It’s been quite a week. I’ve spent a good bit of my time clearing snow and not writing, but a lot of stories of note have hit my inbox. Here’s a roundup of the most significant ones I’ve seen: Five Cardinals Book stolen from participants’ mailboxes at last year’s Synod on Family (Fr. Z) – the importance…
On March 15, 1994, a virtual tsunami struck the Liturgy of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Antonio Ortas wrote a document to the Episcopal conferences announcing that the Vatican had, for the first time, permitted altar girls. Over 20 years later, many question the impact of this decision as the Church continues to reap…
The recent declaration of Gregory of Narek as a Doctor of the Church universal raises important questions about ecclesial unity, ecumenism, papal authority, and the very nature of Christ. As one blogger* described the quandary: The [Armenian Orthodox Church], the body to which Gregory belonged, has formally and persistently rejected the authority of the Council of Chalcedon, was not in…
This is the second installment of a multi-part series. You may find each part here: Part I – Part II – Part III The printing press reduced the cost of book production in late medieval Europe enormously. But printed books did not altogether replace illuminated manuscripts, at least not in the years before the rise of Protestantism. To judge by…
As 2015 rolls on, we’re plotting the future course of 1P5. To that end, we want to know more about our readers, and what they’d like to see from us. We have a brand spanking-new reader survey that we need your help with. Please take our survey and be entered to win a $25…
What does ISIS mean when they issue repeated threats about conquering Rome? This is not, as some have speculated, a metaphorical term for America. It is not directed at some vague notion of Christianity. It is not about a larger invasion of the West. They mean this: To those who know, who understand the longstanding…
“Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another.” — Pope Benedict XVI at his installation Mass (24 April 2005) “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the…
Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. (1893-1953), was a Discalced Carmelite priest, confessor and spiritual director. Most likely a mystic himself, he was also an expert in the writings of such venerated Carmelite Mystics as St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. For the last decade of his life Fr. Gabriel…
In his recent article, “Pope Francis fulfilling epoch-making shifts from Vatican II”, liberal Catholic historian and author Massimo Faggioli argues that, with the elevation of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to the Chair of Peter, the actualization of the Second Vatican Council is finally upon us. Call it the “Spirit of Vatican II” redux, or the Hermeneutic…
My father passed away in 2005, but every time I read articles like this one I think of him. The article, by Donald Cardinal Wuerl, is all about dissent, and my father was one of the most obedient Catholics I’ve ever known. But he knew the difference between disagreement with a Pope and dissent from…
When I was a college student taking theology classes with Dr. Regis Martin, there was one thing we could always count on. Year after year, he’d shuffle into the room looking disgruntled on Ash Wednesday Morning, a mason jar of water in his hand (he usually gave up coffee), ashes on his forehead, and make…
