Just thought I would write a note telling you about a few changes I'm making to my website. I decided to de-emphasize anti-Catholicism on it--I'm getting rid of my Anti-Catholicism page. I kept most of the links from it and put them under my Doctrines page. The reason why I'm doing this is I think it will make the page more positive. I'm getting rid of my response page because I: 1) Created it out of anger and some vengeance (misplaced) and 2) it's kind of juvenile picking out one particular page out of hundreds that are run by the same type of pitiful crackpot (it has since become more twisted and I think ANYONE can see past it). I will write a page that will serve as a general response to anti-Catholicism.
I may add a history page to my website (I don't know yet). Anyway, if you can think of any ideas, I'd be glad to read them.
Joe
P.S. I know you'll love this: over the past semester (or atleast the last half of it), I read a C. S. Lewis book in a Bible Study group in the Catholic Campus Ministry. It was "Mere Christianity." I'm thinking of changing the name of my site to "Mere Catholicism." What do you think?
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Dear Joe,
Good to hear from you and see your good work in the Internet outreach. I respect your decision to get rid of the response page, altho it did seem to me it was fair enough - and that responding to attacks can help to clarify what Catholic teachings are. I thought about Mere Catholicism myself, but am not sure if it exactly works because C.S. Lewis' idea was to promote the great body of Christian teaching which has been held down the ages. For us that is simply Catholicism. We have the Catechism which delineates what is and what is not a part of that. Having said that I do like the motive behind "Mere Catholicsm." It is a way of avoiding the liberal/conservative trap. Have you noticed the tendency to try to pidgeonhole Catholics that way? Often it is followed by someone saying, "Well, I am a moderate" (or a "centrist") by which they mean they have put the Catechism aside and cobbled together their own version of the faith which turns out to pretty much reflect American culture. So values like "tolerance", "diversity", "inclusivity", etc. are so emphasized that they wind up blurring or even disregarding certain doctrinal & moral teachings. Some are even extolling that as "Catholic Lite." Does this make sense to you, Joe?
Continue your work for God's glory & the salvation of others. God bless,
Fr. Phil Bloom
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