There are many Christian confessions that recite, as part of their official worship, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, which professes faith in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” But only one of those that confess this creed is, in reality, the Church … Continue reading
Imagine pulling into your local farmer’s co-op, where hippies, “traddies,” and other divergent elements of our modern melting pot all coalesce in the interests of health, localism, and fresh asparagus. You park your dinged-up Ford Explorer, bedecked with rear-view Rosary … Continue reading
Dilexi decorem domus Domini, Father B. Jerabek: When a person who is already baptized is received into the Catholic Church now, the ordinary profession of faith used is quite simple. The person states (without having to put his or her … Continue reading
There are numerous indicators that the October 6-27 Synod on the Amazon will have as one of its effects the dismantling or mitigating of the Latin Church’s ancient discipline of priestly celibacy. At least that is what is being claimed … Continue reading
Holy Scripture abounds in analogy. There are similes and metaphors and that particular form of Hebrew poetry called parallelism. The Hebrews didn’t rhyme words in their poems, but they coupled ideas. An analogy is a comparison of two or more … Continue reading
The epiclesis (also spelled epiklesis, and sometimes capitalized) is the prayer found in most if not all of the traditional Eastern Liturgies by which the priest-celebrant calls the Holy Ghost down upon the gifts. The Latin equivalent to this Greek … Continue reading
Much of the talk today about “faith and reason” is sloppy and inadequate. It discounts the effects of the Fall and improperly separates the natural law from the order of grace, where it fits within a hierarchy of divine helps … Continue reading
It would be a terrible shame if we failed to honor the grand mystery of Our Lord’s Ascension on this Thursday and the remaining days of Paschaltide that follow it, which are, in fact, called Ascensiontide. We may rightly (and … Continue reading
Ascension Thursday is one of six holy days of obligation (not counting all Sundays) in the United States, although most dioceses have now transferred it to the following Sunday. Canon Law has relegated the holy days to local bishops or … Continue reading
This is the text of a talk that I gave at the May 18 conference, “Raising Chivalrous Young Men in an Increasingly Decadent Society,” in Woodbridge, New Jersey. I parted a little from the text, making several asides and also … Continue reading
The escalating crisis in the Church is lately having the sad effect of fostering enmities between those who ought to be, or who once were, allies. Aided by a social media that lets us too easily forget our good manners … Continue reading
As I noted in my article defending Padre Pio’s miraculous stigmata, if the belief is Catholic and traditional, you can bet that my friend, Pastor Joe, a Pentecostal minister, will be against it. The latest missive I received from him … Continue reading
“I try to be unoriginal.” That quote was attributed to Brother Francis in a recent conversation I had with a friend, who, like me, regards Brother as a beloved mentor. Our teacher’s point, which he made in various ways over … Continue reading
The YouTube videos below constitute a three-part series of lectures by Dr. Andrew Jones. The lectures treat of Pope Innocent III and the ecumenical council he summoned, Lateran IV, which set about the difficult tasks of teaching orthodoxy, bringing about … Continue reading
The philosophical definition of truth is “the conformity of the mind to reality.”1 Truth is, therefore, a conformity. And as the etymology of that word suggests, it is the mind being “shaped,” — or bent into the shape of — … Continue reading
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