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...
How does the Church’s understanding of Revelation grow? How does doctrine develop, and who develops it? Dei Verbum is the key text for engaging with these questions. It affirms that Tradition develops with and through the whole Church: from the prayers...
Note: This essay, which I originally wrote in 2018 and did not publish at that time, has been resurrected and refurbished to reflect the current state of play around Fiducia supplicans and its reception. Much of the forthcoming is theologically...
Editor’s note: In recent years, the Church’s teaching on the death penalty has been a topic of much debate among Catholics, especially in the United States where the practice is still legal. In this essay, “Capital Punishment and Magisterial Authority,”...
I first came across Shaun Blanchard a couple of years ago when I read his excellent article, “Traditionis Custodes Was Never Merely About the Liturgy” in Church Life Journal. That article provoked my interest in how doctrine develops and the relationship between...
A few years ago, author and philosophy professor Edward Feser wrote an essay criticizing Catholic teaching on the death penalty. His piece centers on the following question: Does Pope Francis’s teaching on capital punishment amount to a doctrinal change or...
Dominic and I had a conversation a couple of weeks ago about living out the evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, and obedience) in marriage that unexpectedly blew up on Catholic Twitter…and not in a good way, haha. There were many folks...
Earlier this week, Dustin Quick invited me onto his podcast, “Holy Smokes: Cigars, Catholicism, and Conversation” to talk about the Magisterium and the development of doctrine. I encounter a lot of hesitancy in the Church with the idea that Church...
Recently, two prominent churchmen called for a change in the Church’s teachings on sexuality. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg said in an interview with a German Catholic news agency that the Church’s teachings on homosexuality were no longer correct and...
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