This is a place for discussion and dialogue, so I welcome and encourage your comments, even (and especially) contrary ones. I also want this to be a place of charity and communion, however, so here are a few guidelines for civil discussion. I’ve seldom had a problem with any commenter; I’ve only had to moderate comments once or twice. So that I don’t again, or that if I do, you can’t say I didn’t warn you:
- Do keep it charitable. We are Christians here, and live by Ephesians 4:29–32: “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We are brothers and sisters, so let us love one another (John 15:12, etc.). If you don’t believe we are your brothers and sisters, then we are at least your neighbors (Mark 12:31, etc.). If you are not a Christian, please at least heed these words, and respond with the same love we have for you.
- Don’t be a troll. A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, derogatory, or offensive content for no other purpose than to hurt, attack, offend, deride, anger, or stir up, with no redeeming message and no interest in meaningful discussion. If you are coming here with no other purpose than to attack Catholic doctrine or beliefs or Catholics themselves, and no interest in discussing your charges or considering what someone might have to say back to you, then you are a troll, and you don’t belong here.
- Do be relevant. Address what is wrote in the post, not what you presume I think, what other people think, or other unrelated topics.
- Do have a redeeming message. That is what our Lord is about, is redemption; so if you are here with a voice of criticism, you should also bring a voice of edification and life. If you think what Catholics believe is wrong, why is it wrong, and how can we make it right? If you bring a negative, please also bring a positive.
- Do support your arguments. This is also an academic place, and empty and unfounded charges and accusations are unwelcome. If something is “unbiblical,” please cite the Scripture that shows that. If something is contrary to history or tradition, please provide support from historical or patristic sources to support your claim. Whatever your argument, you should back it up; if you can’t back it up, you shouldn’t post it.
That’s a good start, for now. Please keep these in mind before you post. May God bless you and His peace be with you, and may He keep us all in His love.
Hi You really have a wonderful site!
Recently reading tom Bissell book apostle and got interested again in the early days of Christianity.
Thanks for being a cool calm intelligent voice on the web! p.brown
Thank you! God bless you!
Thank you for your site. The best place to go for a bit of non-protestant perspective.
Ready to talk about purgatory…just not sure where to do that now that I see a lot of the comments are closed. Everything OK?
I don’t know why they’re closed. I’ll look at it. It sometimes auto-updates the software and changes settings on me so that’s probably it. I’ve been busy lately and off my game but I’ll try to respond.
This would be a fine place to talk about purgatory when I get it opened up:
The Mercy of Purgatory
Was going to reply under “The Mercy of Purgatory” again, but the comments were closed again!! Until next time… 🙂
I didn’t close them. It keeps resetting my settings. I will reopen it.
Since I do not find my comment, and I don’t see a “waiting moderation” note, I’m reposting. If the first one made it through, please delete this one. Thanks in advance.
[…]
The threads keep auto-closing every time the WordPress software auto-upgrades (closing after a month is the default setting and it resets my settings). I re-opened them. If you’d like, why don’t you repost this on the Matthew 16:18 thread and I’ll reply there.
Thanks. By the way, it’s in the mod queue even if you can’t see “awaiting moderation” on some WordPress sites. It only shows that notification if you’re logged in with a WordPress.com ID I think. But since you have an approved comment now you should be free of the mod queue in the future.
I was logged in with my WordPress.com ID, just FYI. WP has made a number of changes over the years, and I’ve often wondered how those whose comments are ‘awaiting moderation’ see it on their end, or if it’s recently changed.
My site is self-hosted using the WordPress.org software, so showing a comment in the mod queue with that notification requires authentication between WordPress.com and my site. Sometimes may not be confirmed right; I haven’t messed with it in a little while.
It’s December 2023 and I just now tripped across your site. I hope all is well with you Your work here is personally relevant. I will read every word in time. I do wonder if your journey continues. Do you have any desire or time to periodically converse by any means, even if it is over longer periods of time? You communicate in a manner I deeply respect. I am a non practicing baptized Roman Catholic with deeply held religious convictions and belief in Jesus, in God the Father. I did not stop attending Mass and such because I protested against my Baptism, Confirmation, or Marriage. I stopped because my Catholicism had become performative. Brick and Mortar Catholicism left me empty. Born Again Protestantism, along with Fundamentalism and Evangelical Protestantism which I participated out of curiosity and invitation, left me feeling a reincarnated Pharisee. In my youth I would have chosen to enter The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel had I not spent time in prayer and brief commune with said members. My sincere decision at the time was that I my mission field would be marriage and parenting which I acted on, still. I am in my senior years now and yearning to reengage in my spiritual journey, my education, and even reaching out to neighbors as I attempt to answer the questions that have teased me my entire life. I am not without experiences in general and historical philosophy, Protestant challenges (even agnostic or atheist challenges) from family and friends, and studies of several Protestant-Christian denominations. It is also about time I finished up my journey in earnest, wishing to leave a more complete legacy, recording of my journey for my children and their children. A reconciliation with God is in order.
Hi William, thanks so much for the comment. I’m sorry I’ve let it languish. My email notifications haven’t been working. I hope my writings have, or will, help you in your journey. Yes, I am still hobbling along. I got married, and went to work full-time, and the Christian life sure can be hard when you’re facing the trials of life. I am still deeply faithful and practicing, though I guess I’ve turned more inward. It’s hard to share one’s journey when you’re struggling. God bless you, and I welcome any comments or questions.
I read your posts on St Peters tomb. The topic fascinates me and I have done a significant amount of reading about it.
I have a few questions:
1. What actually happened to the Tropaion? Was it destroyed? I have seen renderings of what it looked like. I reviewed your photographs but do any exist which show, at least a frontal perspective, of what the Gaius trophy looks like now, if it at all remains.
2. Where in the original tropaion were the bones located ? Why were they moved to the graffiti wall?
Thank you for your erudition on this subject!
Hi! Thanks so much for the interest. This is one of the few topics that would bring me out of semi-retirement. 😅
1. Basically, what Constantine did with the Tropaion — similar to what he did with Jesus’s tomb and the site of the Crucifixion at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — is break down nearly everything around it, and encase the “holy” part in marble and art.
If you look at this diagram, of the Niche of the Pallia today, it’s basically a top-down view of what’s left of the Tropaion:
I don’t remember what’s what in the diagram, which stone and marble parts were part of the original Tropaion, which part of the original Constantinian memoria, and which parts were added later — but the Niche of the Pallia, as we see it today, is directly over the original grave, and in the portal of Constantine’s memoria. If you look at the photos of the model in the first post and compare them to the Niche of the Pallia, that gives some idea. If you look at the archaeological photos in the second post — this photo is one of the columns of the original Tropaion.
2. It’s a good question that archaeologists have puzzled over, and one of the reasons why many still don’t accept that the bones found were St. Peter’s — also, the strange way in which they were discovered. We don’t have any record when or why they were moved. One would suppose they would have been moved before Constantine came along, when the Church was under persecution, out of fear the bones would be seized or desecrated. I think if Constantine had known the bones where the bones were, he would have them and put them in some kind of reliquary.
Thanks again, and peace be with you!
Oh, and where in the original Tropaion the bones were located? Presumably, they were originally buried down in the original grave, underneath the Tropaion.