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Category: Commentary

Christ is present in creation, Cardinal Burke

Cardinal Raymond Burke, the titular head of the online resistance to Pope Francis, has given an interview about Querida Amazonia. It contains several eyebrow-raising lines, but what really stands out is his denial of Christ’s presence in creation. His eminence...

Yes to Social Distancing, No to Individualism

As the coronavirus spreads around the globe and here in the United States, many organizations and governments have begun to shut down or limit public gatherings. Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump have cancelled political rallies; NCAA basketball games...

Cardinal Burke’s Poisoned Well

In a recent interview with the National Catholic Register, Cardinal Raymond Burke once again criticizes an apostolic exhortation from Pope Francis. Querida Amazonia, the result of the most recent synod on the Amazon, summarizes Pope Francis’s vision of the Amazonian...

Understanding Synodality

Since Francis was elected pope, a number of words have entered the Church’s lexicon that–while not new by any means–represent the priorities and focus of his vision for renewal in the Church. Terms such as accompaniment, encounter, clericalism, throwaway culture,...

Father Martin vs the Anonymous Bishops

The controversy over what happened during the February 10 ad limina meeting between Pope Francis and fifteen bishops from the Southwestern U.S. seems to be simmering down a bit, though all indications suggest a number of questions will remain unanswered...

Peace (or chaos?) be with you

Every Catholic website worth its salt eventually reaches a point when it must weigh in on the never-ending debate over the Sign of Peace. Where Peter Is has now arrived at this point. I’m writing about this topic because yesterday,...

Noah and the Dinosaurs

Under Pope Francis, and in part as a reaction to his papacy, we are witnessing the flourishing of a Catholic fundamentalism that often borrows from its Protestant predecessors (see, for example, this article by Mark Silk for an overview of...

Fr. James Martin and the End of Modernity

The most recent controversy involving CNA’s reporting of a meeting between Fr. James Martin and Pope Francis illustrates well just how much Martin has become a lightning rod, in social media and beyond, for his advocacy for and on behalf...

Respecting Continuity in Church Teaching

There are, unfortunately, Catholics who think that defending Pope Francis involves tearing down his predecessors. Throughout his pontificate, they have portrayed almost everything Pope Francis has done as “finally correcting” the bad practices of his predecessors and ignoring the good...

On the CNA/Martin Affair

On Tuesday, February 18, 2020, JD Flynn wrote an essay in First Things arguing that Father James Martin, an American Jesuit known for his ministry and pastoral outreach to the LGBT community, presents “a vision of the human person at...