February 2015 - Paul Stanley

3 Reasons Why I’m Glad My Protestant Son Attends a Catholic Boys School

In this season of Lent I am reminded of the tremendous blessings we receive daily from God in an email sent from Christian Brothers High School, where my son is a student. It has also served as a reminder why as a Protestant I made the wise decision to send my son to an all-boys school steeped in Catholic tradition. Prior to him entering high school, my son and his younger sister attended private and public schools and received a great education at both. My point here is not to debate the differences between the two. Both can prepare our kids for college and beyond and depending on a variety of factors, can be the right or wrong place for your child. I’m a product of public schools and I am thankful each child has the opportunity to go regardless of their status in life. Here are three reasons I am thankful my son attends CBHS, a single sex Catholic School: 1) They help develop boys into young men. When a 13 or 14-year old male walks into a high school for the first day they are still a boy regardless of the type of school they attended. All boys [...]

By Paul Stanley|2015-03-02T21:36:14-06:00February 28th, 2015|My Blog Post|Comments Off

Marty Duren: Three Reasons I am Not a Muslim

Note: This post if from my friend Marty Duren who writes a regular blog, Kingdom In the Midst. Marty is a prolific writer who often touches on issues important to our lives and culture. His review of "American Sniper" was excellent. Contrary to the assertions of some all religions are not the same. All religions may be wrong, one right and the others wrong, but all cannot be right. Even if one holds the belief that all religions lead to God such a person must still answer “To which God do all religions lead? The God of Judaism, the of Christianity, of Islam, or the many gods of polytheistic religions?” “All roads lead to God” is vacuousness. Since 9/11 through this present time as ISIS/ISIL/IS fills the headlines much has been written about Islam. Islam is a dominant world religion one-third (with Christianity and Judaism) of the large Monotheistic religions of the world. Although there are an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, and Islam dominates entire regions and peoples, here are 3 reasons I am not a Muslim. 1. The Koran contradicts the Bible. Even a cursory review reveals contradictions of the major doctrines of Christianity. The Trinity, the deity of Christ, [...]

By Paul Stanley|2015-02-26T20:34:41-06:00February 26th, 2015|My Blog Post|Comments Off

Student Pens Moving Letter to Deceased Classmate He Never Met

Editors Note: Joey Forcherio, a senior at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, TN, wrote this letter to a classmate he had never met who was one of two students recently killed in a tragic automobile accident. I wrote a column about the two young men who lost their lives and how their parents and classmates must deal with their passing and others have written powerful testimonies to their lives. I believe Joey’s letter speaks volumes from classmates who were touched by their deaths. His writing is beautiful and the manner in which he exposes his emotions is powerful. Dear Colin, I don’t remember ever talking to you before. We never played on a team together. We never had a class together. I am not even sure if you knew my name. That is what is so confounding to me about my mourning; we never met, but yet I am deeply, penetratingly hurt by your death. That is what CBHS does to its students. It takes young naïve boys and unexplainably intertwines them into brothers. When your brothers hurt, you hurt; when your brothers rejoice, you rejoice. At no point in my life have I or will I ever have [...]

By Paul Stanley|2015-02-24T22:28:36-06:00February 24th, 2015|My Blog Post|Comments Off

The Size of Your ‘Family’ Can Be Larger Than You Imagine

If I asked the size of your family how would you respond? Would you say large, small or nonexistent? A friend recently told me she had 40 first cousins. Someone I knew a few years ago has no one; not a single living relative. I have one living brother and three siblings I hope to meet in Heaven some day. There are a few first cousins who I can count on both hands. Some of my closet relatives are second and third cousins but those are relatively few in number too. I find it interesting a handful of my Catholic friends have trouble with the first names of relatives once they surpass the triple-digit mark. While the number will vary for each of us, I realized yesterday I was standing in the midst of a few hundred people I could call family for seventy short minutes. The dictionary app I have on my phone provides eight definitions for the word “family.” Number four may be the most common, defining family as “people descended from a common ancestor.” But the one that I felt best defined my family on Thursday was “a collection of people sharing a common attribute.” It was [...]

By Paul Stanley|2015-02-20T19:27:11-06:00February 20th, 2015|My Blog Post|Comments Off

When Tragedy Strikes Let’s Remember, It’s Not About Us; It’s About the Families & Friends Who Remain

The recent and tragic deaths of Christian Brothers High School seniors Colin Kilgore and Christophe Kesterson has hit close to home for their friends, teammates, and teachers. Now that the impact of their deaths has started to bring our emotions to the surface, I believe it’s time we realize it’s not about how or what we feel, but rather the feelings of the relatives and close friends of these two young men. On Monday I wrote a piece about my own experience of losing one of my best friends our senior year - almost to the day God called Colin and Christophe home. I can relate to the close friends and teammates of the boys, especially those who have spent so much time with them over their 17 years. That means I can sympathize with them. On the other hand, I have no idea what Robert and Anna Kilgore and John Kesterson and Georgina Kesterson are going through at this moment. Honestly, I pray I never know that feeling and I’m confident any parent reading this would agree. The difference is unless we have shared the same or a similar experience, we can only empathize with them or try to [...]

By Paul Stanley|2015-02-19T08:59:25-06:00February 18th, 2015|My Blog Post|2 Comments