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…
During this week where Americans have been distracted by the unexpected upset of a presidential election that could very well change the course of our collective future, Pope Francis has been busy making political statements of his own. In yet another interview with Eugenio Scalfari (see our standard rebuttal to “you can’t trust Scalfari!” here), this…
The German branch of Vatican Radio just reported that Pope Francis has made an unusual visit today. According to today’s Radio Vatikan article, Pope Francis went privately this Friday afternoon to Ponte di Nona on the outskirts of Rome in order to meet with seven families together in a private apartment. All fathers of these families…
Last night, I posted this message on my various social media accounts. I wanted to share it with you, too: Tonight as I sat to pray the rosary with my boys, I prayed for our country and for this election. But I became suddenly aware that I couldn’t pray for justice or prosperity without caveat;…
The days are darkening, and I am angry. Yes, angry, along with so many others who observe with growing pain and confusion what is happening to our Church from within, far more grievously than from outside. But this anger isn’t a bitter, despairing anger; rather, it is a zealous, irrepressible anger that pulses hot against…
Whereas the Son’s own surrender to the love of the Father, on the level of fallen creation, is consummated in his sharing of our death, our reunion in him, in this very death, consummates our ecstasy, our ravishment with the Risen One, our Ascension in his own, in which is celebrated the Marriage of the…
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is prudence. – Proverbs 9:10 Today is All Souls’ Day. The Catholic Encyclopedia defines the feast as follows: The commemoration of all the faithful departed is celebrated by the Church on 2 November … The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine…
While teaching a theology class to men in formation for the diaconate, I asked, “When was the last time you heard a homily on Hell?” None of the sixteen could recall. “And Heaven?” Only two. The exchange reminded me of an observation made by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn in his book Loving the Church (Ignatius Press,…
The joint proposal to work towards shared Eucharistic communion, signed yesterday in Lund, Sweden, by Pope Francis and the President of the Lutheran World Federation (whose member churches, by the way, generally support abortion and same-sex “marriage”), is extremely troubling. For the following facts must be remembered: 1) Lutherans do not believe in the Sacrifice of the Mass (which…
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…
Thank God for friends! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_2wJqz64oI?rel=0 This was what I saw when I dashed out of the Grotta Azzura hotel. I didn’t know this video was being made. It must have been no more than about two minutes after the quake. I was running to my friend’s house to let her and our friend from Rome…
