It's sort of like this: In Foxe's view, the early Christians (i.e., the Roman martyrs) were Protestants (not Catholics), and the Catholics of his day were pagans (not Christians).

To borrow a line from Dave Barry: I'm oversimplifying, but I don't care.

6'2", 200 lb and 15 year old Christopher Luke Dillier is missing. He goes by Luke. Luke went along with his brother and mother, to his brother's violin lesson on Friday July 24, 2009 around 9 AM in the area of Coit and 635. He mentioned to his mother that he had forgotten something in the family's van and left the instructor's house to go out and retrieve it. He never returned.

If anyone has any information about his whereabouts, knows of any suspicious activity in the area, or has any other information, please immediately call 911 and relay the information.

Please keep Luke and his family in your prayers.

Luke is a sweet, loyal, intelligent young man - devoted to his faith, family and community. His family is desperate to have him back home with them.

Please send this link to all you can to get Luke's face out there to bring him home quickly and safely.

Sorry for my absence, folks.  I've been in Hong Kong for the last 10 days doing trainings for the priests, counselors, and parents of the Diocese of Hong Kong on the occasion of the Chinese translation of my book, Beyond the Birds and the Bees.  (And before that, I spent about two weeks putting every spare minute into preparing for the series of talks and meetings).

Lisa and I did 5 talks together on the book, and I did a 6th talk specifically for counselors associated with the Diocesan Planning Commission on Marriage and the Family.  It was a wonderful time.  We met with Bishop John Tong (who replaced Cardinal Zen upon his retirement) and were treated to a wonderful time by our hosts. 

It was a very successful trip, and each group we spoke to was very receptive to our message.  They are looking at translating either Holy Sex or For Better...FOREVER! for next year's Hong Kong Book Fair (which has almost 1 million visitors annually).  It is truly humbling to see how this work is having an impact on the other side of the world.  I am grateful that God is using me in some small way to advance the Catholic vision of love in Asia.

More on the trip and some observations in subsequent days.  Right now, I have to get my head back on straight since the jet lag is kicking my butt pretty seriously. 

Thank you all for your support and prayers.

From today's Washington Post, it is inspiring with quotes like -

"What's an amputee's favorite restaurant?" asked Staff Sgt. Brian Schar, who lost both legs in Iraq. "IHOP." or

Patients at Walter Reed competed to print up T-shirts that capture the tone of much of the hospital hallway banter: "Buy a Marine. 25-50 percent off. Some assembly required."

And: "Dude, where's my leg?"

And: "I went to Iraq, lost my leg and all I got was this T-shirt."

One of his best friends had professionally printed on his prosthetic: "I did it for the parking."

Read on and hear the continued heroics of some of America's finest.

In the second of our readings at Mass this Sunday, we hear St. Paul's exhortation to the Ephesians to "put on the new self." A better translation would be "put on the new man." This "new man" is Jesus Christ. Paul writes more explicitly elsewhere, perhaps most famously to the Romans - this is the passage that played an important role in leading to St. Augustine's conversion - of putting on Christ. How do we do this? We do it especially through the sacraments. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul singles out Baptism for special mention. We might also - especially in connection with this Sunday's other readings - mention the Holy Eucharist. Clearly, Jesus' multiplication of the loaves - about which we heard last week - and his subsequent discourse refer to the Eucharist.

His discourse does not refer only to the Eucharist. The first part of the discourse, which we hear this week, refers especially for the need for faith in Jesus Christ. This already brings union with Christ, to be completed in love. It is already the beginning of putting on Christ, and hence of renewal and sanctification.

We might add, though, that part of faith in Christ is, precisely, faith in what he says, in what the Church continues to teach, concerning the Eucharistic mystery. As the ancient Israelites were called to have faith that God would provide bread to nourish them in the desert, so we are called to have faith that God will provide, under the appearance of bread, Jesus Christ to nourish us in this world.

I have written before about the content of our Eucharistic faith. By way of a very brief summary of the two most important elements of this faith: In the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is really, truly, and substantially present. Also, the Eucharist is the re-presentation of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. When we think about Jesus' "Bread of Life" discourse, we perhaps think especially of his real presence in the Eucharist. There is also in this section of St. John's Gospel a hint at the sacrificial character of the Eucharist, in the Evangelist's mention that the multiplication of the loaves comes when Passover is near - as does Jesus' crucifixion and death, when his Body and Blood are given to us.

Faith in Jesus Christ's presence and activity in the Holy Eucharist - leading to constant reverence for this great mystery, and to worthy and fruitful reception of Holy Communion - is indeed a key to our saving renewal in Christ, to our preparation for eternal life. May God grant to us and to the whole Church a strengthening of this faith. May he grant this faith also to those who have not yet attained it - to all the world.

Good to have you back in Ohio and online.

This is from last week (I've been awfully busy with work so am just getting around to posting it now): "Mice produced from adult cells: Chinese researchers validate process"

This is good news. Clearly, it would be immoral to do this with human iPS cells (since we would then be creating, and then destroying, embryonic human beings). But it wouldn't be necessary to do this with human iPS cells in order to turn them into useful tissues (any more than actual embryonic stem cells are turned back into whole embryos before being used in this way). Nor - as some people are apparently claiming - does this mean that iPS cells are themselves the equivalent of embryos (so that if using iPS cells is morally acceptable, then destroying embryos is too). On this, see an NRO article that ran earlier last week.

Please read this and ponder it. (It's the answer to - among others - people like Novak.)

AirVenture web site.

JS coverage: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

And there's also a PG article today.

If you think that flight is cool (and if you aren't crazy, you do), check out the links.