New research from Pew published this month indicates that only 26% of US Catholics under the age of 40 believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. In his book, Index of Leading Catholic Indicators, Kenneth C. Jones cites a 1994 poll conducted by the New York Times/CBS that placed the number of…
A few days ago, Sandro Magister wrote an article on his widely followed blog Settimo Cielo entitled “Worldwide Attack against the Seal of Confession: Either Prison or Excommunication.” He was referring to the pillar of Catholic doctrine on sacramental confession, which holds that what is said by the penitent in the confessional — including whatever…
Before I became a Catholic, I was a member of the Church of England, in a parish in which we sang Christian hymns with organ accompaniment. There was a choir which sang an anthem at the time of communion. The music was good, and the words of the hymns seemed to be representative of Christianity.…
PREFACE: I shall not endeavor to explain how these two letters fell into my hands. I shall only note how curious their contents are in light of the debates surrounding the upcoming Amazon Synod. 1. My dear Wormwood: I am gravely troubled by your slackening efforts against priests. You proceed as if they are equal…
A Catholic teaching sister once took a young boy to task who, when asked why a certain verb form should be used instead of another, responded, “Because the other word doesn’t sound right.” “No, no, no!” said Sr. Ruth, “you cannot go by what sounds right because you might be used to hearing the wrong…
The American Catholic is comfortable. This is a person who has remained in the Church despite all of the reasons others have found for leaving; a person who feels good inside after Mass; a person who is glad that the Church has caught up with the times. Staying enrolled in the parish, raising your hands…
As I write this piece, I am wearing around my neck my St. Francis Xavier medal. I wear it almost always. At home, at work, at Mass, even while working out at the gym or playing hockey, it is always there near my heart, literally. While I admire and venerate all the saints, Francis is…
The prophet Ezekiel gives us the “allegory of the cedar,” which teaches us personal and political lessons. In that prophecy, Egypt is compared to a cedar tree grown tall and beautiful. As it grew, however, it became arrogant — “its heart was proud of its height” (31:10) — so the Lord rejected it and let…
“Christ was crucified on earth and the Church is crucified in time, and the Church is crucified by all of us, by her members most particularly because She is a Church of sinners.” —Flannery O’Connor. There is quite a lot of talk these days about heresy and scandal in the hierarchy of the Church, of…
[1] Five Ecumenical Councils approved a letter of Patriarch St. Cyril of Alexandria that taught the Dogma of the Filioque! Cardinal St. Robert Bellarmine gives a manifest proof establishing the doctrine from the authority of five ecumenical councils: Omitting these things, then, let us bring forward the Councils that testify the Holy Spirit proceeds from…
Earlier today, I was engaged in a discussion on Facebook in which, after saying something about the “Novus Ordo Paradigm,” someone asked me, rather indignantly, what that phrase means. I did my best to explain it, and I’d like to expand on it here in greater depth. I want to say at the outset of…
