That wisdom could be “romantic” would strike many as odd. This is because, generally speaking, neither romance nor wisdom is properly considered. The former is mistaken for lust, while the latter is lost in a sea of empty esotericism, or consigned to simple disregard. Since the theme of our upcoming conference is “The Romance of Wisdom,” I feel bound to explain how these two nouns, seemingly so distant, can possibly be conjoined.
No question where this Catholic layman, Edmund Adamus, stands. He speaks with a clear tone of righteous indignation. Some question his timing, being that the pope will be visiting Britain in two weeks. Perhaps he is hoping that such a forthright assessment of Anglo-reality (and western reality) will preempt what could be a mere diplomatic mission into being a more provocative one that will truly spur on the loyal Catholics who have the potential to become a catalyst for a Catholic contra-reform in Britain.
Ahora hay un blog en español que defiende el dogma católico “No hay salvación fuera de la Iglesia Católica.” Está aún en construcción, pero tiene un post que se llama, “Las tres definiciones dogmáticas del dogma ‘Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus,’” que contiene en español las tres definiciones infalibles …
He had a vision for his country, inspired within him by a Catholic friend, that for China to be a great country it must find its greatness in the Christian religion. Lu (Lou) Zhengxiang was born to Protestant parents in 1871. He converted after meeting his future wife, Berthe Bovy, who was a Catholic Belgian. He represented China in 1919 at Versailles, the only representative who refused to sign the Treaty because it left Japan in control of certain territory in China that it had seized during the World War.
The most current information on the conference is on our SBC Conferences site. You can now register for the conference online at store.Catholicism.org. Keep your eye on Catholicism.org for the final conference schedule with complete list of speakers, times, etc.
I would like to bring to the attention of our readers a new blog — new to me, anyway — called The Holy Unia Blog. It’s an Eastern-Rite and pro-extra ecclesiam nulla salus blog that is “Promoting Holy Unia. Rejecting Ecumenism. Fighting Modernism. Rejecting Latinizations.” There’s nothing of a “Latin Rite is inferior” attitude about the contents. It promotes great apostles of Church unity like Mar Ivanios of Trivandrum.
Vladimir Soloviev gives this wonderful meditation on the Petrine office in Russia and the Universal Church (reprinted as The Russian Church and the Papacy). He is writing about St. Peter’s being made the Rock of the Church by our Lord and then, almost immediately, being called “Satan” (Mt. 16:18, 23).
In New Ideas on the Church and Salvation, I addressed the positions taken by Dr. Jeffrey Mirus in his piece, Salvation for Non-Catholics: Not a New Idea. Here, I will make some observations concerning the first of his two follow-ups: Sound Off! Comments on Salvation for Non-Catholics.
Dr. Mirus proffers the opinion that, to be damned for their unbelief, not only do people need to have heard the teachings of Jesus and the Church, they must have been convinced of them.
Father Michael Rodriquez, who has been mentioned on this site before, was recently featured on a local television program in El Paso, Texas. The issue under discussion was Church teaching on Homosexuality. You can see the video here. Notice, if you watch it, how this priest keeps …
The head of the Supreme Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest court, has clarified certain liturgical questions in light of Canon Law. His comments were made in the preface to a book celebrating the third anniversary of Summorum Pontificum.
Excerpts from the CNA article:
Pat Buchanan reports on Nancy Pelosi and company’s $26 billion loan from China to save the jobs of other government bureaucrats whose jobs were threatened. Their jobs were threatened because their employees (state and local governments) felt the need to balance budgets. Federal government glut is sapping the life blood out of American families and putting future generations in debt to hostile communists. This is not what’s called “political prudence.”
“For there must be also heresies: that they also, who are approved, may be made manifest among you” (1 Corinthians 11:19). St. Thomas defines heresy as “a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas.” God allows His faithful to be exposed to heresy in order to test their Faith, their docility, and obedience to Catholic authority. At Baptism we receive the theological virtue of Faith, which is a supernatural light for our intellect, which enables us to “see” the truths that God has revealed through His Church, or as Father Feeney so simply put it, “to think the thoughts of God.” A person, therefore, bearing within him this infused light, will immediately recognize pernicious doctrine for the darkness that it is.
Religious errors, on the other hand, are not necessarily opposed to the virtue of Faith. A validly baptized person may for a period fall into a material error on account of a misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine, or outright misinformation, and be innocent of the sin of heresy. He made be told, for example, that Catholics worship Mary as God, and then he would be in error about what Catholics believe. The providence of God will be sure to provide this person an opportunity, be it by way of a book or a Catholic acquaintance, to hear the truth. Then, if he cooperates with the light of Faith that is in him, he would be bound to accept the truth and seek out the full teaching of the Church.
