July is the month of the Precious Blood. In the traditional rite, the first day of the month is the feast of that name. In the Roman Martyrology, July 1 also commemorates Aaron the High Priest, the brother of Moses. This liturgical concurrence is appropriate, since Aaron’s priesthood — part of the alliance mediated by Moses — was a priesthood that offered many sacrifices prefiguring Christ’s Precious Blood.
In his Making a Monkey Out of Darwin, the formidable Buchanan reviews a recent book by Eugene Windchy, The End of Darwinism: And How a Flawed and Disastrous Theory Was Stolen and Sold. You gotta give it to Pat; he’s not afraid to slaughter a sacred cow… or …
It would take too long to point out all that’s wrong with Laurie Goodstein’s New York Times piece, “U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny,” so I’ll cut to the chase. The last sentence of the article reads:
But the investigation of American nuns surprised many because there was no obvious precipitating cause.
The same article reports that vocations in the group in question are down from 180,000 in 1965 to 60,000 today. It also mentions that
Brother Francis has taken a downturn. We received news last week that Brother has “a couple of months” to live, due to his worsening aortic valve stenosis. This prognosis is from his very competent cardiologist at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, New Hampshire. As those who know Brother Francis can well imagine, he is taking the news very “philosophically.” Showing his resignation to the divine providence, he told one of the doctors, “I am in the Hands of God.”
Just after I posted an appreciation of the recent USCCB document clarifying the Church’s teaching on her mission and the Jewish People, I checked my familiar news sources to catch up on what’s going on.
Coincidentally, I discovered that “ADL president Abraham Foxman said that the bishops’ statement might be …
Our beloved Superior, Brother Francis, who will be 96 years old on July 19, is in need of prayers for his health. Brother was in the hospital last week with congestive heart failure, a condition he is prone to because he has long had aortic valve stenosis. He was discharged from Cheshire Medical Center last Friday, the Feast of the Sacred Heart. He is now at home, where the brothers and visiting health-care professionals are attending to him.
If you’ve not read Brian Kelly’s brief and delightful biography of Venerable Solanus Casey, please do yourself the favor. This Irish-American Padre Pio ought to be better known and loved across the nation.
Please Note: if any of our readers know some GM execs, could you please put a bug in their corporate ear? With all the trouble the auto-making giant is having these days, they should be reminded of Venerable Solanus’ past benevolence to Chevrolet, one of General Motors’ subsidiaries. As Brian writes:
Father Kenneth Baker, S. J., has written a short and delightful review of a recent book on Saint Francis of Assisi: “Preach Christ to the Muslims” The volume in review is St. Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims, by Frank M. Rega, S.F.O.
These two excerpts are worth savoring:
Trusting absolutely in God and willing to die for the faith, Francis was at first beaten by the guards but eventually taken to the sultan.
Over at Taki’s Magazine, Charles Coulombe playfully takes readers on a fast-paced romp through the unfamiliar (for most people) political spectrum of what is called “Paleoconservatism.” His article, The Old Paleos and the New, seeks to explain the contrasts and often bizarre alliances within this recently-coined label.
Kirkians, Burkeans, the descendants of the Old Right, Monarchists, Strict-Constructionists (like Birchers), devotees of Richard M. Weaver, and even certain Libertarians — all these find a home under the Paleo umbrella.
A magnificent writer, Elizabeth Thecla Mauro, has a passion for the sport, and boy is she good at her craft. Her team? The Yankees. Well, that’ll just have to be overlooked. She finds a nobility in the game and in the players, or in many of them that is, and …
The annual Pilgrimage for Restoration is a sixty-five mile walk from Lake George to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, NY. For four days, pilgrims attend Mass together, walk, camp, sing pray, and compare blisters! It’s an unforgettable experience. This year’s dates are Wednesday, September 23 to Saturday, September 26.
This event is not sponsored by Saint Benedict Center, but we participate in it every year, with great enthusiasm. The sponsors are the Company of St. René Goupil, with the…
“Outside the Church there is no salvation” is a doctrine of the Catholic Faith that was taught By Jesus Christ to His Apostles, preached by the Fathers, defined by popes and councils and piously believed by the faithful in every age of the Church. Here is how the Popes defined it:
But man, following the example of his natural father, Adam, often disobeys the authority of God. The fact that the doctrine had to be thrice defined itself proves the Church’s paternal solicitude in correcting her erring children who fall into indifferentism. The first goal of Saint Benedict Center is to defend this doctrine. We present here a selection of various articles written for that end.
Recently brought to my attention is this posting by Father John Zuhlsdorf (“Father Z”). In it, the popular Wanderer writer and Internet peritus presents some thoughts on relations between the SSPX and the Holy See. While some may consider that Father Z is glossing over the real issues and addressing only superficialities, I would have to agree with him — Read More »
A friend of mine recently brought to my attention this dramatic confirmation of the necessity of sacramental baptism, and God’s providence in supplying it. While we Latins were celebrating the feast of the great Saint Pius V (May 5), the Byzantines were celebrating the Great-martyr Irene of Thessalonica (4th c.). Her feast shows how interested God is in getting His predestined both Faith and Baptism.
In the Great Horologion, published by Holy Transfiguration (Orthodox) Monastery, we read the following (from Orthodox Saints for May, italics mine): Read More »
Why, yes, I’m a Catholic. I thought you knew. Read More »
In the recent row over the Holy Father’s statements about birth control devices, it was made very apparent how much the world hates the Church’s moral magisterium. Even bishops, shepherds of Our Lord’s flock, went on record opposing the teachings of the Chief Shepherd of Christians. While I was considering this revolting set of circumstances, it struck me how closely these events tie into our Crusade to restore faith in the defined dogma, “no salvation outside the Church.” Read More »
I have erred. A couple of weeks ago, I bombed it. Yes, I — the Philosopher — made a colossal mistake. It seems I imprudently trusted a friend who sent me a quote alleged to be from the pen of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. That passage, supposedly from an article in the scholarly journal, Communio, was a total fabrication. My friend was snookered by it, and I trusted him. Read More »
(See the From the Housetops editor’s introduction to this article.)
The February 1991 issue of the Catholic magazine 30 Days featured a very striking cover designed by Romano Sicillani. Michelangelo’s famous painting from the Sistine Chapel, the Fall and Expulsion of Adam and Eve, is going up in flames, and underneath the legend reads: “Exonerating Pelagius?” Read More »
As a corollary to the necessity of Faith and Baptism for salvation, St. Thomas also taught that unbaptized babies went to the Limbo of the Children (Summa Theologica. III, Q. 52, a. 7). But later the rigorist Jansenists taught that unbaptized babies rather went to the fires of hell, and they called the Limbo of the Children a “Pelagian Heresy.” Read More »
To Our Venerable Brethren, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and to all Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Pius XI, Pontifex Maximus.
Venerable Brethren: Greetings and Apostolic Benediction: Read More »
THE CATHOLIC DOGMA
Extra Ecclesiam Nullus omnino Salvatur
by Father Michael Mueller, C.SS.R.
When I read an old edition of this myth-shattering book about twenty-five years ago, I was convinced that it could inspire every earnest Catholic with an evangelical zeal that would be grounded in sound doctrine. I feel that way even more so today. Read More »
The following extract from the Catechism on Catholic Doctrine, written by the renowned Scottish Bishop, George Hay (1729-1811), is presented for you as a testimony to the Faith of the centuries. A convert from Episcopalianism, Bishop Hay understood, far better than most of our present day Catholic clergy, the need for infallible authority in religious matters. Read More »
