VATICAN CITY — One of the persistent criticisms of the final assembly of the Synod on Synodality has been that, despite its frequent emphasis on listening and dialogue, several relevant and important voices went unheard. In his final assessment of the synod, George Weigel identified some of these voices as happily married couples, Catholic educators resisting today’s “woke” culture, and healthcare professionals living a culture of life. But another group conspicuous by its absence were those faithful who value the traditional liturgy and apostolic tradition — a small but flourishing group both in terms of vocations and Church attendance but currently the subject of sweeping Vatican restrictions since Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. During the worldwide consultation ph...

By Clement Harrold November 1, 2024 1) He is the first and greatest of the four major prophets. Standing at the head of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, Isaiah’s writings constitute the single most important prophetic book of the Old Testament. His theological vision is expansive, and it has exerted an enormous influence over subsequent Jewish and Christian theology. 2) His book is known as the fifth Gospel. While this title is often applied to the Holy Land, the Church Fathers also used it to describe the book of Isaiah! More than any other prophet, Isaiah points forward time and again to Christ. Appropriately, therefore, the book of Isaiah is second only to the Psalms in being the biblical book most quoted in the New Testament. 3) His writings can be split into two (or three) parts. The au...

Here are six main points about the story of the scribe asking Jesus to name the greatest commandment on the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B — taken from my podcast episode on the subject and previous “This Sunday” pieces on this site. First: This question came at an exhausting time of questioning for Jesus. The question from the scribe about the commandments comes after a number of challenges to Jesus on the week he died. First, Herodians and Pharisees and Sadducees tried to trap him with tough questions, and Jesus did verbal jiu jitsu to win each time while teaching something important. But that isn’t what happens here, in the Gospel of Mark. This is a fair question from a good guy — a scribe who is genuinely searching for answers. I always picture him as a young man who is de...

While the Christian faith is grounded in the here and now, it is only fully understood and valued when it is placed and lived in the light of eternity. While many blessings can be received by God’s grace in this life, none of them compares to the heavenly glory won for us in Jesus Christ. No earthly blessing, however emotionally satisfying or physically pleasurable, can come even close to the eternal life offered to us in the Lord Jesus. St. Paul gives testimony to the unimaginable joy that awaits those who love God: “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’ — these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-1...

Last night, court reports, and fly away home Skip to content Pillar subscribers can listen to Ed read this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DR Happy Friday friends, And a glorious feast of All Saints to you all. Halloween yesterday was something of an odd event for us in our house. My wife, being a Londoner, takes an outsider’s view of the whole affair, generally treating it with skepticism but open to anything involving our kid dressing up. I, on the other hand, spent the first 10 years of my life living in a John Hughes movie, so my childhood memories of the night are vivid and cinematic and fermented in decades of nostalgia from living abroad. Our daughter is barely three years old, so this was her first outing with any real sense of what’s going on. She liked the costume and, like all l...