We all hate it when someone makes a promise and doesn’t keep it. “But you promised!” we will say, and, depending on the level of blame and sensitivity of conscience on the part of the offending party, the reaction can … Continue reading
Category: «Ad Rem» A Fortnightly Email Message from the Prior
«Ad Rem» is our Prior’s fortnightly email message offering news and commentary regarding the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Crusade of St. Benedict Center, and issues affecting the universal Church. Each number offers brief, ad rem (“to the point”) commentary on timely or otherwise important matters. Click here to subscribe to our email list and receive the «Ad Rem» each time it’s published.
Last Call for the 2010 SBC Conference
Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my calves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage (Matt. 22:4). Our conference is all ready. … Continue reading →
The Four-Fold Wisdom
Brother Francis began his eight-part philosophy course with words to this effect: “We are starting a course on wisdom. And when it comes to wisdom, only a fool can think himself a worthy teacher.” He stated this with his characteristic … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
Limbo and the Mystical Body: on the Borderlands of Dogma
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 … Continue reading →
New Ideas on the Church and Salvation
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 … Continue reading →
The End of the World as We Know It
Religiously, morally, politically, and even physically (thanks to its increasing obesity) our nation has been slouching towards Gommorah for many years now. We’ve made ourselves worthy subjects of the great big Nannie State that our own sloth and indifference have … Continue reading →
For the Honor of the Virgin
There are two dialogues in the Gospels that sectarians use to slight the honor of the Blessed Virgin, a thing all the more serious inasmuch as the words are utterances of Jesus Himself. They are the episode Our Lord’s Mother … Continue reading →
Liberal Education vs. Liberalism
At St. Benedict Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, our forefathers had a saying that epitomized their apostolate in the academic circles in which they moved: “We are against liberalism in religion, but we are for liberal education.” This was in the … Continue reading →
Saint Benedict Center in the News
RICHMOND, N.H. — Friday, June 25, 2010 — An Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney has secured a $1.15 million settlement on behalf of Saint Benedict Center of Richmond in a lawsuit over the town’s unconstitutional zoning restrictions. The center contended officials singled it out for discrimination after certain officials expressed their view that the church’s moral positions on matters such as abortion and homosexual behavior are “abhorrent.”
The settlement payment–coming after two state court orders in favor of the church–marks one of the largest settlements in U.S. history involving the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that protects churches from unequal treatment in land use disputes with local governments. Continue reading →
Perverted Liturgy and the True Church
For those who were liturgically tormented in their youth by weapons of Mass destruction, it’s almost a sweet revenge to hear the words recently spoken by Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline … Continue reading →
Holy Desires
The corruption of the flesh weighing upon us so heavily during our earthly sojourn, we often find ourselves desiring what is base and wicked. But our wills can be motivated to love what is truly good, and therefore to desire … Continue reading →
Tradition is Good for You
For years, physicists have been on an Arthurian quest for what they call the “grand unified theory.” Far be it from me to bore readers with an explanation of this theory that they can find elsewhere, but the gist of … Continue reading →
Florilegium Sancti Ludovici Mariae
In medieval Latin, a florilegium (literally, a “gathering of flowers”) is a systematic collection of writings from larger works. Its literal Greek equivalent gives us the word anthology. In the Ages of Faith, works of the Church Fathers and other … Continue reading →
In Praise of Triumphalism
“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 … Continue reading →