The Chair of Saint Peter, the Rock
There is only one rock on which it is worthwhile to place everything. This rock is the one to whom Christ said: ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.’ — Pope Benedict XVI Meeting with...
Category: Commentary
Is Conversion Ever a Phone Call Away?
In our desire for justice, to be more holy, or to bring about the conversion of others, how do we respond when the results we desire are slow in coming? Are we patient, or do we act recklessly and hope...
Stop Berating the Laity Over In-Person Mass
I’ve often thought about the benefits of a seminary program where aspiring priests would be required to spend a semester helping a family get ready for Sunday Mass every week. If nothing else, the experience would hopefully help our clergy...
The Church’s Mission and the Allure of Neo-Christendom
In a 1969 German radio broadcast, Father Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, predicted where he believed the Church was headed. Ratzinger envisioned that the Church of the future generations would lose political power and social acceptance. He said:...
Responding to Charles Camosy’s open letter to the pope
Two weeks ago Charles Camosy, a professor of ethics at Fordham University, published an open letter to Pope Francis in which he asks the Holy Father to give defense of the unborn a “more central place” in his formal teaching....
The Seamless Garment must be properly understood
Back in 2007, during the time leading up to the referendum in Portugal that resulted in the legalization of abortion-on-demand up to the tenth week of gestation, members of the pro-life campaign hung up flyers that said: “10 weeks without...
Dialogue is an Exercise in Charity
211. In a pluralistic society, dialogue is the best way to realize what ought always to be affirmed and respected apart from any ephemeral consensus. Such dialogue needs to be enriched and illumined by clear thinking, rational arguments, a variety...
GameStop and the Call to Solidarity
GameStop made headlines this week when its stock price skyrocketed, shocking the investment community. After some hedge fund giants placed bets that the company’s stock price would fall (by short-selling the stock), their bets had abysmal results as retail investors...
The folly of the build-it-yourself Magisterium
Earlier this month, Adam Rasmussen responded to Fr. Chad Ripperger’s theory of Church authority, summarizing it as an approach in which “any magisterial statements that do not define dogmas … may be questioned if they seem to contradict earlier statements.”...
Spiritus Domini: Development in Continuity
The recent news of Pope Francis’s surprise motu proprio Spiritus Domini inflamed old debates about feminism and women’s ordination. Responses in Catholic media have ranged from rather bland “nothing to see here” commentary focused on the historical development of the...
‘Come and See’: The encounter that becomes news
An experienced Vatican journalist texted me when the Pope’s World Communications Day message was released over the weekend. She was bowled over by it and wanted to know if I knew who had had a hand in it (I didn’t)....
Is Catholic teaching against the death penalty optional?
Readers of this website are aware that many Catholics who claim to be faithful to the Magisterium are nonetheless brazen in their open support for the death penalty. We’ve discussed Cardinal Raymond Burke’s declaration to an audience that the teaching...
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