‘Blessed assurance’? Sadly not for Catholics
Leonardo de Chirico
Date posted: 20 Oct 2025
In my conversations with Catholic friends, I have found it useful to reference the five “magnetic points” expounded by British theologian Daniel Strange. There are five fundamentals that all human beings are looking for and to which they are magnetically drawn. Because of their universal presence in people’s lives, they can be seen in Catholics.
According to Strange, each religion responds in various ways to these five questions. Their responses are points of attraction for people to be drawn to them. The questions are:
evangelicals & catholics
Beware the mild view of sin
Leonardo de Chirico
Date posted: 3 Jul 2025
In my conversations with Catholic friends, I have found it useful to reference the five “magnetic points” expounded by British theologian Daniel Strange.
There are five fundamentals that all human beings are looking for and to which they are magnetically drawn. Because of their universal presence in people’s lives, they can be seen in Catholics.
evangelicals & catholics
Reaching Catholics: The need for a norm
Leonardo de Chirico
Date posted: 2 Apr 2025
In my conversations with Catholic friends, I have found it useful to reference the five “magnetic points” expounded by British theologian Daniel Strange. There are five fundamentals that all human beings are looking for and to which they are magnetically drawn. Because of their universal presence in people’s lives, they can be seen in Catholics.
According to Strange, each religion responds in various ways to these five questions. Their responses are points of attraction for people to be drawn to them. The questions are:
Rome & Mary: Fresh clarity, or further confusion?
"Roma locuta, causa finita est!" ("Rome has spoken, the issue is over").
This phrase taken from Augustine (Sermo 131.10) has often been used to highlight the solidity of the Roman Catholic authority structure and the finality of its decision-making process. Well, forget it.
After the Note of the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “Mater Populis Fidelis” (4 Nov), Rome has spoken (yes), but in doing so, is seemingly contradicting what was authoritatively said earlier, thus leaving the issue an open-ended one.