“Those who take care of the sick – play an essential role in today’s society, even if they often do not receive the recognition and recompense they deserve. … Taking care of those who are sick, of those who are in need, of those who are cast aside: this is a human, and...
While it’s a phenomenon that began online, the QAnon movement has found its way into the discourse and lives of ordinary Americans. With its conspiracy-laden messages, Q taps into Americans’ deep-seated angst about their government, cultural forces they can’t comprehend, and societal trends they find disturbing. Where will all this lead, exactly? Is...
When we say that biblical inerrancy is “limited,” we need to be careful to define exactly how and in what way it is limited. St. John Henry Newman wrote that the Bible was inspired in “all matters of faith and morals,” which he directly connected to the scope of the infallibility of the...
A reflection on the Sunday readings for September 13, 2020 In the middle of the sixteenth Century, Sts. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila undertook a reform of monastic life. This led to no little discontent in the Carmelite order. As a result, John became the victim of malice from some of...
“According to Friedrich Nietzsche, Christianity had poisoned eros, which for its part, while not completely succumbing, gradually degenerated into vice. Here the German philosopher was expressing a widely-held perception: doesn’t the Church, with all her commandments and prohibitions, turn to bitterness the most precious thing in life? Doesn’t she blow the whistle just...
“The ‘language of the body,’ as an uninterrupted continuity of liturgical language, is expressed not only as the attraction and mutual pleasure of the Song of Songs, but also as a profound experience of the sacrum (the holy). This seems to be infused in the very masculinity and femininity through the dimension of the mysterium (mystery), the mysterium magnum...
Following up on this week’s article by Emmett O’Regan discussing the enormously popular website Countdown to the Kingdom, which promotes the dubious apocalyptic messages of unapproved prophets and visionaries, there is breaking news regarding one of their featured visionaries, Fr. Michel Rodrigue. Fr. Rodrigue, as you might recall from D.W. Lafferty’s article about...
In the first episode of the new season of the Jesuitical podcast, I joined Ashley McKinless and Zac Davis, the “young, hip and lay” editors over at America Media to discuss my recent article for America and how the vocal resistance to Pope Francis is dividing and harming the Catholic Church. At the...
In my previous post, I explored the revision process and debate that led to the final wording of Dei Verbum (DV) 11, which says that the Scriptures teach “without error the truth that God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to be put in writing in Holy Writ.”[1] Now I will answer...
In part 1 of my analysis of the third chapter of the Vatican II document Dei Verbum (DV), I showed how the Church understands the creation of the Bible as a divine-human synergy. God is its Author insofar as he inspired it, but human beings are its “true authors” (DV 11). They actually...
I was recently asked to give a presentation on Black Catholicism and social justice for the California Chinese Catholic Living Camp (CACCLC) 2020 retreat. It, like everything else for now, was virtual, which gave me the opportunity to present from home in New Orleans—one of several hubs of Black Catholicism. Looking back, I’m...
With the recent condemnation of the alleged private revelations of the Canadian priest Fr. Michel Rodrigue (whose claims were recently discussed by DW Lafferty and Mike Lewis for WPI) by his responsible ordinary, Bishop Gilles Lemay of the Diocese of Amos, Québec, the sudden popularity of Countdown to the Kingdom has once again...
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