As the Synod of the Bishops on the Family got underway, the Holy Spirit remained in control and spoke to the gathered participants through the Holy Word at morning Mass. Monday morning’s readings extended both a caveat and a pathway for the Bishops to follow. Let’s begin with the caveat. St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians…
“And I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.” – Jesus (Matthew 19:9) “It’s now a new situation of a marriage. They are living together, they love each other,…
For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon. – Psalms 90:11-13 (Douay Rheims)…
Saint Jerome famously said, “Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” Equally memorable to me was the retort of a friend—a priest of high academic credentials—when I mentioned the tendency among Catholic biblical scholars to dismiss as “proof-texting” the use of Scripture in support of doctrine. I told him of the seminary instructor who…
Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord: Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. He is the saviour of his body. Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things.…
We Catholics have quite an affinity for recreational alcohol use. Blame it on the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-10), the Last Supper (Lk 22:17-20) or the precious blood we celebrate at the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (1 Cor 11:20-29), but we use potent potables as both a Sacrament and a sacramental in our liturgical and…
So it’s that time of year again. Fundraising time. Everyone out there with a Catholic website is asking for your help. It’s a little too cold for co-opting the ice bucket challenges, but the help is still needed. We need you. We can’t make it without you. That’s not just hyperbole. There’s not enough left…
I don’t pay attention to beauty pageants. I suspect that the last time I watched even five seconds of a Miss America contest was when I was about 16, and gazing on beautiful women marching around a glitzy stage in high heels and bikinis seemed like a pretty good idea. So as is my annual tradition, this year I effortlessly…
One of the chief arguments for the traditional Christian practice of celebrating the Eucharist ad orientem — the priest and people together facing the same direction, toward the liturgical “east” of the apse — is that the Mass is a sacrifice offered up to God.1 To be specific, the Eucharist is at once a sacrifice of praise…
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: On July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic letter motu proprio (given on his own initiative to the Church) that addressed a serious concern long-neglected: the status of the ancient form of the Roman liturgy. After nearly four decades of difficulties between Rome and those Catholics who favored the preservation of the vetus ordo, the first…
Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on the topic of cultivating a more authentic taste in music. The first part is available here. In the last article, we discussed some of the criteria by which we may evaluate the quality of a piece of music. We will now move to a music’s craft, which…
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