Stephen K. Ray's Blog, page 510

Notre Dame Pays Price for Obama's Visit

After honoring President Barack Obama during last May's commencement ceremonies, the University of Notre Dame has seen less contributions and is feeling financial heat.

In May 2009, debate was heated over the fact that Notre Dame, a Catholic university, invited President Obama to speak at its graduation. It was controversial mainly because some of Obama's policies are contrary to church doctrine. Katie Walker of American Life League (ALL) tells OneNewsNow the school has paid a price.

"Notre Dame has come out $120 million short for the fiscal year in which President Obama spoke during commencement and received an honorary law degree," she reports.

She believes that staggering number is in direct response of alumni and others around the country who feel scandalized "that Notre Dame would host this man and give one of the most pro-abortion presidents in the nation's history an honorary law degree."

The pro-lifer points out that Obama "is a man whose philosophy of the law and philosophy of the country fundamentally is one that denies that all human beings deserve human rights," so she wonders, "Is this a man [one] that 'Our Lady's' university should be honoring and upholding and putting on a pedestal for her graduates?"

Walker feels the drop in funding should send a loud message to Notre Dame, which means "Our Lady."

Catholic Warrior: A Convert Story

From Pentecostal to Mormon to Catholic — to Iraq! Great story with pictures :-)

Click here for his story, and here for hundreds more.

Why Can't Evangelicals See the Eucharist?

I was recently asked why Evangelicals cannot see the Eucharist and Real Presence in the Bible. This person said that when they read the Bible it seems so clear — especially John 6 where Jesus says "Unless you eat my Flesh and drink my Blood . . ." and at the Last Supper when he said, "This IS my flesh."

"Why is it so easy to see for me," she wrote, "while Evangelicals miss  it?"

There are a good number of explanations for this, but I tried to put it in simple terms. I responded:

"In answer to your question it all depends on what kind of glasses you are wearing. If you wear dark colored glasses you see things differently than if you wear clear or red shaded glasses. Every tradition, whether it is Catholic, Baptist, Mormon, or Lutheran has a tradition or grid through which they read and interpret the Bible. No one approaches the Bible objectively without any preconceived ideas or convictions.

"If one wears Baptist glasses and is convinced of the Baptist teaching, then they will see everything they read through their own Baptist ideas or tradition; they read their tradition into the text. Since they are told the Eucharist is only symbolic, they twist and tug to make Scripture fit their perspective.

"Also, as Evangelicals we (or at least I) was convinced the Catholic Church was wrong and we didn't even understand what they believed or the basis for it. I also didn't know that ALL Christians for the first 1500 years believed what Catholic's now teach. And that even now ALL Christians around the world believe in the Real Presence except for a very small sliver of the Christian pie — the Evangelicals, Fundamentalists and a few other newly invented groups.

"The Catholic also has a tradition which has been handed down from the apostles. We can trace it with full confidence back to Jesus himself. When we read the Bible we have on our Catholic glasses which enables us to understand the Scriptures the way the apostles wrote it and the early Church understood it. We trust Scripture and the Tradition and this tradition is that which was taught by the apostles (2 Cor 11:2; 2 Thess 2:15; 3:6).

Be proud, yet humble, to be Catholic!"

Mass at Mary's House; St. John's Tomb

Today we had an outdoor Mass at the House of Mary in the hills above Ephesus, then I gave a talk on the Apostle St. John at his tomb.

Join us on a virtual pilgrimage. I made this short 2.5 minute movie on my iPhone on the bus while driving to Pergamum.

You can watch the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVQ0dd4n7Rw

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Our Visit to Ephesus

To see our tour of Ephesus, click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RaLqm3pYyY

Since I've had no Internet service while on the ship I have to use the iMovie application on my iPhone for video updates.

Running on Water

Jesus walked on water. Today I RAN on water!

Check out my running trip on http://t.co/i6v9Zm6: 2010-11-07 Running on Water http://t.co/UroDsIq

Free Talks on St. Joseph

The following is a link to videos of all of the talks from the Totus Tuus 2010 Family Conference that centered on St. Joseph. Enjoy the talks.  One of the attendees said, "The speakers brought out a lot of good insights into St. Joseph that I had never heard before, and all of the videos of the talks are FREE! Totally FREE, not even a solicitation."

http://www.familyholiness.com/conference

Visit to Island of Patmos

We pulled into port this morning to the Island of Patmos where the Apostle St. John received his revelation which became the last book of the Bible. The pictures in video are from the Cave of St. John where he received his revelation around AD 95.

We're now back on the ship for Sunday Mass and we'll disembark again at 2:00 at Ephesus. More soon.

Here is the link to my short YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkG1Zww-rrE

Were the Bereans "Bible Alone"?

Today we are visiting the ancient biblical city of Berea. Today it is called Veria just a short drive west from Thessaloniki in Greece.

Many Protestants consider the Bereans as proto-Protestants holding to a "bible alone" theology. But they are sadly mistaken.

Here is my article "Why the Bereans Rejected Sola Scriptura" which was published in THIS ROCK Magazine a while ago.

When you read this article you will discover that the Bereans were actually Catholic in their view of Scripture, tradition and authority.

While you read this article, we will be walking on the actual cobblestone Roman Road walked on by St. Paul!

Potential Problem Uploading Videos on Ship

We are on the Orient Queen St. Paul Cruise with my Seventy "criser-pilgrims." It appears I have no Internet access in my cabin. That could be a problem :-). I will try to figure out a workaround. More soon. Running out now for life boat drill.