The maxim is “Qui tacet consentire videtur”: the maxim of the law is “Silence gives consent”. If therefore you wish to construe what my silence betokened, you must construe that I consented, not that I denied. -St. Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons It is not without a sense of irony that I have … Read more
As several outlets have now reported, on 28 October 2016 – just before his going to Lund, Sweden – Pope Francis replaced all the members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. That is the dicastery currently (but perhaps only temporarily) headed by Cardinal Robert Sarah. Several Catholic authors from … Read more
I know that many of you are thinking it. That this earthquake in Norcia seems profound. Significant. Symbolic. Now maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t, but I find myself involuntarily grasping at pattern recognition, trying to piece together this puzzle (if it in fact IS a puzzle). This is what I see so far: … Read more
LifeSiteNews’ Jan Bentz has translated portions of an article by the German Cardinal Walter Kasper published in Stimmen der Zeit. In it, the curial official who has become synonymous with the proposal to give Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried makes some important revelations about the aftermath of Amoris Laetitia (AL), as well as the thinking that shaped it. … Read more
On 20 October, His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider once again blessed with his visit the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem and their Priory of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Charles Town, West Virginia. He celebrated a Low Mass which was accompanied by beautiful chants sung by a choir. Moreover, there were … Read more
A thrown knife plunges menacingly into the wall. A handgun slides in from off-screen to fire a warning shot. Words of caution appear on the screen: “The only thing I can tell you is to watch your step.” When I was a young boy playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, silly warnings like these told me I … Read more
A new and unexpected conflict has developed in Rome. This time, however, it is not about marriage and the family, nor, for example, about that vexed question as to whether or not unrepentant and obstinate adulterers may, after all, receive the Sacraments. The contentious issue is now a much more gustatory – and unmistakably profane, … Read more
On October 20th, 2015, as the second half of the Synod on the Family was underway, I wrote: It has long been my concern that Francis will make an end-run around the restrictions of papal infallibility by not making a decision that is binding, but rather by delegating the decision on matters as important as … Read more
In recent decades, we have seen Satan engage the world as never before. In all of human history we have never witnessed evil promoted so effectively, while virtue, character, and morals are roundly mocked and rejected. Meanwhile, it could be said that the Mystical Body — the Church — has never been so unprepared for … Read more
Austrian Catholic website kath.net reports that on 7 July, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn published an interview in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, in which he said that Amoris Laetitia is a binding doctrinal document. From now on, says Schönborn, all the previous magisterial texts concerning marriage and the family “have to be read in the light of … Read more
The fallout from Pope Francis’ complete inversion of an authentic Catholic understanding of marriage last week continues. Over the weekend, notable American canonist Dr. Edward Peters took to his blog, later picked up by Catholic World Report, to discuss what this means (and doesn’t) for Catholics. Peters is known as a cautious thinker, not quick to rush to … Read more
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