The Church in crisis has lost yet another champion with the death of Professor Robert Spaemann at the age of 91. He is said to have died peacefully on December 10 “after a long period of age-related suffering.” I must admit, I had never heard of Professor Robert Spaemann before April of 2016. It was…
“You hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability.” –Agent Smith, The Matrix Allow me, if you will, to think out loud a bit. I had a theory pop into my head this morning after reading two pieces of Church news that were so unfathomably stupid that they jarred something loose. First, the…
“I have been asked over and over again by lay Catholics,” writes Fr. Gerald Murray a recent column for The Catholic Thing, “‘What can I do to help resolve the crisis in the Church?’ My answer is: ‘Pray and act.’ By action, I mean: make known your dissatisfaction to the American bishops, to the Holy See,…
Image courtesy of Archdiocese of Boston/Flickr (CC 2.0) It’s a story I’ve seen described as both a “shock” and a “bombshell.” But is it really? Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported yesterday that Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich and the disgraced-into-resignation-but-kept-in-power-anyway Cardinal Donald Wuerl “collborated extensively on a recently proposed policy for handling abuse allegations against bishops”.…
This week, we saw two astonishing failures in ecclesiastical leadership as regards the clerical sex abuse crisis. First was the Vatican’s direct intervention in the U.S. Bishops’ fall meeting, stopping them from holding a vote on accountability measures. We heard about “shock” and “surprise” and “anger” from the bishops after the interference from Rome. But…
Today at Catholic Culture, Phil Lawler brings to light something most of us missed in the proceedings during the US Bishops’ (USCCB) annual fall meeting. Francesco Cesareo, the chairman of the USCCB’s National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, said yesterday that some bishops must resign “to restore trust and allow the deep wounds…
Last Sunday, as the Bishops of the United States began to make their way to Baltimore, those blessed with the opportunity to attend the Tridentine Mass heard Matthew 13:24-30 read as the Gospel. The following is a synopsis of this parable as I heard it explained by a diocesan priest who wishes to remain anonymous:…
Last week, I spent day after day fighting through seemingly endless distractions in an attempt to write a piece summarizing the takeaways from the Youth Synod in Rome that lasted nearly the entire month of October. I wrote a bunch, but it just wasn’t coming together. I may take up the task again this week,…
Earlier today, we published a piece by Italian journalist, Vaticanista, and author Marco Tosatti about the Vatican’s response to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. Originally published on October 6 (and translated into English for 1P5), that piece was written too soon to take into account the second phase in the Vatican’s communications assault on Viganò. This…
Yesterday [6 October], the Holy See issued a statement, in Italian and English, probably intended to be a response to the testimony of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, which was published on the night of 25-26 August. We say “intended to be” because in the text of the statement, there is no reference to the ex-nuncio,…
When I Google “it’s not the same religion” – in quotes – the first result I get is a tweet from Hilary White about Archbishop Gómez of Los Angeles giving communion to the pro-abortion mayor. When I Google “Novusordoism isn’t Catholicism” – in quotes – I get an entire category of posts from Hilary at…
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