain, Complain!

By 12 Comments

THERE ARE REASONS FOR
POOR CHURCH MUSIC

Rare is the parish that’s free of complaints about music at Mass.

Whether it’s the screechy-voiced soprano in the choir, or the under-rehearsed guitar group, or the too-frequent repetitions of “Lead Me, Lord” — there’s usually something about which somebody has a gripe.

Unfortunately, the dissatisfaction is often justified.

[Read more…] about Complain, Complain!

To Think in a New Way

By 5 Comments

WORKING AROUND SOME OF THE
STUMBLING BLOCKS TO FAITH

A recent Pew Research Center survey reveals that young people who list themselves as having no church affiliation (the “nones,” as they’re called) usually have a very simple and obvious reason for not coming to the Church or for deciding to leave it.

And it’s not the poor quality of the music, or the supposed irrelevance of the preaching, or the unfriendliness of the congregation, or the ineffectiveness of the youth ministry, or other such concerns, discouraging as all those may be.

The bottom line for most disaffected young people is that they simply don’t accept the Christian story. As reported by Fox News…

[Read more…] about To Think in a New Way

A Tale of Two Hats

By 2 Comments

AMID POLITICAL DIVISIVENESS
WE NEED TO TALK AND LISTEN

John Pavlovitz is a minister, a writer, and a rising star of liberal Protestantism. His blog, “Stuff that Needs to Be Said,” has a wide readership, and his books are prominent among Amazon.com’s Christian Living titles. [Read more…] about A Tale of Two Hats

Fr. Joe Krupp

By 18 Comments

A GIFTED PRIEST
MOVES ON

Hardly a day goes by without someone pontificating on how to achieve a “proper” worshipful atmosphere at Mass.

You have your advocates of “sanctity.” You have your advocates of “welcoming.”

You have your organ music lovers. You have your guitar fans.

And don’t even go near the ongoing debate over communion in the hand.

For all that, it’s been my experience that the greatest determinant of parish spirit — both in communal worship and in overall faith life — is the pastor.

The priest sets the tone.

A good priest brings all the factions together, bridging divergent expectations and points of view.

A great priest creates an atmosphere of love.

Fr. Joe Krupp is such a priest.

[Read more…] about Fr. Joe Krupp

A Fifth Column?

By 12 Comments

RELIGION IS BEING USED
AS A WHIP AGAINST TRUMP

There are certain Facebook pages I visit regularly to keep up with the topics that agitate folks on the Progressive Left. And I’ve discovered something quite interesting…

If you want to encourage a lefty agnostic to read the Bible, tell him it’s a great source of material for bashing Donald Trump.

Ever since media began focusing on the practice of detaining illegal-immigrant kids separately from adults, Facebook has become a veritable Scripture study. You needn’t look hard to find passages such as…

“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
— Exodus 22:21

“There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native…”
—Leviticus 24:22

“Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.”
— Deuteronomy 27:19

“Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner.”
— Jeremiah 22:3

Indeed, you’d think Progressives have their iPhones set to stream “The Bible Answer Man” 24/7.

[Read more…] about A Fifth Column?

Just Catching Up

By 3 Comments

IRELAND COMPLETES
ITS QUIET REVOLUTION

How interesting it’s been — no, revealing, actually — to observe the absolute glee with which Ireland’s legalization of abortion has been met.

Facebook is awash in photos and video footage of people celebrating wildly.

There appears to be no mixed emotions, no acknowledgement of moral ambiguity, about this reversal that’s taken place in historically Catholic Ireland. All is joy, merriment, revelry.

Pass around the Guinness, lads! Crank up the volume on that U2 album! Good old Bono was with us!

[Read more…] about Just Catching Up

God Made You Gay?

By 32 Comments

POPE FRANCIS SETS OFF
ANOTHER CONTROVERSY

My Facebook news feed has been ablaze ever since a report broke suggesting that Pope Francis assured a gay man that God made him homosexual and that’s just fine.

Did the Holy Father really say such a thing?

I’ve read numerous reports that cite the Pope’s alleged remark…

“You have to be happy with who you are. God made you this way and loves you this way, and the pope loves you this way.”

…all set forth in pretty much the same words.

But does this flood of reportage rise to the level of multi-source confirmation? Or is it a matter of citing a single source, and therefore, echoing the same possibly inaccurate quote?

[Read more…] about God Made You Gay?

Back to the Cross

By 6 Comments

REEXAMINING WHY
JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED

Why Jesus had to die on the cross is a question that becomes a major stumbling block for many people when they first consider the Christian story in a serious way.

It doesn’t seem to make sense that someone who touched people’s lives for the better, as Jesus clearly did (physically, morally, spiritually), should have been seen as a threat.

What could possibly have made anybody wish to harm him — much less put him to such a grizzly, tortuous death?

My novel, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER, attempts to answer that question in an engaging fictional narrative. But back in 2013, when I launched this blog, my first post was an essay that addressed the issue of Jesus’ execution.

That piece was republished by the online journal, American Thinker, and I have reposted it at Eastertime in succeeding years.

My approach is not theological. I don’t go into the salvific power of Christ’s death and resurrection. Rather, I examine the social, economic and political circumstances surrounding Jesus’ mission (as I do in the novel as well).

Since, 2,000 years later, much confusion and misunderstanding remain, it’s timely to examine the question once again…

[Read more…] about Back to the Cross

Honoring St. Joseph

By 1 Comment

JESUS’ FOSTER FATHER AS
A TIMELESS ROLE MODEL

The earthy father of Jesus receives official honor twice during the liturgical year.

March 19 has been his feast day since, as they say, “time immemorial.” And in 1955 Pope Pius XII designated May 1 as the special feast of “St. Joseph the Worker,” highlighting Joseph’s worldly vocation as a carpenter or builder (tekton in Greek).

The pope’s intention was to provide a Christian alternative to May Day labor celebrations being promoted worldwide by the Soviet Union and the Communist Internationale. His idea caught on, and that feast is now celebrated by workers throughout the Catholic world.

St. Joseph plays a prominent role in my novel about the family of Jesus, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER. And on the first Father’s Day after the book’s publication Nancy Hastings of the Gatehouse Media Group did a brief feature article highlighting the unique challenges faced by St. Joseph, as I sketched them in my novel.

It’s only right St. Joseph is honored as a model of the fatherly virtues.

Those virtues are under stress these days. Much of the crime, violence, extremism and sexual perversion we see around us can be attributed to the collapse of fatherhood that’s evident throughout large portions of our society (and those of other nations as well).

Appealing to St. Joseph as an intercessor in this difficult period would be most appropriate. And if you don’t accept the Catholic notion of saints interceding on our behalf, then merely try invoking the name of Joseph in the prayers you address directly to God. Either way, I believe Joseph is a powerful helper standing by — and an example for all men with children to raise, young lives to mold.

So to mark the Feast of St. Joseph — and even though it’s not Father’s Day — here’s Nancy’s article…

[Read more…] about Honoring St. Joseph

Follow

Get every new post on this blog delivered to your Inbox.

Join other followers: