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.”
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. Many of the leading thinkers within Paleoconservatism are Catholics, and their commitment to the Catholic-influenced political traditions of the West underlies their paleoconnery. (For a glimpse of Paleoconservatives in action, take a look at Chronicles Magazine, which has many Catholic contributors.)
As Coulombe points out, this alliance can be defined largely by what its constituents oppose: the big government, jingoism, globe-trotting war mongering, globalism, and multiculturalism embraced by the neocon. Beyond that, there is a lot of diversity within the very loose movement. Sad to say it, many who lay hold to the name appear to be craving for an identity — just as they are obsessed with labels — and are willing to embrace the most bankrupt of philosophies and call it “conservative.” I’ve even heard of some in the movement who profess to be Nietzscheans, which begs the question: what on earth are they “conserving”?
In fact, that is the big question for all “conservatives.”
Catholics should want to conserve a society which honors the rights of God first, protects the family, reflects the heavenly hierarchy that the rest of creation mirrors, and makes its citizens’ salvation more attainable than it would otherwise be. In short, the Catholic wants to preserve the rights of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, wherever and however those might be preserved. Some of the authors and movements I’ve mentioned here (and others, like the Southern Agrarians, and, more explicitly, the Distributists) share certain ideals which are conducive to the Social Reign of Our Lord. Those ideals ought to be promoted.
If we wish to conserve America, we must give her the Kingship of Christ. Only He saves: not political parties, not constitutions, not movements based on merely human wisdom — no, not even the human wisdom of the Founding Fathers. But since politics — the art and science of governing society — is necessary, let the apostle of Christ the King embrace whatever is good and noble in these various schools of thought, and scuttle whatever lacks conformity to the Church’s social teaching.
After all, we are not ideologues, but disciples.
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This article, by the great American Catholic writer Orestes Brownson, illustrates how only the, presumably, pre-Vatican II Catholic Faith is up to the task of preserving popular liberty. http://terrenceberres.com/bro-cat.html
Tim,
It may edify you to know that Russell Kirk, whom I mentioned in the column, is a convert. I’m not sure that he converted because of Brownson’s influence, but he was profoundly impressed with Brownson’s political writings.
This probably helped in his conversion.
Deo gracias!