“All are welcome!” You can hardly walk into a Catholic parish today without encountering this slogan. Not so long ago all the talk was about the “New Evangelization,” but that topic has been back-burnered in favor of “welcoming.” No one should feel excluded from the Catholic Church! Who is it, exactly, that has been complaining…
“Thus I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and shortly after the middle of the 20th century…the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of morals… As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked…
The disorder introduced into our human nature by Adam’s fall from grace reveals itself especially through seven dominant vices known in the Catholic tradition as the capital sins. These are: pride, avarice, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. We call them “capital” sins (from the Latin caput, “head”) because they are the sources or fountainheads…
At the end of Lent last spring, on Lazarus Saturday, I experienced resurrection from death in sin in conversion. Through illumination in the mysteries of baptism, chrismation (also called confirmation in the West1 My conversion is a bit unusual in this regard. I became an Eastern Catholic — a member of one of the twenty-two…
“CANON V. If any one saith, that on account of heresy, or irksome cohabitation, or the affected absence of one of the parties, the bond of matrimony may be dissolved; let him be anathema.” “CANON XII. If any one saith, that matrimonial causes do not belong to ecclesiastical judges; let him be anathema.” – Council…
No, I’m not referring to myself in the title, though I would bristle at the accusation of heresy, or even theological imprecision. The forthcoming (November/December 2014) edition of The Catholic Response magazine features this cool-headed commentary by its founder and editor, Father Peter Stravinskas, on the 2014 Extraordinary Synod on the Family. Because it generates more…
During a recent dinner conversation, a Jewish friend asked me, with sincere politeness, if I agreed with the Church’s attempts to “impose its morality” on a pluralistic society when it comes to abortion and other hot-button issues. She, like other American secularists, — I say “other” because, although my friend is Jewish, the Reform denomination…
Pope Francis is scheduled to beatify Pope Paul VI on October 19, at the conclusion of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the family. The timing is fitting as the two popes’ legacies could be forever associated based on how each dealt with their respective cultural crises: Paul VI and the sexual revolution,…
“Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for…
Structured prayer is a hallmark of the Catholic faith and is one of the many endearing attributes that distinguish it from other Christian denominations. Priests and deacons greatly benefit from saying the morning and evening prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours – lauds and vespers. These come from a larger set of prayers designed to…
Today, I want to broach a controversial topic, knowing full well that I may cause a ruckus. I want to talk about masculinity and the liturgy. I will start with a few caveats. First, I do not believe the liturgy should ever be a controversial issue. It shouldn’t be a matter of politics, factions, personal…
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