This is a good article to give to your Protestant friends, maybe even for Christmas. First, I have a quick story to tell — and it is a true story — regarding another Protestant convert’s first two confessions; he is … Continue reading
Category: Sacraments
Immortality and the Tree of Life
Tree of Life In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing … Continue reading
Statistics Grim in 2015 for Faithful Confessing and Attending Papal Audiences and Angelus
Sandro Magister, www.chiesa: One thing that made the news at the end of the year was the data furnished by the prefecture of the pontifical household on attendance in 2015 at the public audiences with Pope Francis, with numbers down almost … Continue reading
Pope Asks Faithful to Celebrate the Day of Their Baptism
Our beloved chaplain of fond memory, Father Michael Jarecki, used to insist on this all the time, even going so far as to refuse to celebrate birthdays. In his own humorous way, Father used to saw that our birthday should … Continue reading
Only Baptism Makes Us ‘Children’ of God
One of the first things we learn about the one Catholic baptism from the catechism is that this sacrament “makes us children of God and heirs to the kingdom of heaven.” Therefore to say that non-Christians are children of God is wrong. … Continue reading
Could Cardinal Kasper Be Right?
From Father Paul Nicholson comes this interesting reflection on “spiritual communion,” “baptism of desire,” and the bizarre ramifications of a non-incarnational, pseudo-sacramental Catholicism that parallels the sacramental economy that was instituted by Jesus Christ. Some points Father Nicholson makes in the YouTube … Continue reading
Restoring Practice of Confession Theme of Year of Mercy
Catholic Online: One of the central aims of the Jubilee of Mercy will be to reorient the Sacrament of Confession back to the center of the Church’s pastoral life, explained one official involved in organizing the yearlong event. Read more here.
How Can One Receive Communion Who Refuses to Become a Catholic?
This is the ultimate in false ecumenism. The Eucharist is the Flesh and Blood of the God/Man; it is the sign of true charity, of union with the Savior. How can one deny the Church of Christ and dare to … Continue reading
The Annulment Mess: Videos and Resources
We live in a day when a false mercy threatens both the welfare of children and the sacraments instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ. One way that false mercy manifests itself is in the way annulments are conceived and carried … Continue reading
Pope Francis: Priests of SSPX Absolve ‘Validly and Licitly’ During Holy Year of Mercy
To My Venerable Brother Archbishop Rino Fisichella President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization [Source] [Skip to penultimate paragraph, here emboldened, regarding our headline —Catholicism.org] With the approach of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy I … Continue reading
Should Baptism Be Postponed for a Soldier Catechumen Deployed
I don’t think so. Catholic News Service: Twice before, Aaron Tam has come close to being baptized. Once was in Jacksonville, North Carolina, but in preparing for his deployment to Iraq, he missed too many classes. His instructor in the Rite … Continue reading
‘Kristin Lavransdatter’ a Catholic Trilogy: How to Die in Christ
Tyler Branski, Crisis: Those who have read Kristin Lavransdatter, the epic trilogy by Catholic convert and Norwegian Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset, have read it at least twice. This formidable tale of farming and holy pilgrimages and family in the … Continue reading
German Bishops Back Kasper on Communion for Divorced
Marie Meaney, Crisis: St John the Baptist gave his life in the defense of marriage. The German bishops, by coming out in favor of Cardinal Kasper’s proposals on divorced and remarried Catholics, took the side of Herod. In effect, they concluded … Continue reading