The sacrament of Confession has been under attack in Australia since the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in December of 2017. Several states have now passed legislation that requires Catholic priests to violate the confessional seal in cases where child sexual abuse is revealed in confession. The Queensland…
The Catholic life is filled with resolutions. Confession is not valid without a good resolution to avoid sin [1]. Every morning offering is a new resolution, and every new year is an occasion for resolutions. Why is the Devil so successful in bringing our resolutions to naught? In this article, we will cover the most common…
While it is true to say that only God can ultimately convert people, it is equally true to assert that God wills to employ men as instruments in the great work of conversion. Pius XII wrote in Mystici Corporis, “As our Savior does not rule the Church directly in a visible manner, He wills to…
The great saintly mystics and masters of the spiritual life tell us that one of the surest means to advance virtually by light years is by frequent meditation on the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, on His love and sufferings, and on the heroic pains He endured for us. Thus, St. Louis Marie de…
Read the Gospels. You will see a constant theme of our Lord’s preaching: the Four Last Things. Last week, we covered death. Now we take up the subject of judgment. The Imitation: To many the saying, “Deny thyself, take up thy cross and follow Me,” seems hard, but it will be much harder to hear…
At some time, we have all encountered a sedevacantist — if not in person, at least online. I won’t bore you with the theology of the sedevacantism except to say they hold that a heretic cannot be pope, with the most common strain affirming that Pius XII was the last legitimate pope (although I did…
Fr. James Martin, S.J. believes that John Henry Newman may constitute a model of holiness for those with homosexual inclinations. While he draws back from concluding that Newman was certainly “gay,” he wants to proclaim the message that “a gay person (someone with a homosexual orientation, if you prefer) can be holy, even a saint.…
On May 13, 1524, twelve Spanish Franciscan friars set foot on Mexican soil for the first time. After walking barefoot from the coast of Veracruz, they finally arrived at Mexico City, a distance of 250 miles over two mountain ranges. These men “of exceptional worth” became known as “The Twelve Apostles” because of their apostolic…
Happy St. Hubert’s Day, everyone. By now, we are done with our soul cakes, our Hallowtide jack-o-lanterns, our cemetery visits, parties, and trick-or-treating. The carved pumpkins are getting softer, the candy is wearing out its welcome, and many folks are taking the fake spider webs and orange decoration lights off their houses. At this point,…
St. Anthony Mary Claret is often depicted in paintings as having a glowing substance within his breast. This is because on May 16, 1862, Our Lord gave St. Anthony the extraordinary privilege of retaining the Sacramental Species perpetually within him. St. Anthony writes in his autobiography that he considered omitting this remarkable detail about himself…
The news of the supreme glorification, on October 13, of Saint John Henry Newman (1801–1890) reawakens interest in this British cardinal, theologian and apologist. Beatified by Benedict XVI on September 19, 2010 in Great Britain, he was born in London to an Anglican family. For 20 years, he was minister of the Anglican Communion at…
