By a prodding of Providence, I walked into an old religious house some days ago in the French village where I live, where, as in the massive, once flourishing house of sisters across the road, the remnants of a formerly …
Teilhard de Chardin: The Vatican II Architect You Need to Know
In the middle of the fourth century, Saint Jerome remarked that the world “awoke with a groan to find itself Arian.” Arianism divided the Church and Empire of the fourth and fifth centuries and beyond by claiming that the Divine …
How the Prohibition Against Freemasonry Disappeared from Canon Law
By Fr. Paolo M. Siano From October 20 – 29, 1981, the Plenary Congregation of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law met in the Vatican to discuss and vote on the renewal of canon …
Interview: Dr. Claudio Pierantoni on the Development of Doctrine
Last month, our friends at LifeSiteNews conducted an interview with Dr. Claudio Pierantoni, Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Chile, along with several other Catholic Scholars on the topic of the development of doctrine. The occasion was the controversy raised …
From Casuistry to ‘Mercy’: Toward a New Art of Pleasing?
Image: Antonio Escobar y Mendoza, a prominent casuist of the 17th century. One might think casuistry is dead and buried, that the controversies of the 17th century should be over once and for all. Rarely do any of our contemporaries …
On Pastoral Fear
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that servile fear is of the kind that a servant feels before his master — essentially, a fear of punishment. “Accordingly, ” St. Thomas writes, “if a man turn to God and adhere to Him, through fear of punishment, it …
The USCCB and the Weaponization of “Dialogue”
In the wake of the latest instance of a faithful son of the Church pointing out that the papal emperor has no clothes, we have been treated to yet another flurry of loud and aggressive assertions that there is nothing to …
Interview: Dr. Josef Seifert on the Development of Doctrine
Last month, our friends at LifeSiteNews conducted an interview with Professor Joseph Seifert and several other Catholic Scholars on the topic of the development of doctrine. The occasion was the controversy raised by the pope’s recent comments that the Death Penalty “is, …
Insane Times: Matricide and Martin Luther
Image: “The Dragon Transmitting Power” Master of Sarum, c. 1250. Sometimes, it’s hard to find words. This is one such occasion. What can be said to explain the Vatican’s decision to issue a stamp with a reverential image of one of the most …
Superstition, Dissent, and Scandal? A brief defense of Fr. Thomas Weinandy
Image: Left: Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap. (CNS); top right: Fr. James Martin, S.J. (Wikipedia); bottom right: Msgr. John Strynkowski (YouTube) Fr. Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap., is owed a debt of gratitude for his courage and forthrightness in making public his letter …
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