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Project Conversion

In the recent shake-up of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) regarding the substitution of Latin from the liturgy, one is hard-pressed to find any old school Gregorian chanting in the Church today (outside of older, traditional churches). In an article written for Crisis magazine, Arlene Oost-Zinner and Jeffery Tucker wrote: “You can find recordings…

Today’s post is written by Heather Bowen: How in the world could a year where some of the days seemed so incredibly long pass by so quickly?  Here we are with only 11 days left in 2011, and Project Conversion in its current state is coming to a close. What an eventful, yet rewarding year…

No one likes a middleman. We constantly hear or see advertizements from merchants who “cut out the middleman” in order to save you money. Middlemen are also present within heavily bureaucratic systems (such as government) where one must cut through so much “red tape” that results seem impossible. For Protestant Christians, the Catholic practice of…

I was in the middle of writing a post about God and art when I discovered that Christopher Hitchens had died. The typing stopped and the reading began. Once upon a time, ol’ Hitch was my hero, along with the likes of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. The irony? They still are. Seems strange, doesn’t…

Jason, my Mentor this month, once explained the concept of the Holy Trinity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) by alluding to the notion that we humans are made in God’s image. He described how we ourselves are mind (the creative, like the Father), body (the expressed and manifested self, like Christ), and spirit…

I’ve got a thing for meditation/prayer beads. It all started in January when I began meditation on a string of 108 rudraksha beads, said to be sacred to Lord Shiva. Ever since, I’ve looked for them each month. Catholicism doesn’t disappoint. The rosary comes from the Latin word rosarium meaning “rose garden” or “garland of…

Any of us with kids probably remember those last few weeks before our children were born. I was stressed out and excited with both of my girls (and it hasn’t let up yet). There was so much to do and as a young dad, I was terrified. Good thing I had Heather to be terrified…

We are now ten days into our month of Catholicism (specifically Roman Catholicism), but as usual, it feels like a lifetime. I believe this feeling–this sense of being out of time with the rest of the world–comes from the intense and passionate study of the faith. In some ways, I suppose it’s analogous to seminary.…

My wife, a fairly liberal Christian, is reading a novel called “My Son, the Savior” by Melody Carlson. The book is a fictional account of the Gospel and of Jesus’ life from Mary’s point of view. We get to see her side of the story, how she saw him…how a mother interacted with her son…

I love the monastic life. Ever since I stayed with the Buddhist monks at their monastery in Bolivia, North Carolina, I’ve contemplated their lifestyle, their values, practices, psychology, and devotion. In another life, I may have been or will become one, but in this life, it’s one of my most passionate interests. It’s rare that…
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