A friend of mine and I have an ongoing debate about whether or not we should sing the song A Place at the Table. If you are unfamiliar with the song, the lyrics start like this. For ev’ryone born, a place at the table, for ev’ryone born, clean water and bread, a shelter,...
Shortly after Traditionis Custodes was promulgated last summer, Shaun Blanchard wrote an excellent analysis of the motu proprio for Church Life Journal. In that article, Blanchard claimed that “we should see Traditionis Custodes as a decisive contribution by Pope Francis to the continued debate not just over Vatican II specifically, but over a...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, January 23, 2022 — The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday of the Word of God In November, I received the best phone call a priest-uncle could hope for—“[Your niece] wants a Bible for her birthday, I don’t know what I’m doing, so could you take care...
Rutilio Grande, SJ, who is being beatified today along with Franciscan Fr. Cosme Spessotto, 70-year-old sacristan Manuel Solórzano, and teenager Nelson Rutilio Lemus, the latter two of whom were murdered alongside him, is best known as a personal friend of St. Oscar Romero. The usual story is that Grande’s assassination inspired Romero’s move...
“Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenceless and innocent among us. Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing...
January 22, 2022 marks almost fifty years since the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade found that a constitutional right to privacy protects a woman’s right to choose abortion. What has happened during half a century of legal abortion? Countless unborn lives have been lost. Mothers’ and fathers’ lives have changed irrevocably...
In recent months, there have been a number of articles on Catholic websites about the situation of cloistered contemplatives following the promulgation of Cor Orans, the Instruction from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL). There have been intense discussions about the demands put on the nuns,...
Conversion is not a feel-good word. There is an interior magic in every beginning, says Hermann Hesse, but life teaches us that there is also a lot of effort. Looking back to the Church’s sometimes glorified past for answers concerning the conditions in the parishes, the influence of the Church, or the number...
Rules, rules, rules. I’m a rule follower in general. During my school days, I wasn’t on a first name basis with the principal. I never got infractions or served detention. Rules just made sense to me. They set expectations and defined boundaries. They kept me safe. They made it possible to achieve what...
Influential reactionary Catholics, including a former US papal nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, and Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, have told their followers to reject the COVID-19 vaccines because of their supposed connection to abortion. Such advice has already been criticized on many different levels. Most obviously, such advice puts their followers...
[Updated below] We’re a little more than two weeks into 2022, and the battle for the soul of the US Church continues to escalate. Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, whose anti-vaccine activism I have written about in the past for WPI, recently tweeted his support for a priest of the Archdiocese of...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, January 16, 2022 — The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Today we heard from the Gospel of John. It is important for us to know that, unlike Matthew and Luke, John does not have an infancy narrative or provide the genealogy of Jesus. Instead, John begins his...
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