I apologize for disappearing the past couple days. It’s rare for us to go 48 hours without a post.

I spent most of the day Tuesday writing the piece about rediscovering the “why” of Catholicism. First of all, I wanted to thank you all, again, for your incredible kindness. I don’t think I’ve ever heard more — or better — compliments on anything we’ve published. I’ll try to remember that and find opportunities to do pieces like that again in the future. (That one just sort of hit like an epiphany, though, so no guarantees!)

On Wednesday, I started work on the piece we just published about Amoris Laetitia, and whether it really falls under the ordinary — and thus infallible — magisterium of the Church. This came as a response to a challenge from Crux contributing editor and papal biographer Austen Ivereigh, who has gone so far as to say “Division is diabolic, and the 4 cardinals have much to answer for. As Card Müller says, they shd [sic] never have publicized their dissent.” He was championing a particular essay from a man named Stephen Walford, dating back to February of this year and published in Vatican Insider, in which it is argued that Amoris Laetitia is papal teaching that can not be questioned. Ivereigh said that since nobody had offered a rebuttal, he wondered if it was “irrefutable”.

Weeeelll, that’s like calling Marty McFly “Chicken.”

Anyhow, I dug into this topic, and the waters around teaching regarding the various levels of magisterial teaching are turbulent and deep. There has been a great deal written, and none of it appears to be concise or definitive. And then, several hours into my research, I suddenly came down with something that felt a whole lot like a flu  — body aches, chills, dizziness, the works — and was out for the night. Could barely move, let alone sit at my desk and type. Today’s been better, so thank God for that. Not out of the woods, but on the comeback trail.

So here we are. Some of our writers on vacation, submissions this time of year are decidedly slow, and when it comes to all things publishing, I *am* the weakest link.

More dispatches from the front tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

Oh, and by the way: we’re not there yet on the June fundraiser yet, but we’re making progress. Thanks to all of you who’ve chipped in!