As an addendum to my earlier reflections on the pope’s wish that priests of the traditionalist Fraternal Society of St. Peter (FSSP) concelebrate (or at least participate in) the annual Chrism Mass with their local bishops and brother priests during Holy Week, I want to emphasize the central problems that this request is...
In recent years, members of the traditionalist movement have begun to turn the annual diocesan Chrism Mass into a sort of battleground. During Holy Week, in dioceses around the world, bishops gather with their priests to celebrate Mass and to bless the Holy Oils to be used throughout the diocese in the year...
I connected with Dr. Matthew Shadle last year. Back in December, I ran across an article he wrote about Pope Francis’s apostolic letter Ad Theologiam Promovendam, which revised the statutes of the Pontifical Academy of Theology. This letter received widespread criticism from some theologians/commentators because it encouraged a “contextual theology.” One theologian that heavily criticized this...
A reflection on the readings for March 3, 2024 — The Third Sunday of Lent. The Scripture Readings are taken from the Year A Reading for Sunday Scrutinies for Catechumens. I have only one niece. And she loves being my ‘only’ niece. She is now married and has two children. When she was...
The preaching of the Kingdom, the forgiveness of sins, the healings, and the performed signs were, indeed, sparks of a greater light, namely, of the light of Jesus, of the light that Jesus is. And from this light, the disciples are never to direct their eyes away, especially in moments of trial, like those...
The priest is not an angel sent from heaven. He is a man, a member of the Church, a Christian. Remaining man and Christian, he begins to speak to you the word of God. This word is not his own. No, he comes to you because God has told him to proclaim God’s...
In 1971, Frank Sheed published a book entitled What Difference Does Jesus Make? In chapter one, “The Dimming of Christ,” he writes, “Christ is in eclipse for many Christians in many Churches.” He then goes on to say, “I was talking to several hundred first- and second-year boys and girls from the Catholic...
In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, the late Elie Wiesel, reflecting on the Holocaust, and his personal experience of it – being in the same World War II Nazi concentration camps where his mother, father and sister were murdered, and coming very close to being executed himself – voiced these...
“The path to peace does not mean making society blandly uniform, but getting people to work together, side-by-side, in pursuing goals that benefit everyone. … The path to social unity always entails acknowledging the possibility that others have, at least in part, a legitimate point of view, something worthwhile to contribute” (Pope Francis,...
I first connected with Sara Larson last summer. She reached out to me after listening to the interview we had with Dr. Marcus Mescher about moral injury and clerical sexual abuse. Since then we’ve had several conversations, and every time I walk away feeling understood and with a little more hope. Sara is the...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, February 25, 2024 — The Second Sunday of Lent A saying gets passed around among pastors often to remind them of the purpose of their work—“feed the sheep, don’t count them.” We have to remind one another of this maxim every so often because, even for...
Moreover we may rightly and deservedly hope that our time also can contribute something towards the deeper and more accurate interpretation of Sacred Scripture. For not a few things, especially in matters pertaining to history, were scarcely at all or not fully explained by the commentators of past ages, since they lacked almost...
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