It’s Valentine’s Day, which means all the drugstores are festooned in red and pink; the secular advice columns are out in force; and the really, really bad movies jockey for position on screens around the world. Secular Valentine’s day is …
Category: Marriage
700 Years of Clerical Celibacy in History
With the pope’s long awaited post-synodal exhortation not far away, we can be sure that the modernists will be taking their axes to the roots of the discipline of clerical celibacy. We will hear claims that clerical celibacy was introduced …
With Humility, Women Uplift Themselves and Sanctify Men
In the first part of this series we discussed the general raising of the dignity of woman in and through Marian devotion with the coming of the Gospel. We also began to explain the “truly regal throne” first perfected by …
When (Eastern) Catholics Argue against Priestly Celibacy
In the past, Western Catholics have at times tried to force their own discipline on Eastern Catholics (the name of Bishop John Ireland still haunts the conversation). We now recognize that this was a mistake, and one that is not …
This, Too, Reveals God: Sex and the Body in Catholic Theology
The Church on January 6 celebrates the great feast of the Epiphany of the Lord (or Theophany, as our Byzantine brethren call it [i]): the revelation of God to the nations and peoples of the world, represented by the three …
Religious Life or Marriage? Vocational Wisdom from the Parents of Saints
For years, a friend of mine wrestled with his vocation. Should I be a priest? Should I get married? Which one, Lord, are you calling me to? One roadblock stood in his way. Surprisingly, celibacy was not holding him back; …
The Theology Behind Women Wearing Veils in Church
The noble Latin language that nourished piety for centuries; the serenity of Gregorian plainsong; the splendor of priestly attire; and the visible emphasis on the sacrificial nature of the Mass, wherein the Lord of glory makes His offering upon the …
The Wedding: How to Be a Catholic Music Patron, at Least Once
When we hear the term “music patronage,” we think of the Medicis, the Esterhazys, the Benedict XVI Institute. We don’t think of the middle class. Yet there is a form of patronage that was once so popular and extravagant that …
On the Bride of Christ as Bride: Why the Church Has No Room for “Christian Feminism”
Like oil and water, Christianity and feminism are quite simply immiscible. When left to their own devices, the two antagonists repel one another, and when forced to coexist within a system, they stubbornly float in perpetual heterogeneous opposition. Christendom is …
The New Lectionary and the Catholic Wedding
One of the topics most hotly disputed at the synods on marriage and the family, back in those halcyon years of 2014 and 2015, was the possibility of admitting to Holy Communion Catholics who are living in what are euphemistically …