Author: Father Brian Harrison, O.S.

A Triumph of the Will Over Faith and Reason
The recent dismissal of Professor Josef Seifert, an outstanding Catholic scholar, can be seen as a particularly acute symptom of at least three distinct, but interdependent, maladies that have been afflicting the Church for many decades now, but which are …

The Maltese Falcons
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat recently published a widely circulated commentary on the recent fall-out from Amoris Laetitia entitled, “The End of Catholic Marriage”. In it, he argued persuasively that if Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on marital love comes …

Rocco Buttiglione’s Response to the Four Cardinals’ Dubia
The noted Italian Catholic politician and philosopher Rocco Buttiglione has emerged as one of the most prominent defenders of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (AL). Well, even the most brilliantly qualified apologist is going to have an uphill battle …

6 Reasons Why Lutheran Intercommunion Isn’t Possible
The joint proposal to work towards shared Eucharistic communion, signed yesterday in Lund, Sweden, by Pope Francis and the President of the Lutheran World Federation (whose member churches, by the way, generally support abortion and same-sex “marriage”), is extremely troubling. For the …

Cardinal Schönborn’s Interview: How Credible is a “Hearsay Magisterium”?
Last week saw the release of an important interview (PDF link) given by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna and one of Pope Francis’ most trusted theological advisers and spokesmen, to the Roman Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica. The topic was …

Amoris Laetitia Laxity Trickles Down to Parish Level
The following paragraph is a citation from an email I received recently from a devout Catholic lady here in St. Louis who sometimes visits my church for Mass. She has given permission for this slightly edited version of her remarks …

Does Pope Francis Understand the Social Kingship of Christ?
Judeo-Christian revelation has always taught that, in view of God’s absolute sovereignty over the whole creation, the First Commandment of the Decalogue obliges not just individuals, but societies as such, including the political community. Over a century ago, Pope Leo …
Can Doctrinal “Development” Flout the Laws of Logic?
Speaking in Rome on October 11th, 2017 (55th anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II), at a conference promoting the ‘New Evangelization’, Pope Francis made known his will for the Catechism of the Catholic Church to be revised so as to condemn capital punishment as …
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