A recent meeting between Cardinal Víctor Fernández and the leadership of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (SSPX) has raised important questions about authority, unity, and the limits of pastoral flexibility in the Catholic Church. How far is Rome willing to go to restore communion with groups that resist parts of the...
Note: Deacon Doug graciously shared this homily with us for February 1st. Unfortunately, due to an email glitch, the piece went unposted. However, we feel it is a valuable reflection and are sharing it now, albeit two weeks late. As we all know, Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as we love...
The United Nations has been unjustly vilified over the years, usually by people who have an agenda or do not understand how it works, its context, and the stakes involved. The reality is that the UN is a beneficial organization that has done, and continues to do, much good. Pope Leo XIV, in...
A recent meeting between Cardinal Víctor Fernández and the leadership of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (SSPX) has raised important questions about authority, unity, and the limits of pastoral flexibility in the Catholic Church. How far is Rome willing to go to restore communion with groups that resist parts of the...
Note: Deacon Doug graciously shared this homily with us for February 1st. Unfortunately, due to an email glitch, the piece went unposted. However, we feel it is a valuable reflection and are sharing it now, albeit two weeks late. As we all know, Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as we love...
The United Nations has been unjustly vilified over the years, usually by people who have an agenda or do not understand how it works, its context, and the stakes involved. The reality is that the UN is a beneficial organization that has done, and continues to do, much good. Pope Leo XIV, in...
The chief deceit used to conceal the new schism is the name of “Catholic.” The originators and adherents of the schism presumptuously lay claim to this name despite their condemnation by Our authority and judgment. It has always been the custom of heretics and schismatics to call themselves Catholics and to proclaim their...
Valentine’s Day arrives each year with predictable enthusiasm. Shops turn red, restaurants fill, and love is packaged into cards, flowers, and carefully planned moments. For a brief time, it feels as though love is everywhere. Then the day passes, the decorations disappear, and ordinary life resumes. Yet love—real love—is not confined to a...
Those sympathetic to the Society of St. Pius X will remind you that the Church has never formally declared the SSPX to be in schism. Arguably, this may be true. But the 1988 episcopal consecrations carried out by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre were deemed a “schismatic act” by Pope St. John Paul II in...
In this episode, I spoke with Rhonda Miska, a lay minister working at a parish in the Twin Cities. A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Rhonda introducing herself, thanking me for the podcast, and sharing with me some of her experiences working as a lay minister in the Twin...
This reflection was first posted by The Southern Cross – The Catholic Magazine for Southern Africa on December 29, 2025. The world is a wonderful place. Our God is so good in giving it to us, but to a large extent we have not taken good care of it, nor of each other....
What exactly are prudential teachings—and how much authority do they really carry? In this video, Pedro Gabriel explains where prudential judgments fit within the hierarchy of the magisterium, why they are often misunderstood, and how they are frequently misused to sidestep Church teaching altogether. While prudential teachings are not infallible, they are far...
It is true that in the Church, at times, the figure of the formator as “pedagogue”, engaged in transmitting instructions and religious competences, has prevailed over that of the “father” capable of generating faith. Our mission, however, is much loftier, and so we cannot stop at transmitting a doctrine, an observance, an ethic,...
Note: This article was published in September of last year on Indian Catholic Matters. It is being shared again at this time in light of Pope Leo XIV’s recent message for the 34th World Day of the Sick. In 2022, Pope Francis made a quiet but powerful statement—not through grand speeches or lofty...
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). With these words Jesus inaugurated his mission. The “good news,” the kerygma, was first for the poor and powerless. And it is with the poor where we encounter Christ (cf. Matthew...
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