#169: Priest “Joins” Abuse Victims—Father John Hollowell (Free Version)

Video February 24, 2020 Patrick 1 Comment

#169: Priest “Joins” Abuse Victims—Father John Hollowell (Free Version)

In mid-February, 2020, Father John Hollowell was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Probably one of the least desirable things to hear. The small-town Indiana pastor (of two busy parishes) has not only taken it in stride, as far as that’s possible, he says it was an answer to a prayer he made in 2018 during the maddening summer of shame with the news of McCarrick and related sins and crimes emerged—again.

As he explains in this in-depth interview, he asked God, if it be His will, to share in some way with the suffering victims of priestly sexual abuse. Hollowell says he senses strongly that his brain tumor is a mysterious answer to that prayer. He is consciously offering up all his anxiety, pain, chemo marathon—all of it—in union with Christ on the cross in special solidarity with those violated and hurt by predator priests.

Here is a good apple making reparation for the bad apples, an amazing thing. Let’s add to our prayer list this courageous young man of God even as we pray for the healing—and justice—for the victims of evil men who used their status to exploit and destroy. The more you ponder what Father Hollowell is doing, the more extraordinary it becomes.

In this episode you will learn

The biblical basis for “offering it up”
How the scandal of predators in the priesthood affected him and what his reaction was to the McCarrick news
Why he decided to reach out to SNAP (Survivor Network of Abused by Priests, an ethically iffy group of secular lawsuit hounds) to connect with victims
His thoughts on suffering, meaning, and why God permits bad things to happen to good people
His prognosis hopes and what he hopes will be gained by his offer to offer up any suffering that comes

Resources mentioned in this episode

Fr. Hollowell’s email for sharing with victims of abuse ONLY: f[email protected]
The Third Way 40-minute documentary on homosexuality
Man’s Search For Meaning by Dr. Viktor Frankl
The Problem of Pain by C.S Lewis
Desire of the Everlasting Hills documentary

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Apologetics, Videos

The Shocking, Totally Click-Baity, Truth About Lent!

Video February 22, 2020 Patrick

The Shocking, Totally Click-Baity, Truth About Lent!

It’s time now for the annual Lent Wars!

If Christmas is the season to be jolly, Lent is the season to be needlessly scrupulous and neurotic, and to argue online about things that have VERY little to do with imitating Jesus, amiright?

In this video, I tell the truth about the main confusions many people seem to have about Lent.

Since Ye Olde Anglo Saxon days, Lent took over from the Latin term quadragesima, which means “the fortieth day.”

But…. if you sit down with your calendar and count the days of Lent they do not total 40 regardless of whether you include Sundays.

The number is more biblically symbolic than literal. However, 40 recurs frequently in the Bible. A sample:

* Rain fell for “forty days and forty nights” during the Flood (Genesis 7:4).
* Noah waited for 40 days after the tops of mountains were seen after the flood, before releasing a raven (Genesis 8:5-7).
* Spies were sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (promised to the children of Israel) for “40 days” (Numbers 13:2, 25).
* The Hebrew people lived in the lands outside of the promised land for “40 years”(Numbers 32:13).
* The prophet Elijah had to walk 40 days and 40 nights before arriving at mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8)
* Before his temptation, Jesus fasted “40 days and 40 nights” in the Judean desert (Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2).
* From the resurrection of Jesus to the ascension of Jesus there were 40 days……(Acts 1:3).

What is the purpose of Lent?

In the words of the Universal Norms for the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar, Lent is: “…a liturgical season that is ordered to preparing for the celebration of Easter, both catechumens, by the various stages of Christian initiation, and the faithful, who recall their own Baptism and do penance.”

Other questions answered: When does Lent begin and when does it end? Are Sundays included? What’s with abstinence during Lent? Doesn’t the Church hate sex enough already without forbidding it during Lent? What does the law of abstinence forbid? Did a medieval pope was trying to protect the Italian fishing industry allow fish on Fridays? Is alligator meat seafood?

All these and much more!

Again, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. The season of Lent is an annual opportunity to reset our wills, to grow in self-control, and to let our hunger remind us of the Bread that comes down from heaven, without which we can do NOTHING.

A blessed Lent to you.

Resources Mentioned

Universal Norms for the Liturgical Year and the General Roman Calendar: website

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Patrick Coffin Show, Videos

#168: Blind Faith In Music—José Feliciano (Free Version)

Video February 18, 2020 Patrick 1 Comment

#168: Blind Faith In Music—José Feliciano (Free Version)

For a man who has won nine Grammy Awards, recorded over 60 albums, and performed with the very best of American artists, José Feliciano is as down to earth as they come. With his ready laugh, self-deprecating humor, and penchant for bad puns, the self-taught guitar prodigy wants to talk about his Catholic faith, from which he drifted a few years back.

Born blind from congenital glaucoma, his family moved to Spanish Harlem from his native Puerto Rico when young José was five. He found a natural draw to music, and scraped, and practiced, and wrote, and practiced some more—many hours per day—until it was clear the kid had some serious guitar chops.

Despite having toured all over the world, won the accolades all musicians dream of winning, he seems happiest on the homefront, at ease with himself and his God.