If you feel lost in all the discussion over what Pope Francis did with the pre-Vatican II Mass (and why), here are two helpful podcasts from America Media to help you understand what’s going on. First, Colleen Dulle puts together a great video summary of what Francis changed, why he changed it, and...
More than eight years into his papacy, after remaining mostly silent in public (and sometimes even cautiously optimistic) about the liberalization of the use of the 1962 Roman Missal by his predecessor, Pope Francis finally reversed Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Much speculation has been made about what spurred Francis...
Over at Church Life Journal, Shaun Blanchard gives an excellent analysis of Traditionis Custodes that’s well worth the read. In his article, titled, “Traditionis Custodes Was Never Merely About the Liturgy,” Blanchard argues that the controversy surrounding the 1962 Missal is about much more than liturgical form: The “issue under the issues” is...
The National Catholic Register recently published a blog post by Kevin Di Camillo, which argued that the “Traditional Latin Mass” shouldn’t be “silenced,” since a diversity of liturgical expressions doesn’t threaten Church unity. He writes: My liberal Catholic friends usually like to take extreme examples to their illogical conclusions, especially when it comes...
In Pope Francis’s 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, he expressed his desire for a renewed missionary impulse throughout the entire Church. Francis called for the Church to become more mission-oriented by making “ordinary pastoral activity on every level more inclusive and open, to inspire in pastoral workers a constant desire to go forth,...
An area of contention and debate surrounding the state of the Roman liturgy today is sacred music. Many today will point out that Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, states, “The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, August 1, 2021 — the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time What can we do to accomplish the works of God? (John 6:28) This question is posed by the growing crowds who have been journeying with Jesus as he makes his way around Cana and Capernaum, turning water...
“This consideration too clarifies the great error of those others as well who boldly venture to explain and interpret the words of God by their own judgment, misusing their reason and holding the opinion that these words are like a human work. God Himself has set up a living authority to establish and...
When we list the most important theologians in the history of Christianity, many names quickly come to mind, including Jerome, Augustine, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Robert Bellarmine. Each of these figures has been rightly declared to be Doctors of the Church (doctor being Latin for “teacher”), a group that includes a...
Pope Francis recently appointed our friend, the distinguished Professor Rodrigo Guerra López, as Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (PCAL). Guerra, a professor and philosopher from Mexico, is the founder of the Center for Advanced Social Research (CISAV). In his new position as a secretary in the Roman Curia, he will...
In the United States, a pervasive intellectualism continues its stranglehold on Catholics, thwarting our flourishing. Again and again, we hear the need for “doctrinal clarity,” or about how Pope Francis is “confusing.” Many seem to believe that being clear-minded and certain are among the most important—if not the most important—markers of faithful Catholic...
What do you do when you find yourself in disagreement with a Church teaching or objecting to a discipline that the Church legitimately imposes? Many Catholics find themselves in this place at some point in their life of faith. Some spend their entire lives there. Such disagreements can be deeply uncomfortable and difficult...
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