Welcome to the new Catholic Explorer! On these pages, I will be investigating all aspects of Catholicism: history, beliefs, current events and my own personal journey to understand the faith in which I was raised.
Before I acquired this web domain, it apparently was operated by the Diocese of Joliet, whose newspaper is (or was) also called “Catholic Explorer”. I want to make it perfectly clear that there is no association between they and I (other than the obvious Catholic connection, which should certainly not be taken to imply any more than a shared religion!).
Nevertheless, I have preserved some of the information from the ‘old’ Catholic Explorer, as a service to those who may have navigated here with older links or bookmarks. Please keep in mind that I am NOT the original author of the material pertaining to the Diocese of Joliet, and cannot verify that the information is still accurate or current.
As I am commuting back and forth from Las Vegas until I have a place, I’m aware of some very interesting phenomena regarding the church and Las Vegas. I learned that all holy water in this town is actually from spring water. And that these springs are sacred to the local tribes. So the bottled water you drink in LV may have duel spiritual significance – once for the church, once for the ancient ones.
As largely a personal endeavor, I wish to stress that my statements and opinions are not meant to establish any sort of dogmatic stance, or be a definitive resource for anyone researching the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, I urge you to refer to the ‘official’ websites of the Roman Catholic Church, either the Vatican site or the extremely informative Catholic News as a starting point fro your investigations.
I caution you that some of the language herein represents nothing more than a stage of belief or a philosophical argument, for the purpose of determining the ultimate elements of value.
However, despite the personal intent, students of Catholicism or comparative religion in general may find something of worth upon this site. Please take care to maintain a proper level of objectivity and criticism — the last thing that I want is to be interpreted as sounding overly dogmatic or instructional!
And, of course, this is very much a work in progress. Please don’t hold it against me that some of the passages seem unfinished or nonsensical; I often write off-the-cuff or stream-of-consciousness style, and leave the editing for later (if ever!).
We would like to thank those of you who have taken a moment out of your busy schedule to spend a few moments with us.
Thank you very much.