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The Romance of Wisdom

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.

by Brother André Marie September 2nd, 2010

Pastoral Director for Westminster Archbishop Calls Britain a “Selfish and Hedonistic Wasteland”


Brian Kelly

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.


Un Blog Nuevo en Español sobre ‘el Dogma’


The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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 …


Ambassador, Foreign Minister, Premier, Benedictine Priest and Abbot, China’s Catholic Prime Minister Lu Zhengxiang


Brian Kelly

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. 


Register Online for the SBC Conference!


The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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.


The Holy Unia Blog


Brother André Marie

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.


Soloviev’s Meditation on the Papacy


The Philosopher

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).


Psychology and Salvation


Brother André Marie

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.


Fr. Michael Rodriguez Defends the Moral Law on TV


The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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 …


Archbishop Burke Clarifies: Eucharistic Ministers, Altar Girls Have No ‘Right’ to These Positions


Brother André Marie

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:


Mammoth Government Protects Itself at Our Expense


The Philosopher

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.”


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Polemics

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote an excellent article called “The Decline of Controversy.” He gave the Center permission to publish it in From the Housetops magazine. His major point was that false ecumenism and religious indifference were undermining the art of religious disputation. The good old days of vibrant argumentation were being replaced by soulless dialogue. The more controversy declines the more truth becomes relative.

Polemics can be called the art of disputation. It is more than debate; it is animated debate. By its very nature polemics is meant to be a stimulating exercise, which fortifies the mind by establishing the reasons that support the truths we believe in. And one way to do that is by exposing the fallacies of the arguments used to support false doctrine.  With liberals and Protestants, polemics employs arguments based on the authority of scripture and tradition. But the polemicist may also utilize contrast in exposing doctrinal or moral fallacies. Whatever tools are used, charity is the balm that softens the opponents hearts so that they may listen to or read arguments rather than ad hominems.

In Salvation for Non-Catholics and Limbo, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus makes two arguments I would like to address. The first deals with limbo and claims that the lack of certitude that we have about the fate of unbaptized infants provides a way for us to think about the fate of non-Catholic adults. The second cites the encyclical Mystici Corporis as proof of the assertion that “the Church does officially teach a way of salvation for adults outside the visible structure of the Church.” Read More »

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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. Read More »

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Dr. Jeffrey A. Mirus, of Catholicculture.org, has authored three commentaries on that site concerning the doctrine no salvation outside the Church: 1) Salvation for Non-Catholics: Not a New Idea, 2) Sound Off! Comments on Salvation for Non-Catholics, and 3) Salvation for Non-Catholics and Limbo. If all one had ever read on this issue were Dr. Mirus’ work, he would not know that there exist three infallible pronouncements on the issue (one of Lateran Council IV, one of Boniface VIII, and one of the Council of Florence). Read More »

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“Triumphalism” is a bad word in some circles. That those circles have been influential in academic, ecclesiastical, and civil society in recent decades helps to explain our sad lot. I’ll not forget the perplexity that overcame me when I read a passage in the writings of Yves Congar, in which that great Dominican progressivist criticized those sentimentally pining away for another baptism of Clovis by another Saint Remigius. He was referring to traditionalists. Given Congar’s French nationality, and that the historic event he made light of constituted his nation “the eldest daughter of the Church,” I wondered at the iconoclasm of it all. Read More »

Americans for Legal Immigration have compared the Southern Poverty Law Center to Hitler and Stalin. While the SPLC’s modus operandi appears to be more … let’s call it “capitalist” … than their German and Russian counterparts, those who have dealt with the brownshirts from Montgomery, Alabama might be inclined to agree with ALIPAC’s assessment. Read More »

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Why, yes, I’m a Catholic. I thought you knew. Read More »

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The Telegraph’s Gerald Warner gives Richard Dawkins, that dyspeptic dynamo of Darwinian dogmatism, a very well deserved smack.

Dawkins is not interested in empirical, scientific evidence when he is kicking religion. If the Pope favoured condoms Dawkins would probably be against them — on sound scientific grounds. Atheism is the new superstition and nobody illustrates it better than a scientist who rejects scientific method in favour of blinkered prejudice.

Bravo, Gerald. Have a blessed Triduum.

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The following advisory on the SPLC comes from Americans for Legal Immigration. It is offered here on our site, not as an endorsement of ALIPAC, but as a public service to disseminate information on this insidious organization (the SPLC), which attacks fundamental Christian morals in society. Read More »

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Having long since declared themselves experts in all things hate, the Southern Poverty Law Center has recently updated their “hate map,” and — you may have guessed it — “the nation’s richest civil rights organization” (USA Today) continues to lie about the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The SPLC’s Heidi Beirich was interviewed for an article in Seacoastonline.com Read More »

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Several bloggers specializing in defaming us and our Catholic apostolate have recently leveled the vicious libel of “racism” at us. To answer some questions these postings have generated, I offer the following observations.

The accusation that Father Feeney and Saint Benedict Center are “racist” is utterly false and libelous. We deplore and condemn racism of any sort. The accusations, copied on various blogs, cite the same witness as an authority. Read More »

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