Author: S&P
Let’s talk about Arminianism from a Catholic perspective…
[embedded content] One of the biggest schools of thought in the Protestant world is known as Arminianism, and today we’re going to find out if an Arminian would need to change his views in order to become a Catholic. Over thirty years ago, I wrote a piece called A Tiptoe Through Tulip, in which I explored how close a Catholic could be to Calvinism without violating Catholic teaching. I concluded—b...
The Hillbilly Thomists and the Key to Culture…
By Carrie Gress An article caught my eye this week at Food & Wine explaining how long-shuttered scotch distilleries are reopening. The “ghost distilleries” that dot the untamed Scottish countryside are firing up their stills again and producing the liquid gold that never quite went out of style. Despite shuttering in the 70s, labels like Port Ellen and Brora, saw their reputat...
‘Dilexit Nos’: Pope to Publish Encyclical This Thursday on Sacred Heart of Jesus…
On Thursday, Pope Francis will publish a new encyclical focusing on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the context of a world “which seems to have lost its heart.” By Salvatore Cernuzio “Dilexit nos” (He Loved Us) will be Pope Francis’ fourth encyclical, and it comes at a time of profound global challenges. The world today is scarred by war, social and economic imbalances,...
The Reformation is over. Come home…
By Peter Wolfgang ( bio – articles – email ) | Oct 18, 2024 To me, October 31st is Halloween. No, not the gruesome Halloween. Not the celebration of the occult that our culture has increasingly leaned into since at least the 1990s. October 31st is, rather, the more innocent Halloween of my 1970s childhood. An opportunity for treats, not tricks. A fun time for our youngest, still in gra...
Father (soon to be Cardinal) Radcliffe says he can’t understand why so many African bishops resist accepting homosexuality…
By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Oct 17, 2024 Blame the Russians. Blame the Americans. Blame the Muslims. In a lengthy essay featured by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano Father (soon to be Cardinal) Timothy Radcliffe strives mightily to understand why so many African bishops resist accepting homosexuality. He has a few theories: African bishops are under intense pr...
40 Years Later, Poland’s Catholics Remember Their Heroic ‘Solidarity Martyr’ — Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko…
(OSV News) — As 40 years have passed since the murder of Blessed Jerzy Popieluszko, one of their church’s most famous priests, Polish Catholics are urging people everywhere to revisit and learn from his heroic testimony. “He was treated as a criminal and killed by state agents for daring to proclaim the Gospel,” explained Father Jan Sochon, a childhood friend. “Though times have changed, some of t...
Sifting the Synod for the Divinity…
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Oct 10, 2024 Having lived through quite a few synods over the past two generations, most of us are aware that, like all human meetings, they are opportunities for people to try to win approval for their own particular ideas of the best way forward in the situation faced by the institution in question, in this case the Church. And just as w...
Live From Rome, It’s Synodality!…
Live from Rome, it’s synodality! Skip to content Pillar subscribers can listen to this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DR Hey everybody, Greetings from the Vatican press office, where I arrived this morning to cover the next 10 days of the Vatican’s second session of the final stage synod on synodality. 😉 The Pillar’s Edgar Beltran has been here for the first fortnight of this month’s synod on syn...
Are Catholic Universities a Good Investment?
COMMENTARY: A university should be a place where students can pursue ultimate truths about God and the human person, not merely a place where they learn skills to help with employment. Over milkshakes and burgers, one of my student’s fathers said to me that he could not thank me enough for the kind of formation his daughter was getting in the classics and in the faith at my university. He said we ...
Why Does the Bible Never Condemn Slavery as an Institution?
By Clement Harrold October 11, 2024 Many skeptics and even some Christians struggle with the idea that the Bible not only fails to condemn slavery, but actually seems to justify its existence in places. What are we to make of the Mosaic Law’s detailed prescriptions for how slaves are to be treated, for example? And how about St. Paul’s injunction to slaves to “obey in everything those who are your...
Touching Death: Mourning Physically through Burial…
How we bury our dead is a crucial part of life. We have gotten away from the wise practices of our ancestors. If how they did burial was largely out of necessity, we might still discover just how important those practices are—how much we really need them today. And we can choose them, at least some of them, again. The day we buried my father some years ago was one of the most important days of my ...
Archdiocese of Los Angeles Payouts for Clergy Abuse Top $1.5 Billion With New Record Settlement…
In what could be the closing chapter in a landmark legal battle, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $880 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse dating back decades in the largest settlement involving the Catholic Church. Attorneys for 1,353 people who allege that they suffered horrific abuse at the hands of local Catholic priests reached the settlement after months of negotiations...
