The ten leading members whom the Pope last week expelled from the scandal-plagued Peruvian movement Sodalicio were responsible for abuse of different kinds: physical, including sadism and violence; of conscience; and spiritual abuse, such as using information obtained in spiritual direction. The sanctions for these are established in canon law and have been...
In this episode, I talked with Dr. Shaun Blanchard about the trend I’ve seen among not only Traditionalist, but also mainstream “JPII Catholics,” to reject the development of doctrine and embrace a type of Catholic fundamentalism. Listen to the episode here: https://www.catholicthirdspace.com/p/3-shaun-blanchard-development-and Shaun Blanchard is Lecturer in Theology at the University of Notre Dame...
One of our contributors, V. J. Tarantino, composed an original musical setting of the St. Michael Prayer, a few years ago. In honor of the Feast of the Holy Archangels (not celebrated liturgically this year, as it falls on Sunday), we are sharing this music with you. WPI : How do you come...
This contempt almost bars the way of all wellfounded hope of the conversion of the erring; while they refuse obedience to him to whom Divine Providence as to the Lord and Father of the whole Church in its pilgrimage on earth . . . has entrusted the custody of Christian life and faith...
A Reflection on Today’s Readings Recently, I was playing a form of Bible roulette. If you have not heard the term before, it is a reference to when someone points to a random verse in the Bible and tries to apply it to their life. Usually, the verse is applied literally since there...
In his famous Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, St. John Henry Newman sought to address a serious concern among the Protestant Christians of his day. Namely, if you look back through the Church’s history, there are places where the Church of one age taught something different from the Church of a...
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt 5:48) During the first year of his papacy, Pope Francis answered a question from journalist Eugenio Scalfari regarding the significance of mystics in the Church: “They have been fundamental. A religion without mystics is a philosophy.” Although Scalfari later become notorious for...
Anyone familiar with the history of the papacy is aware that factions among the curia are not a new phenomenon; hence, the current factions regarding the papacy of Francis should not come as any surprise. The current dispute about his style of leadership seems, in some very conservative quarters at least, to reduce...
About a year and a half ago, I wrote an article on the Samaritan woman of the Gospels in connection with the Holy Father’s 2021 opening of the ordinary ministry of acolyte and lector to women of good character. Taken alongside his establishment of the ministry of catechist as an ordinary ministry open to both men and...
The “seeds of truth” present and active in the various religious traditions are a reflection of the unique Word of God, who enlightens every man coming into world and who became flesh in Christ Jesus. They are together an effect of the Spirit of truth operating outside the visible confines of the Mystical...
When the world is in greatest confusion, visionaries become oracles. Panic, like every other passion, blinds the intelligence of man, and he is glad to take refuge from everything that bewilders him by giving it a ‘supernatural’ interpretation. -Fr. Marie Louis, O.S.C.O. [Thomas Merton] While actual discernment of spirits is itself a work...
By issuing a “nihil obstat,” the Vatican has finally come to a decision on one of the most controversial phenomena in the contemporary Church — the alleged apparitions in Medjugorje. The series of alleged Marian visions that began over four decades ago in the small town, located in what is now Bosnia and...
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