In 1985 the US bishops received a confidential report on sexual abuse by clerics, warning them that there was “simply too much at stake for the Church” for the hierarchy to ignore the issue. (From the Introduction to The Faithful … Continue reading
Category: History
Red is for Martyrdom: Unsung Heroes of the Sacred College
Well then, on the Cardinal’s ring that I will consign in a few moments to the new members of the Sacred College is portrayed precisely the Crucifixion. This, dear new Cardinal-Brothers, will always be an invitation for you to remember … Continue reading
Islam Versus the Faith
Much of history since the seventh century has been shaped by an unending conflict between the One True Church and Islam. Today’s Church having fallen into a sorry state with many of her members no longer understanding that they belong … Continue reading
The Edict of Nantes, Wars of Religion, and Damnable Nationalism
The Edict of Nantes was a pragmatic, political solution to the civil strife that existed in a sixteenth-century France ravaged by wars of religion. Though the edict itself was not trusted, appreciated, or liked by most Frenchmen at the time, … Continue reading
A Great Catholic Historian: Godfrey Kurth C. S. G.
I have finished reading the wonderful volume of Godfrey Kurth, The Church at the Turning Points of History, now happily brought back into print by my friends at IHS Press. This accomplished author is not so well known as he … Continue reading
The Council of Trent: Overview of its Importance and Difficulties
The importance of the Council of Trent lies in its being two things at the same time: 1) the heart and soul of the Catholic Reformation (the authentic reform of the Church); and 2) the definitive moment of the Counter … Continue reading
The Council of Nicea was Catholic
The headline of this posting may strike readers as comical. It is, of course, a fact.It seems so obvious as to be like asserting that the New England Patriots are a football team. However, there are Protestant polemicists who attempt … Continue reading
The Centenary of Pascendi, the Battle of Vienna
An Important Centenary. This past Saturday marked a very important centenary. On September 8, 1907, the Feast of Our Lady’s Nativity, Pope St. Pius X published his wonderful encyclical condemning Modernism: Pascendi Dominici Gregis. The vigilant pope’s definitive condemnation of … Continue reading
How the Popes and Other Catholic Leaders in the 19th Century Responded to Modernity
The eighteenth-century Enlightenment mounted a severe offensive against the Church, one which combined various malignant cultural and intellectual trends that had gradually come into ascendancy since the Renaissance. “For the most part, the Church did not respond to this attack … Continue reading
The Relationship of Americanism to Modernism
It would be a gross oversimplification to put an equal sign between the words “Americanism” and “Modernism,” as if the former were merely the American embodiment of the latter. However, while we must avoid this facile identification of the two, … Continue reading
What did St. Pius X mean when he called Modernism “the synthesis of all heresies”?
This phrase – “the synthesis of all heresies” – shows up toward the end of the Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, placed in the context of a rhetorical question.[1] After an apology for taking so long to explore the entire scope … Continue reading
How the Renaissance Papacy contributed to the Reformation
The Catholic historian, A. Dufourcq, called the papacy of 1447 to 1527, la papauté princière, “the papacy of princes.”[1] This trenchant appellation conveys Fr. Maurice Sheehan’s meaning when he says “these popes were more men of culture or rulers than … Continue reading
Holy and Roman
Voltaire, whose corrosive wit did so much to dissolve the faith of the pre-revolutionary French aristocracy in their right to rule (not to speak of their adherence to the Faith) once quipped that “the Holy Roman Empire is neither holy … Continue reading
Crushing the Infamous One
The Dialogue of the Carmelites, by Francis Poulenc, is one of the few operas composed in the past half century worth hearing. Poulenc based his 1958 work on a drama of the same title that was written by Georges Bernanos, … Continue reading
In the Company of Ignatius
“Therefore every scribe instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven, is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old. ” (MT 13:52) Throughout the long history of our Catholic religion, … Continue reading
