We continue what be began in our last number, a three-part study of spiritual childhood by Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. (1877-1964).
St. Teresa of the Child Jesus reminds us that the principal virtues of the child of God are those in which are reproduced in an eminent degree the innate qualities of the child, minus his defects. Consequently the way of spiritual childhood will teach us to be supernaturally ourselves minus our defects.
Brother Thomas Mary wrote an article many years ago that deserves wider circulation and attention. It’s called, simply, “Doctrinal Summary” — an accurate name, as the piece summarizes Father Feeney’s doctrinal stance, but a too modest name to arouse readers’ attention. Please consider this an invitation to read Brother …
(This is dedicated to Heidi Beirich, director of “research” at the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose intelligent, nuanced writing style I attempt to imitate.)
The radical mercenary leftist fundraisers at the Southern Poverty Law Center are busily spewing out their trademark caterwauling again. Yes, the enemies of free speech and Christian social order are howling about the frenzied maniacs ready to escort Adolf Hitler himself down Main Street, U.S.A.
MERRIMACK, N.H. (TMC Press Release) – The Virginia-based Young America’s Foundation recently recommended the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts as one of the nation’s top conservative colleges in its sixth annual “Top Conservative Colleges” list.
Commenting on the list, Young America’s Foundation President Ron Robinson explained, “Given the liberal bias in higher education today, it is critical that we make these recommendations.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
I just read on the New Advent website the Catholic Encyclopedia’s excellent account of the life of Erin’s great apostle. I would highly recommend it if you can spare fifteen minutes today. I can’t think of anything I’ve read elsewhere over the years about the saint that …
That’s the motion that was debated last week in London, at an event hosted by the Spectator and held at the Royal Geographical Society. And guess what — “the 700-strong sell-out audience voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion”!
Excerpt from The Catholic Herald:
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, author Piers Paul Read and Dom Anthony Sutch, former headmaster of Downside, spoke for the motion.
Anime cartoons and their characters are a huge cultic phenomenon, the most popular of all escapist media venues. It is very addictive and very dangerous, to the soul and the mind. I don’t post weird stories, but this blog by Zoe Romanowski from Inside Catholic, along with another, even …
One of the commentators on the relevant CWN article expressed it well: “It’s past time someone said this. Too often ecumenism is taken to mean the weakening of the teachings of the Church and the addition of non-Catholic ritual and beliefs.” A-m-e-n-!
Past time is better than no time — or, “better late than never.” All the scandal that has transpired, and is ongoing, in the name of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue should cease at these words of Cardinal Levada defining its purpose (or “final cause” to you Aristotelians out there): “Union with the Catholic Church is the goal of ecumenism.”
Our 2010 conference will be held on October 8 and 9 at Saint Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire.
The information currently available is as follows:
Theme: “The Romance of Wisdom”
Cost: $100 for both days (Friday and Saturday). This includes meals. Single days without meals: $40.
Note: This year, Friday and Saturday will both be full days. There will be eight speakers giving presentations in addition to the master of ceremonies, our Prior, Brother Andre Marie.
Archbishop Alberto Bottari de Castello, apostolic nuncio to Japan, has a very perceptive insight into the subversive effects Buddhist doctrine has on the soul of a suffering devotee confronting hopelessness. From Sandro Magister’s latest column: “Why Life is Worth So Little in Prosperous Japan.”
“The Japanese do not have a personal …
[March 5, 2010 - Rome Reports (with hat tip to Rorate Caeli)]
Benedict XVI has formed a commission to investigate if Our Lady truly appeared in Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia.
The commission is part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Cardinal Camillo Ruini will preside over the commission. Ruini is the pope’s former vicar of Rome’s diocese. Ruini goal will be to explain to the pope what’s happening at the sanctuary which has become the third most visited in Europe.
Allegedly, at least 6 people have witnessed the Virgins apparitions there since 1981.
There are seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Holy Eucharist, Holy Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction. All are outward signs instituted by Jesus Christ for the bestowal of sanctifying grace. Five of these sacraments must never be approached unless the recipient’s soul is free of mortal sin and in the state of grace. They are called sacraments of the living. Although technically the two remaining, Baptism and Penance, are called sacraments of the dead, Penance can be received by a penitent who is in the state of grace. It was instituted primarily for those who have fallen into serious sin after Baptism, but it can also be effective in lessening the penitent’s attachment to venial sin and in reducing the punishment due to sin in purgatory.
