Whoever attentively reviews the life of St. Francis will discover that, from his earliest years, he was a model of sanctity. He was not a gloomy, austere saint but was most amiable and friendly with all, so much so that it can be said of him most truthfully, “her conversation (wisdom) hath no...
This Wednesday’s papal audience stirred up quite a bit of controversy in Catholic traditionalist circles. During his address, Pope Francis taught that “those who have denied the faith, who are apostates, who are the persecutors of the Church, who have denied their baptism … blasphemers, all of them” belong to the communion of...
Back in December, Bishop Robert Barron wrote an article on the Word on Fire website about the Second Vatican Council’s universal call to holiness. He wonders what the world would look like if all Catholics heeded this call to sanctity. In his article, he speculates about what might happen if we were to...
In a way, the recently released German report on sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, which faults Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for mishandling four abuse cases during his brief tenure as archbishop there in the late 1970s and early 1980s, tells us nothing we don’t already know. Astute observers with...
As I shared last week, Sacred Heart University hosted a panel discussion entitled, “Francis: Is a Schism on the Horizon?” The discussion was organized and moderated by the Canadian academic and writer Michael W. Higgins and was hosted by Sacred Heart Professor Daniel Rober. The panelists were professor and writer Tina Beattie; writer...
I have a confession to make. I am, by training, a liturgist. As such, I cringe at the well-known joke—“What’s the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? You can negotiate with terrorists.”—both because there is a grain of truth and because I work very hard at defying its stereotype. But when times...
In our first article, Lessons From the 49ers, we took a deeper look at the formation period for Carmelite nuns as presented in St. Teresa’s masterpiece, The Interior Castle. We saw that she puts the formation of her nuns as the place of spiritual growth between that of good, faithful, devout Catholics, and...
A reflection on the Readings of January 30, 2022 – the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time It is not uncommon for people to ask me, “How did you decide to become a priest?” Often my answer to this question is a big sigh! First of all, it is a complex story. I find...
“[T]he Catholic Church demands of no one to give up one’s native ways and customs, forces no one to adopt foreign ways of living. The Church belongs to the East as well as the West. She is bound to no particular culture, she is at home with all who respect the commands of...
Pope Francis, in an address this morning to participants in the meeting promoted by the International Consortium of Catholic Media “Catholic fact-checking,” spoke out strongly against spreading misinformation and false science about the Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccine. He spoke about the duty of journalists and those who work in communications to work...
Just a quick post, But I would like to share the video of this panel discussion I watched live last night on the possibility of a schism in the Church by those who reject the teaching and authority of Pope Francis. Although I certainly didn’t agree with everything that was said, I agreed...
Traditionalists are perhaps best known for their preference for a particular kind of liturgy. Within the traditionalist movement, however, a radical contingent is building a parallel church. The parallel church of radical traditionalism promotes an ideology that rejects the leadership of Pope Francis (and the guidance of the Second Vatican Council) in favor...
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