I’ve been trying for a long time to fathom what makes me uneasy about the concept and rhetoric of “social justice.” Michael Novak pointed out recently that part of the problem is taking social “justice” not, as the use of traditional vocabulary would suggest, as a true virtue present in individuals, but rather as a…
Last September, in the leadup to the second synod, I found myself overwhelmed. The deluge of bad news washed over me like waves in a tempest, and the feeling of defeat that came with it was, at times, crushing. The game was rigged, the deck was stacked, the fix was in, and everyone knew it — even…
In my tribute to Mother Angelica last month, I asserted that in large part, the network she founded no longer spoke truth to power. I wrote: It is my belief that EWTN’s growth has come at a serious cost: they have traded the credibility that once came with Mother’s tenacity in sharing the “hard sayings” of Catholic…
Unlike other Catholic websites, I have elected to keep our comment boxes open and free thus far. I encourage frank and forthright discussion. I allow opinions that disagree with us and our positions as stated in the articles and posts we publish, provided that those who hold them are respectful in their presentation. I understand that…
After a few earlier words of Bishop Bernard Fellay on 10 April on the Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetita (where he speaks of a boat with a hole below the waterline, which is now prone to sink), the SSPX has now published a more formal statement and published it on its own website (in French). Father Mathias Gaudron, of…
Yesterday, we broke the story that Pope Francis had made comments on his plane presser (returning from Greece) indicating with a simple, emphatic affirmative that yes, there were concrete changes to the way the Church is going to deal with the divorced and remarried following the exhortation. Some have (predictably) disputed those claims. There is…
In September of 2014, on the eve of the first Synod on the Family, Steve interviewed Dr. Michael Sirilla, professor of systematic theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, on the limits and boundaries of papal infallibility, the assent owed by the faithful to varying levels of magisterial documents, and how the average Catholic may…
Today on the plane press conference on the way back to Rome from Greece, Pope Francis was asked a very direct question about the exhortation*: Some maintain that nothing has changed with respect to the discipline that governs the access to the Sacraments for the divorced and remarried, and that the law and the pastoral…
Well, Cardinal Kasper certainly seems pleased with the exhortation. It’s almost as though Christmas came early for him: Cardinal Walter Kasper explained that the Pope’s apostolic exhortation “doesn’t change anything of church doctrine or of canon law – but it changes everything”. The retired cardinal has been influential on Francis’ thinking on marriage and those…
In his 1896 Encyclical, Satis Cognitum, Pope Leo XIII warned us of the dangers of accepting error in something otherwise good: The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels…
Earlier this week, I told you about the pro-gay public tweets of Catholic News Service Director and Editor in Chief Tony Spence. The Lepanto Institute ran a full briefing on him, with screenshots of more than half a dozen offending statements on social media. Statements like: Spence’s resignation didn’t stop him from making clear his…
