Confusion about the Gospel teaching on poverty is widespread in the modern Church. The call to voluntary poverty is uncomfortable, particularly to the inhabitants of the wealthiest civilization in history. Human nature being what it is, this inconvenient teaching has been largely explained out of existence. We ignore the fact that Jesus said,...
Within the past twenty-four hours, Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, has fallen to the militant Islamist theocratic group the Taliban amidst the ongoing withdrawal of US forces from that country. The US overthrew a previous Taliban-led government in 2001 and has had a military presence in Afghanistan for the past twenty years. The...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, August 15, 2021 — the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. When we look at Mary, we see both the image in which God created human persons and human destiny. If we model our...
“However, the Apostle, cannot risk compromises on such decisive ground. The Gospel is only one and that is what he proclaimed; there can be no other. Beware! Paul does not say that the true Gospel is his because it was he who announced it, no! He does not say this. This would be...
Today, August 14th, brings us the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, one of the two “martyrs of Auschwitz” along with St. Edith Stein. Kolbe was a Polish Franciscan who was interned in the infamous death camp for publishing anti-Nazi material during the German occupation of Poland; he volunteered himself to be murdered...
Certain sectors of the Church are once again going through a panic over gay clergy. The situation feels anachronistic, with the closest point of comparison in the secular world being the Cold War-era purges of gay people from civil service in the US (or the “Lavender Scare,” as it was later called). Much...
Last month, PBS launched its second season of the documentary series In their Own Words, with the first episode focused on Pope Francis. It offers some interesting perspectives on the pope and commentary by figures such as NBC journalist Anne Thompson and Where Peter Is contributor Austen Ivereigh (also a papal biographer and...
Back in my pre-WPI days, I spent a year or two floating around on Catholic social media defending Pope Francis, explaining Amoris Laetitia, and arguing with radical traditionalists and papal detractors about the development of doctrine, papal primacy, and the nature of magisterial authority in the Catholic Church. It was during this time...
The conversation around the Eucharist in recent months has focused on political figures and “Eucharistic coherence.” I can’t help but juxtapose these largely theoretical discussions with the real barriers to the Eucharist that exist for many of the faithful. I wish we would stop worrying about whom to exclude from the table and...
For many Catholics, the word “synod” is still relatively unfamiliar. That’s all going to change very soon. This October, Pope Francis will kick off a 2-year journey in the C hurch that will begin at the local level and eventually culminate in a 3-week meeting of the Synod of Bishops in Rome in...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, August 8, 2021 — the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time When it comes to consuming junk food, Americans are number one. Here are some statistics I came across that prove the point: Most Americans eat fast food 1-3 times per week. 1 in 3 Americans eats fast...
In light of the debate over Traditiones Custodes, I’ve been doing some research into the history of the Church’s liturgical reform. A lot of historical claims have been made on social media about the state of the liturgy prior to the Second Vatican Council, and I’ve been digging through primary and secondary sources...
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