Each of the sacraments has its own special spiritual effect. With three of them, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders, an indelible mark, called a character, is imprinted forever on our soul. And, as St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, each of the seven correspond to the natural life of a man. Baptism, our rebirth in the Spirit as children of God, corresponds to our physical birth. Confirmation, which makes us soldiers of Christ and strengthens us in the Holy Ghost as mature members of the Church, corresponds to our physical maturation as leaving behind childhood and becoming young adult men and women. We are anointed with oil as are wrestlers who must do battle against the devil in the ring of life. Penance, in which sacrament the sickness caused by sin is forgiven, corresponds to the medicinal aid we receive when our bodies are ill. The priest is our doctor. Holy Eucharist, our spiritual Food so necessary for the soul, corresponds to the physical food necessary for the body. Holy Orders, the sacrament deputing one to the ministry of the three major orders of the priesthood, corresponds to our deputation in society, first as parents, then as leaders in government. Matrimony, which existed as an institution from the beginning with Adam and Eve, for the procreation of the race, was elevated as a grace-conferring sacrament by Christ Himself. Extreme Unction, also called the sacrament of the sick or annointing, is our spiritual final anointing to strengthen us for the final passage from this life to the next.
Zenit reports: “For the faithful Catholic,” the spokesman clarified, “[confession] has a sacramental meaning which requires the effective presence of a priest.” Full article here.
CNA reports: A young adults group in the Archdiocese of New York has recently announced a 24-hour confession event which will take place in March during the 2010 Lenten season.
The Cathedral of Saint Patrick Young Adults (CSPYA) group is holding their second annual “24 Hours of Confession” project March 5 -6 at 51 parishes throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, Duchess, Staten Island, as well as Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties. More information here.
Zenit News: Benedict XVI today encouraged the faithful — and particularly priests — to trust in God’s goodness and approach the sacrament of confession. Read more here.
Father McBrien just keeps marching on, treading new paths, looking for new frontiers so to expand his evolving theology. Of course I don’t read his column, but occasionally some traditional Catholic writer whom I do read takes him to task for one or more of his heretical statements. The following quote, however, is particularly offensive in both content and tone. What hubris we have on display here. When I read it I was stunned by the arrogance: This priest is not only snidely ridiculing the child-like faith of the illiterate and uneducated, he dares to put Jesus Christ Himself in His “place.”
“Notwithstanding Pope Benedict XVI’s personal endorsement of eucharistic adoration and the sporadic restoration of the practice in the archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, it is difficult to speak favorably about the devotion today.
“Now that most Catholics are literate and even well-educated, the Mass is in the language of the people (i.e, the vernacular), and its rituals are relatively easy to understand and follow, there is little or no need for extraneous eucharistic devotions. The Mass itself provides all that a Catholic needs sacramentally and spiritually.
“Eucharistic adoration, perpetual or not, is a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward.”
St. Francis de Sales, the Bishop of Geneva, was responsible for the conversion of Lady Stafford, a Protestant noble woman, who had formerly been intransigent in her opposition to the Catholic Faith. After going to one of his Masses, she was moved to consider the Faith in more friendly terms, but she still harbored great feelings of hostility, especially regarding the doctrine of Purgatory. Read More »
Listen, my brothers: If the Blessed Virgin is so honored, as it is right, since she carried Him in her most holy womb; if the blessed Baptist trembled and did not dare to touch the holy head of God; if the tomb in which He lay for some time is so venerated, how holy, just, and worthy must be the person who touches Him with his hands, receives Him in his heart and mouth, and offers Him to others to be received. This is He Who is now not about to die, but Who is eternally victorious and glorified, upon Whom the angels desire to gaze (1 Pet 1:12). Read More »
It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien, the celebrated fantasy writer who gave us The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was a Catholic. He was not a writer who just happened to be also a Catholic; he was a writer whose Catholicism permeated his work. Read More »
Our Lord once said to His disciples, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” These words of our Divine Master ever remain true, because He Who said so is God and Truth itself. It is to each one of us that He said this. Read More »
In Catholic piety, worship of the Eucharist and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary are usually seen as two separate things. There are religious orders dedicated to promoting each. Read More »
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