On March 15, 1994, a virtual tsunami struck the Liturgy of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Antonio Ortas wrote a document to the Episcopal conferences announcing that the Vatican had, for the first time, permitted altar girls. …
Category: Catholic Life
Disagreement and Dissent: the Devil’s in the Details
My father passed away in 2005, but every time I read articles like this one I think of him. The article, by Donald Cardinal Wuerl, is all about dissent, and my father was one of the most obedient Catholics I’ve …
The Parameters of Christian Orthodoxy
God willed to reveal Himself and to enter into an intimate personal relation with mankind. This revelation and plan of salvation began to unfold through Moses and the prophets, but only in Jesus Christ do we find the fulfillment. He …
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Battling the New Gnosticism
Editor’s Note: Following his strongly-worded interview with Polonia Christiana in the wake of the first part of the Extraordinary Synod on Marriage and Family, we reached out to Bishop Athanasius Schneider to seek his guidance on concrete actions Catholics …
The Chapel Veil and a Woman’s Rights
In my experience, it is impossible to talk about the Catholic custom of women wearing chapel veils at Mass without encountering judgment. Progressives will insist that the practice is an outdated custom to be tossed aside. Reactionaries will declare that …
Liturgy, Adaptation, and the Need for Context
Historically authentic productions of Shakespearean plays are occasionally in and out of fashion. Recently a movement championing “original pronunciation” purports to let us hear Shakespeare’s words precisely as they would have been spoken when the plays were originally written …
What’s Going on at the USCCB? More trouble at CCHD and CRS
As a publisher of a Catholic website, I receive lots of information that may be of interest to readers. Lately, that has included press releases about the activities of USCCB-related organizations like the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). The …
Motherhood’s Trials: a Means of Redemption
There are worse things in life than losing a child before birth, but I have experienced very few of them. The truth is, it wasn’t the first second-trimester loss that nearly did me in, it was the second. It was after that miscarriage …
How Old Do You Have to be to Rationalize Abortion?
Tonight, I was looking at photos of the March for Life. As I was scrolling through them, Ivan, my six-year-old, came into the room. “What’s that, Daddy?” He asked, as he looked over my shoulder. I found myself wondering if I …
Down the Rabbit Hole: On the Virtue of Prudent Speech
Poland, 1982: A young woman early into her fifth pregnancy sits in a doctor’s office at the end of an examination. “You know, ma’am, you really need to be more responsible about your fertility. You don’t have to breed like …