Nearly three months have passed since the publication of the synod’s final report from Study Group 9, titled “Theological Criteria and Synodal Methodologies for Shared Discernment of Emerging Doctrinal, Pastoral, and Ethical Issues.”[1] Though receiving much press due to its...
The most conservative (or traditional, or reactionary—pick what adjective you will) among the Vatican II Council Fathers, the men who prepared most of the working documents that were called into question once the Council was underway, insisted that divine revelation...
In this episode, I talked with Dr. Shaun Blanchard about Pope Leo declaring St. John Henry Newman to be a doctor of the Church. We discuss Shaun’s role in that official process. We also discuss Newman’s theology of development and...
In this throwback episode from 2023, Paul and Dominic have a conversation with Shaun Blanchard about Vatican II and the development of doctrine. Shaun offers a brief history of the Church’s understanding about how doctrine develops over the past few...
I had recorded all of Season One before the conclave, but I didn’t want to wait until the fall to talk about Pope Leo. So this is a bonus round-table discussion with two previous guests: Shaun Blanchard and Colleen Dulle....
This is part one of a two-part conversation with Jordan Daniel Wood. In this first part, we discuss a recent lecture that Jordan presented about the development of the Church’s teachings on Hell, as well as what he proposes for...
This morning, I finally got around to listening to Paul Fahey’s Third Space interview with Fr. Chris Kellerman, SJ, author of All Oppression Shall Cease: A History of Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Catholic Church. They discuss what Fr. Kellerman discovered over...
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...
The second reading at Mass today is from Ephesians 5, a section of St. Paul’s letter that includes this passage: “21 Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to...
An important objection was raised recently during a parish bible study, in the context of a discussion on the development of Church teaching and biblical interpretation. The idea was that in the face of disputes, uncertainties, and disagreements on the...
The very notion of the development of Catholic doctrine is of course very much in discussion today and will be for a long while yet, but it seems to me that the concept itself is a bit messier than is...
Dignitas infinita, the new DDF declaration on human dignity and various contemporary practices that threaten it, reads mostly like a document that reaffirms traditional prohibitions—sometimes quite sternly so, such as in the section on “gender theory,” which section I think...
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