This great fifth century fighter of heresy gave a formula for determining what Catholics must believe in the event of a rampant heresy. We must believe that which has everywhere been believed in the Church, always been believed, and by … Continue reading
Category: Theology
More Old-Testament Violence, and Bluegrass
My Ad Rem on the subject of the “dark passages” of the Bible went a bit long. This piece represents a small coda with further thoughts on the issue, being a collection of “odds and ends” presented in no special order. … Continue reading
Faith and Miracles
What is faith? The Baltimore Catechism gives a very simple definition of faith as the first of the three theological virtues: “Faith is a Divine virtue by which we firmly believe the truths which God has revealed on the authority … Continue reading
The Synod is Over
The 2015 Synod of Bishops has concluded. Now begins the process of studying, understanding, implementing, or resisting the various provisions of its final document. Much of this will be in the form of “spin.” Modernists will cheer. “Conservatives” will defend the … Continue reading
The Challenge of Tradition
Tradition as Challenge is the title of Josef Pieper’s recently published and long awaited English translation of Tradition als Herausforderung — his deeply reflective and engagingly varied book of collected essays and speeches first published as a whole in Munich, … Continue reading
‘Lead Us Not Into Temptation’ — What Does This Mean?
And lead us not into temptation… Have you ever wondered about this petition in the Lord’s Prayer? What exactly are we asking of God our Father? This petition of the Our Father must be taken in conjunction with the next, … Continue reading
Auxiliary Bishop Elect of LA Prefers Rahner and Von Balthasar to Doctors of the Church
CNA December 2012: Dr. Ralph Martin, Professor of Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, has written an important book titled “Will Many Be Saved?” The text received a good deal of attention at the recent synod on the New … Continue reading
The Apostles Creed
The feast day of Saint Thomas the Apostle on the traditional Roman calendar is December 21. In the new calendar it is July 3, so I took the liberty of giving him honor on this day too. Saint Jerome had … Continue reading
To Be the Handmaid of the Handmaid of the Lord
“What manner of salutation is this”? Luke 1:29) Our Lady, with wonderful modesty and humility, related today’s event to the Evangelist, Saint Luke. The account is so chaste, so simple, so childlike. We begin with an angel, Gabriel the Archangel. … Continue reading
The Twenty-One Slain Copts: Martyrs?
The savage infidels who call themselves ISIL have added to their brutal crimes recently by simultaneously beheading twenty-one Egyptian Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya. This grievous crime against defenseless civilians should rouse our just indignation. Further, such a persecution of … Continue reading
Epiclesis and Filioque: Church Unity and the Schismatics January 19
In praying for the return of the schismatics to Church unity under the pope, I thought, by way of contrast, to clarify my own mind on two issues that, as I see it, have no basis being controversial at all. … Continue reading