His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, has shared with us the official English text of his reflection, “Amoris Laetitia”: a Need for Clarification in Order to Avoid a General Confusion. He writes: You can use and spread this my official text to whom you want. The exclusive rights of this text I reserve however…
We all have been waiting for it for quite some time now. Finally, a prelate has spoken. On the topic of the apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, has given a statement of over 6,000 words to the Italian website Corrispondenza Romana, which was published yesterday, 24 April. (No English translation has yet…
It is our pleasure to present the commentaries of some reflective people in Europe and in the U.S. who are knowledgeable experts when it comes to the Vatican and the Catholic Faith. Each was asked to write a brief commentary to the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, and they have generously responded. We are very honored…
“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” – G.K. Chesterton The Serpent of Genesis — long identified as The Father of Lies himself, Satan — is unmistakably clever. So much so, in fact, that he is described by the sacred scriptures as “more crafty than any other wild…
Pope Francis has just published his long-awaited Apostolic Exhortation on the Family, Amoris Laetitia. In it, he repeats many of the problematic and controversial statements of the previous 2014 and 2015 Synods of Bishops on the Family. Among these, one finds the law of gradualism with regard to sinful relationships, the claim that there are “seeds”…
Part I | Part II The fundamental problem with Praise & Worship In the first part of this essay, I offered a critique of the profane stylistic traits of Praise & Worship music, whether “soft” or “hard.”[1] Praise & Worship music is not suitable for liturgical use. Its style reinforces a false conception of the…
Part I | Part II Whenever the popes speak about sacred (i.e., liturgical) music, the very first quality they put forward is holiness or sanctity, which they describe as a certain worthiness of or suitability for the celebration of the sacred mysteries of Christ, and freedom from worldliness or even that which is suggestive of…
Cardinal Walter Kasper — the most infamous member of the German episcopacy — appears to be just tingly with anticipation for the coming apostolic exhortation on marriage and family. Ed Pentin reports (with my emphasis): According to the Italian newspaper Il Terreno, the German theologian told an audience in the Italian city of Lucca on Monday evening that in a “few…
Part 1 | Part 2 The best way to walk through the door of the Confessional is to regularly pray and ask the Lord to lead you there whenever you need it. Remember this, ponder this, and let this sink in all the way: If the soul is in a state of Mortal Sin it…
Part 1 | Part 2 The Sacrament of Penance (now commonly called “Reconciliation”) is the ordinary means by which the Christian soul is restored to an objective State of Grace/Habitual Grace/Sanctifying Grace. The soul must be in the State of Sanctifying Grace at the moment of death for it to be welcomed by God into…
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In Part 1 of this series, we explored how, in a parish committed to the full Catholic paradigm, even something as simple as entering the church can become an exercise in multi-sensory learning, and therefore a highly effective means to help the people become recollected before Mass. In…