If as the saying goes “contrast clarifies the mind,” then by studying the Church’s battles against heresies throughout her history, a Catholic can fortify his own Faith. The articles falling under this category are such. They are part of the library of the Church Militant as guardian of the truth and refuter of all heresies.
So much for Christ’s mandate to teach the Gospel to all nations. The donation was made at the request of Australian Oblate Father David Shelton “who wants to help in the religious formation of Indonesian Muslims in Australian jails.”
UCANews reports: Catholics and Protestants have donated 100 copies of the Qur’an to Indonesian Muslims in Australian jails, in what they call an act of religious solidarity. More here.
Asian News: A group of Christians and Muslims from Algeria, Morocco and France have planned a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Saint Augustine, their countryman, that will lead them to Milan and Pavia, where the remains of the North African saint of Hippo lie. There are several Muslim converts to Christianity among the group, some for over 40 years, others for just over a year. Read more here.
And, yes, there is controversy, both from tepid prelates who discourage such conversions, and, as you would expect, from Mohammedan zealots. It is against Moslem law to convert to another religion. The punishment is death. But Mohammedanism claims to be a “merciful” religion. So, if the guilty one recants and returns to Islam he will be spared. When an Afghan Abdul Rahman, convert to Catholicism in February 2006, he was arrested and threatened with the death penalty, He eventually found refuge in Italy. Ansarullah Mawlawizadah, the chief judge in the case, had this to say regarding Rahman: “the Prophet Muhammad has said several times that those who convert from Islam should be killed if they refuse to come back, Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, kindness and integrity. That is why we have told him if he regrets what he did, then we will forgive him”. Read more on this here.
I wonder sometimes why conservative Catholic thinkers like Dr. Mirus find the literal sense of the dogma, No Salvation Outside the Church, so distasteful. They have no problem giving an “uncertain sound” on their trumpets by giving non-Catholics a hope for salvation where they are: outside the Church. And they call this “charity.” Charity rejoices in the truth, Saint Paul teaches, and what Jeff Mirus has written in his column for today is not the truth. It is an affront to charity. Read More »
The following excellent explanation of liberalism is taken from: Parente, Pietro; Piolanti, Antonio; and Garofalo, Salvatore, Dictionary of Dogmatic Theology, translated by Emmanuel Doronzo, O.M.I., S.T.D., Ph.D. (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1951) p. 163 and 164. I have provided only the linked references and one small note in brackets.
Liberalism. A doctrinal current, quite complex and changeable, which has had various interpretations and practical applications, not easily definable. The basic concept of liberalism is liberty, taken as emancipation and independence of man, society, and State, from God and His Church. Read More »
Just for the record: homosexuality is a disorder and it can be cured. (See the web site of NARTH for more information.) There is also a strong connection between homosexuality and the molestation cases we hear of in the Church and elsewhere. But despite these facts, and despite the explicit condemnations of homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments, the pols of this formerly Christian nation seek to squash the efforts of those who would cure homosexuals that seek help. Read More »
“In like manner these men also defile the flesh, and despise dominion, and blaspheme majesty” (Jude 8). The Hollywood Reporter says that Comedy Central is soon to produce a new show mocking Our Lord:
Comedy Central might censor every image of the Prophet Muhammad on “South Park,” yet the network is developing a whole animated series around Jesus Christ. Read More »
You can rest comfortably, America. Those standard-bearers of decency at the Southern Poverty Law Center are once again magnanimously acting for the common weal. They have heroically identified forty (potential) domestic terrorists who are part of the “resurgent” patriot movement. Avoid these people at all costs — they are bad, and may try to protect you from Big Government!
Strange, isn’t it, that a “nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society” is so preoccupied with detractors of unconstitutional big government? Read More »
In “Tolerance Mafia,” James Antle III asks the question: “Who watches the hate watchers?” A surprising array of left-leaning journalists — fed up by the left’s own venal, manipulative, and money-minded enfant terrible — are included in the answer. It’s just a case of calling a rat a rat.
Here follows a tasty selection of Mr. Antle’s rat poison: Read More »
1 At that time, when he was teaching in the temple, he spoke unto them this parable, saying:
2 “The kingdom of Satan is like a chief scientist and his treatment group of rats. 3 The rats did consume steadily of junk food, thinking within themselves, ‘let us shun healthy meats, and eat compulsively of Ho Hos and cheesecake given us by the chief scientist, inducing dopamine in our brains so as to make us feel great pleasure.’ Read More »
Patrick Madrid has a good post here with very informative links covering his debates with the LDS.
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