Site Seeing - David Palm

From the Heart of Christ into
the Heart of the Web
Your road map for exploring Catholic Web sites on the information superhighway.

Cor Ad Cor Loquitur
http://members.aol.com/Rom4Five/coradcor

A beautiful stained glass window opens into this very fine personal Web site, Cor Ad Cor Loquitur. Lynn Nordhagen, creator of this corner of the Web, is a two-time convert to Catholicism — and if that sounds a bit intriguing, then you'll want to start your visit by reading her unique conversion story [also detailed in Envoy, March/April 1998].

The entire site has a Salesian flavor, reflecting Nordhagen's special devotion to St. Francis de Sales. Links to other de Sales oriented sites, as well as original material from the eminently quotable St. Francis, are found throughout.

In addition to presentations of Nordhagen's favorite poetry and prayers, there is a "chain of links" on the Eucharist, leading the user through some fascinating reflections on the place of the Lord's Supper in the Christian Faith. Be sure to check out the quote from Charles Hadden Spurgeon, the famous Baptist pastor, on weekly communion. And I appreciated most a section developed for interested Protestants. Here Nordhagen has collected links to material on the Web especially suited to ease a non-hostile but not-yet-convinced non-Catholic into a greater understanding of the Catholic faith. This is a great location to share with your inquiring friends.

Lane's World
http://users.sgi.net/~elcore/catholic

Lane's World is another personal site, hosted by lay-apologist Lane Core. I found the site exceptionally well laid out and accessible, with a nice use of graphics but a minimum of clutter and cyber-gadgets to hinder one's movements through the links. Lane's World features a large and very well-organized selection of links to other Catholic Web sites. One of the most complete sections features links about the famous Anglican convert to Catholicism, John Henry Newman. I think the most useful sections to the on-line apologist are those covering official Church documents and a selection of Bible study resources on the Web, including the Douay-Rheims translation and a Bible search tool.

The links to other sites are interspersed with original essays written by the host, many on topics not covered heavily elsewhere on the Web. The section I found most entertaining — and inspiring — was a collection of letters to editors, written by Core, to combat anti-Catholic bigotry manifested in today's secular media. Perhaps his example can inspire other Web surfers to step up to the plate and insist publicly that our Catholic Faith be treated with the same respect accorded other more politically correct belief systems.

Cor Unum Catholic Apologetics
http://www.cin.org/users/jgallegos

This site has come a long, long way since I last visited it a couple of years ago. Catholic apologist Joe Gallegos, a lay expert in patristics, hosts this very modern looking site, whose content is both unique and extremely useful. The theme of Cor Unum is the support given by the early Church Fathers to the Catholic Faith. Gallegos has compiled large lists of citations from the Fathers — all very well documented and referenced — showing beyond question that the earliest Christians were distinctively Catholic in their beliefs and practices.

Topics range from the Trinity to the Papacy, the most complete and useful section being Scripture and Tradition. It torpedoes the contention made by some Protestant apologists that the Fathers believed in the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura (Scripture alone). Gallegos presents copious documentation from the Fathers, and includes the text of several on-line debates between him and an aggressive Protestant apologist (the same one critiqued by Fr. Hugh Barbour in this issue). You'll find that the Protestant apologist definitely got the worst of the exchange.

Be sure to check out David Palm's Web site at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/djpalm.