Author: S&P
Let’s study the impact of the Traditional Latin Mass…
COMMENTARY: The U.S. bishops will likely discover considerable evidence that proliferation of traditional Latin Masses has been largely a unifying force in the Church — worshippers have been brought into the parishes where youthful zeal is having a noticeable impact. In Traditionis Custodes (Guardians of the Tradition), the motu proprio that sets out provisions for curtailing the availability of t...
Msgr. Burrill and the ‘Droit du Monseigneur’…
It looks like many Catholics, from the progressives to the integralists, are mad at The Pillar for outing a top USCCB cleric over his alleged use of the gay hook-up app Grindr, which is used to arrange impromptu gay sexual encounters. The Washington Postsurveys the reaction. Excerpts: Is Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill a victim of both the surveillance and morality police? Or a hypocrite who had it comi...
How extraordinary is the Extraordinary Form? The frequency of the ‘usus antiquior,’ analyzed…
Pope Francis last Friday promulgated canonical legislation that significantly restricts the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Credit: Thoom / Shutterstock. The motu proprio Traditionis custodes has been discussed extensively in some Catholic circles and prompted a variety of responses from bishops. It has also left some people wondering how many American Catholics actu...
The Biggest “But” in the Bible (Ephesians 2:4)
Trivia time! What’s the biggest but in the Bible? We will discover the answer to that question today in our study of Ephesians 2:4. I will also answer a quick question from a reader about the topic of Calvinism. Before that, however, I have a bit of news! I now accept Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies on my website, and if you follow some suggested steps, you can earn about $60 in free cryptocur...
The matrimonial gift: “With my body I thee worship…”…
The Painters Honeymoon – Frederic Leighton “With this ring I thee wed; this gold and silver I thee give, with my body I thee worship and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.” In last week’s article, I made the claim that not only is it possible for someone to give a gift without expectations or demands from the receiver, it is in fact necessary that this be the case. Otherwise, it is not ...
Why children need real heroes and true history…
2 minutes Summary Simply put, opines John Clark, do not make heroes of men and women unless you want your children to grow up to be like these particular men and women. Some claim that the main reason to learn history is to avoid the past mistakes of others. While there is admittedly some benefit to learning history for that reason, this is nevertheless a merely negative prohibition. But from a Ca...
Mississippi appeals lower court rulings, asks U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade…
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for the state of Mississippi urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn Roe v Wade, taking a more aggressive approach than the one presented when they asked the court a year ago to hear the case. The case for overturning the two main decisions that legalized abortion in the United States — Roe v Wade in 1973 and a later case, 1992’s Planned Parenthood v Casey —...
Here’s the gist of the new motu proprio: Forget “accompaniment” and “dialogue,” and push TLM goers to the margins…..
Let’s do an Occam’s Razor on this new Motu Proprio. It seems pretty simple to me: A number of bishops wanted the tools to restrict celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, and Pope Francis gave it to them. There you go. I mean, we can talk history, ecclesiology, theology and liturgy all day long, but that’s about as basic as it gets or needs to be. I was there. Well, not literally, but I can tel...
Pope’s clampdown on Traditional Latin Mass brings mourning from some, gloating from others…
ROME – Pope Francis’s decision to restrict celebration of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, effectively rolling back wider permission granted under Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, is being met by predictably mixed reaction from Catholics around the globe, with some praising the move as prophetic and others calling it a stain on Francis’s legacy. Speaking to Crux, liturgy expert and editor at the New...
How to stop being an internet glutton — tips from a 4th-century monk John Cassian…
John Cassian lays down a few simple rules for those who struggle with intemperance Recently, during one of my few undistracted times of reading I came across a striking passage in John Cassian’s Conferences. I was intrigued by the first-person account of a particular monk: “I was never able altogether to get rid of the incentives to gluttony. For though I reduce the quantity of food which I take t...
When Fear Suffocates You
By the time I was 21 years old, I had suffered a lifetime of disappointments. Both of my parents were dead, and all my grandparents and most of my aunts and uncles. I had seen more death than most do in a lifetime. I was pregnant multiple times outside of marriage, which carries its own shame and embarrassment. I had been homeless, lived on government assistance, and struggled to put food on the t...
August Scripture Writing Guide (2021)
Scripture writing plans are incredibly simple, yet incredibly effective for helping us read, interpret and absorb the Word of God. Rather than simply letting our eyes pass over a verse and perhaps miss its full meaning, writing Scripture down helps us absorb each word and really think through what the passage before us is saying. Each day in August you’ll have the opportunity to write down a...
