The Plan

Well, I've now got a few different topics buzzing around in my head, which I plan to tackle in the next little while. So here's my prospective plan (just to make God laugh):

When I began the Rosary series, a particular reader reacted rather strongly to various Catholic beliefs about Mary. I promised him that I would write apologetic articles on the Marian Dogmas after I finished the Rosary series. I plan to honour that promise despite the fact that he no longer read this blog. So that is next up on the docket. As such, I'll finish off writing about Mary in this fashion: One Post to summarise the Catholic view of Mary as encapsulated in the Dogmas, highlighting their importance and place within Catholic theology; then Four Posts, one for each Dogma--Mary as Mother of God, her Perpetual Virginity, her Immaculate Conception, and her Assumption into Heaven; after those, One Post discussing her role as Mediatrix, which, although not an official Dogma, is still a Marian concept touted by many great saints and popes, and greatly misunderstood and opposed by those outside the Catholic Church--and which may become the Fifth Marian Dogma at some point; after that, I'll write an undecided amount of posts regarding the phenomenon of Marian Apparitions, and highlight several in their own posts, such as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Our Lady of Fatima, to name but a few. Finally, I will advocate St. Louis de Montfort's "Total Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary", a devotion which Melissa and I have recently performed this past May 13th. This will conclude, for now, my articles about Our Lady, though obviously I'll write more about her whenever the mood or idea strikes. I'm just trying to stick with a plan for now, since that seems to work better.

Also coming up, Christopher, who comments here often, and I have agreed to debate the legitimacy of the Papacy as an authority in the Church. We'll be conducting the debate via email, and then upon its completion, posting it on our blogs. This ties in as well with the previous post about attending Church, and as such, I'll follow the debate up with articles discussing the nature of the Church, based on the Five Models (or Five-fold Model) of Avery Cardinal Dulles (The Church as Institution, as Mystical Union, as Herald, as Community, and as Servant) in order to present a more holistic view of what the Church is.

As well, I plan to write a series of reflections on the Eucharist, defending the Church's understanding of Jesus' Real Presence, and discussing topics of the Centrality of the Eucharist, Transubstantiation, the Mass as a Sacrifice, Eucharistic Adoration, and the many Eucharistic Miracles that have occurred throughout the world and the history of the Church.

What order all this occurs in, I haven't decided. When it will happen, I have no idea. We'll see what summer holds. One last thing: last night Melissa (my wife) and I went to our parish to see a Vatican Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles (which prompted my desire to write about them here). Afterwards, Melissa expressed the desire to contribute to the blog in her own way, offering a more devotional and personal approach than my own polysyllabic, polemic articles often can be. It will be nice to have her voice added to my own.

So that's my plan for the blog, always conscious of the wise old dictum: "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."

God bless,
Gregory