“I am not worthy”
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” We say these words at every Mass, conscious of our smallness before the greatness of God in the Sacrament of his Love. At the same time, much of...
Tagged: Amoris Laetitia
The Not-So-Sexy Theology of the Body
Although Catholics in the United States frequently discuss issues related to human sexuality, our catechesis on marriage and sex very rarely treats these as the complex mysteries that they are. Instead, we tend to unintentionally promote an unrealistic vision of...
Put the dubia in the dustbin
We’re approaching the beginning of the “Amoris Laetitia Family Year,” marking the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’s landmark exhortation on the family and to celebrate the joy of love and the family. This special year will be kicked off with an...
Pope clarifies Amoris Laetitia in “Let Us Dream”
“This was the great breakthrough the Spirit brought us: a better synthesis of truth and mercy in a fresh understanding drawn from within our own Tradition. Without changing law or doctrine but recovering an authentic meaning of both, the Church...
Vatican II and “weaponized ambiguity”
It has become common among critics of the Second Vatican Council to use the expression “weaponized ambiguity” to describe certain conciliar teachings. This expression assumes that language in the Vatican II documents is ambiguous, in the sense that teachings can...
Toppling statues: What can we learn from Amoris Laetitia?
As the struggle for racial justice in American society expanded to include calls for the removal of statues honoring historical figures who perpetuated institutional racism (including slaveowners and Confederate soldiers,) statues of other figures have also been called into question....
Theosis, Pastoral Accompaniment, and the Law of Gradualism
Back in January the Lord put on my mind and heart an idea for a theological essay that he wanted me to write. I don’t say that lightly here. Never before has something burned within me until I wrote it...
What about accompaniment for dissenters?
“A lukewarm attitude, any kind of relativism, or an undue reticence in proposing that ideal, would be a lack of fidelity to the Gospel and also of love on the part of the Church for young people themselves. To show...
Selfless Love and the Theology of the Body
In commemoration of the 100th birthday of St. John Paul II, I wanted to reflect briefly on one aspect of his teaching, the monumental “Theology of the Body.” Presented in a series of 129 Wednesday Audiences proclaimed to the lay...
Living in the World
“Jesus invites us not to be afraid to live in the world even if in it one sometimes runs into conditions of conflict and sin. In face of violence, of injustice, of oppression, a Christian can’t close himself in himself...
Loneliness Today, Part III: The Loneliness of the Old
The 1970s country-western song “Pancho and Lefty” was written by Townes Van Zandt, and is most famous in the form of a cover by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. (For what it’s worth, I personally prefer the Van Zandt original,...
Reporting on the ‘Synodal Way’
There are good reasons to be concerned about the German ‘Synodal Way.’ Many in the Vatican, including Pope Francis himself, are concerned about it. But since it is our duty as Catholics to cleave to the truth, we have to...
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