Did Jesus establish his church to give us personal certainty and perfect clarity? Assuming so reveals a rather rationalist view of the church. A view that is typically used as a fortress to rebuff questioning or dissent, or to guard against unflattering bits of church history, or to preserve an idealistic but unreal...
Over the weekend I saw many people speaking out in frustration over Pope Francis putting Cardinal Cupich of Chicago on the planning committee for the February meeting in Rome addressing the abuse crisis. Those critical of this appointment are, unsurprisingly, conservative American Catholics who generally distrust the pope already. They are presenting Cupich’s...
Greg Daly provides us with a fresh historical perspective on the Amoris Laetitia controversy. Dissenters may claim to defend the tímeles Catholic view on marriage, but Trent actually introduced novelties that were resisted at first by some of the concilliary Cardinals. However, even these eventually obeyed, out of respect for the Pope. Papal critics...
Lowering the level of protection accorded to the rights of workers, or abandoning mechanisms of wealth redistribution in order to increase the country’s international competitiveness, hinder the achievement of lasting development. (…) Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the...
In yesterday’s piece, I explored why most of those who reject Pope Francis’s teaching about sacraments for divorced and remarried Catholics in Amoris Laetitia are resistant to the idea that they are dissenting from Magisterial teaching, and why it’s vital for them to see themselves as orthodox. Most of their argumentation centers on...
Much of the content of this website has been dedicated to the defense of Pope Francis and his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. We’ve striven to demonstrate how both Pope Francis and his teaching are consistent with Catholic tradition. We’ve responded to various arguments and critiques of the document, as well as clarified what...
“And now I would like to give the blessing, but first I want to ask you a favor. Before the bishop blesses the people, I ask that you would pray to the Lord to bless me — the prayer of the people for their Bishop. Let us say this prayer — your prayer...
“Now, as the Apostle Paul urges, this [Christian] unanimity ought to be perfect. Christian faith reposes not on human but on divine authority, for what God has revealed “we believe not on account of the intrinsic evidence of the truth perceived by the natural light of our reason, but on account of the authority...
John Calvin, the Reformation theologian in Geneva who lead the development of Protestant theology, was nothing if not a brilliant mind. Calvin’s contributions to the history of theology are almost always wrong, but they are so skillfully wrong that I cannot help but be impressed by their intricacy. One example of this is...
During the US bishops conference this week, my bishop, Bishop Boyea, put the following proposal to vote: “Be it resolved that the bishops of the USCCB encourage the Holy Father to release all the documentation that can be released consistent with canon and civil law regarding the misconduct of Archbishop McCarrick.” After around...
The public portion of the annual November meeting of the US Bishops has just concluded. It was certainly an eventful — and at times dramatic — three days. The week began with the news that the Vatican, through the Congregation of Bishops, requested that the US bishops delay their vote on accountability measures...
“When someone rejects Jesus, “the Lord waits for them, gives them a second chance, perhaps even a third, a fourth, a fifth… but in the end, He rejects them”: And this refusal makes us think of ourselves, of the times that Jesus calls us; calls us to celebrate with Him, to be close...
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