The German cardinal Walter Kasper opens the first chapter of his book Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life by describing the twentieth century as “a horrible century in many respects.” Continuing his deplorable description of our times, he states that “the twenty-first century which is still young...
You don’t have to be gay to find yourself at the center of a moral panic in the Church, but it always helps. When I read the shocking story of the way mobile phone data mining had been used to reveal the movements of a Catholic priest and expose his lifestyle, I was...
In his Angelus address this morning, Pope Francis spoke about today’s Gospel reading, the Miracle of the Loaves that opens the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. As he has done in the past, Pope Francis made some points in his description of this miracle that have been known to...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, July 25, 2021 — the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time “And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true… For not as common bread and...
“It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God’s most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy...
In 2017 Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast released an episode called “The Destroyer of Worlds.” I’d recommend everybody listen to it, but don’t expect to come away feeling buoyant about humanity’s future. The title “Destroyer of Worlds” is a quote from the Bhagavad Gita that physicist Robert Oppenheimer said came to mind after...
Pope Francis recently issued Traditionis Custodes, which restricts, but does not prohibit, the celebration of older forms of the Roman Rite. In his accompanying letter, Pope Francis explains that he is taking this action because the traditionalist movement has become divisive. He writes, “One is dealing here with comportment that contradicts communion and...
It has been two days since Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill resigned as General Secretary to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). As with every other major Catholic news story that’s appeared in recent months, it’s served to demonstrate the widening gap between opposing approaches to the faith and the world. Some Catholics have...
A big mistake that some Catholics make is to think of the liturgy as clergy-centered. Honestly, it’s difficult to blame them—priests really do play a great role in liturgical celebrations. For example, without a priest, it is impossible to have a Mass or Divine Liturgy. However, we must understand that liturgical celebrations are...
The world of American conservatism (and thus also a large segment of the world of American Catholicism) is embroiled in yet another moral panic: this time regarding what is described as Critical Race Theory. What most people mean when they talk about CRT is not specifically the decades-old school of legal theory that...
When I heard that Pope Francis had promulgated a motu proprio reimposing restrictions on the celebration of the 1962 Missal (or the Vetus Ordo), my first thought was this was greatly needed and long overdue. My second thought was that this would break the hearts of people whom I dearly love. It’s difficult...
This is the 14th installment in “Postcards from the Camino” by Gareth Thomas, a series of reflections on the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage route leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain. The last days on the Camino de...
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