Epistle: Romans 12:16-21 Gospel: Matthew 8:1-13 Almighty and eternal God, mercifully look upon our infirmity, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy majesty to help and defend us. – From the Collect for the Third Sunday After Epiphany As the Church moves through Epiphanytide, we can think of this season as the third act…
On Friday, January 3, leaders of the second largest Protestant affiliation in the United States, the United Methodist Church, announced that, due to irreconcilable differences in moral theology, the competing orthodox and progressive camps within the group were going to formally split. This was not a surprise. The divide had been foretold by a General…
To all who have ears to hear and eyes to see, the coming of the Gospel has exalted and safeguarded the intrinsic dignity and value of women more than any other single event in history. Before the Gospel, women were treated as mere objects and shamelessly deprived of the conduct owed to the honor of…
Professor Richard Dawkins’s latest book is entitled Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide. It is divided into two parts, the first being, after a fashion, theological, and the second claiming to be biological and scientific. In the theological section, the author presents his philosophical, theological, and moral arguments against the existence, justice, and goodness of God;…
At the beginning of every year, the Washington Post publishes “The List.” The List is a pop culture guide to what is “in” and what is “out” in the new year. To get the most benefit from The List, it helps to have some degree of cultural “wokeness.” I wondered what a such a list…
On January 18, 2020, Homiletic & Pastoral Review published an article by Dr. Mary Healy entitled “The Gift of the Liturgical Reform.” The author seems oddly unaware of what is known about the history of the liturgy and its governing principles, the genesis of the Novus Ordo Missae, and the scholarly considerations of those who…
On January 30, with the first assembly in Frankfurt, the “Synodal Path” of the German Catholic Church reform begins — a “journey” without the observance of canonical regulations that a real synod would require. During the next two years, the 230 members, including 69 bishops and 69 lay persons (progressive) of the Central Committee of…
The sacrament of Confession has been under attack in Australia since the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in December of 2017. Several states have now passed legislation that requires Catholic priests to violate the confessional seal in cases where child sexual abuse is revealed in confession. The Queensland…
This morning, Saturday, January 18, 2020, Acies Ordinata, an assembly of prayer was held in Munich, Bavaria. Acies Ordinata is an international coalition of lay Catholics faithful to the Tradition of the Church. After the two preceding assemblies, which were held in Rome on February 19, 2019, and September 28, 2019, the city of Munich has been chosen for…
2020 has certainly not gotten off to a slow start. The “Bookgate” controversy (every bureaucratic debacle has to have a “gate” at the end, obviously) has been really remarkable. It’s really not possible to say it’s over yet, or what the repercussions might be for Cardinal Sarah, Pope Benedict, and Archbishop Gänswein in the coming…
In 2017, Bishop Guo Xijin of Mindong in China’s Fujian province disappeared. At that time, he was pressured to sign a document stating his willingness to “voluntarily” be demoted to coadjutor bishop as a condition that he be recognized by the government during his one-month detention. This would have been bad enough. But in 2018, Pope Francis…
