Discover
Cardinal Hollerich of Luxembourg: Church Blessings for Same-Sex Unions Not a Settled Matter…
The archbishop of Luxembourg also said he has a lot of contact with young people in his ministry, and “for young people today, the highest value is nondiscrimination.” “[What] I constantly see is that young people stop considering the Gospel, if they have the impression that we are discriminating,” he said, recalling a recent encounter with a woman in her 20s who said she wanted to leave the Church because it does not welcome homosexual couples. “I asked her ‘do you feel discriminated against because you are homosexual?’ and she said ‘No, no! I am not a lesbian, but my closest friend is. I know her suffering, and I don’t intend to be part of those who judge her.’ That made me think a lot,” Hollerich said. “Everyone is called. No one is excluded: even the divorced and remarried, even homose...
Learn to pay attention to attention in ‘The World Beyond Your Head’…
Share Hardly a day passes without hearing the lament from cultural curators about our diminishing abilities of attention. We are bombarded with more information about our lack of attention than ever before, including studies measuring how many seconds of attention span we have lost since the turn of the twenty-first century (down from twelve seconds to eight) to articles claiming that Covid-19 causes mental exhaustion which reduces our ability to concentrate. As classical educators, we are reminded daily of our ongoing battle for attention as we wade through Boethius and Shakespeare while our students daydream of YouTube and TikTok. We know our work involves a transfer of knowledge and inculcation of character, but inspiring and motivating our students’ effort in their own human formation ...
How the threat of damnation protects the doctrine of natural law…
By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio – articles – email ) | Oct 17, 2022 God created us in His image and likeness, and after the Fall, the Cross, and the Resurrection, we overcome evil with God’s grace by following the precepts of the law written on our hearts. Scholars and theologians reasonably consider our natural inclinations and codify them into a natural-law system. But natural law collapses without the light of God’s Revelation. God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites through Moses, and those Commandments are compatible with our natural inclinations. (Every child knows it’s wrong to disobey Mom even before memorizing the Commandments.) We become what we choose. As individuals, when we choose the good, we become godly and respectful of our parents, life, sexuality, propert...
A crisis of confidence, very bad ideas, and paying for Peanuts…
Happy Friday friends, I don’t know how your week has been, but in my house, our daughter has become so fixated with a picture book called “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” that I have begun reciting a nonsense litany of animals under my breath like some kind of monastic prayer. I don’t really understand children’s mental development, but it is beyond me how teaching her about brown bears and yellow ducks – alongside purple cats and blue horses – will help her to understand the world. It seems like a recipe for giving her an expectation of surrealism in the world. Come to that, maybe it’s not such a bad teaching tool after all. Anyway. It has been another big week in the news, and we’ve got a lot to get through. But before we do, just a reminder that you really should s...
In the light of Sunday’s Gospel, deep humility, coupled with lively hope, is the only answer…..
There’s an old saying that goes, “Faults in others I can see, but praise the Lord, there’s none in me.” One is snared in sin by the very act of claiming to have no sin! In fact, it’s the biggest sin of all: pride. In the Sunday Gospel, the Lord illustrates this through the parable about two men who go to the temple to pray. One man commits the sin of pride and leaves unjustified. The other, though a great sinner, receives the gift of justification through his humility. Let’s look at what the Lord teaches us. Prideful Premise – Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness. When it comes to parables, it’s easy to gloss over the introductory statement, which often tells us what prompted Jesus to tell the parable. Many people simply see this parable as be...
Archbishop Chaput: ‘President Biden Is Not in Communion With the Catholic Faith’…
CNA Newsroom, Oct 23, 2022 / 05:32 am Archbishop Charles Chaput said on Saturday that Joe Biden “is not in communion with the Catholic faith” and that “any priest who now provides Communion to the president participates in his hypocrisy.” Speaking at a Eucharistic Symposium at the Diocese of Arlington on Oct. 22, the 78-year-old prelate also accused the second Catholic president in the history of the United States of “apostasy on the abortion issue.” In his address, titled “Do this in Remembrance of Me: Memory, Culture, Sacrament,” the archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia spoke about “American Catholics and our 200-year struggle to fit into mainstream American culture.” “We succeeded. But in the process, we’ve been digested and bleached out by the culture, ...
How the Holy Eucharist put an end to my childhood anxiety about ‘the Rapture’…
The house was empty. “Where is everyone?” I thought. I was 9 years old, and had just returned home from school. We lived in a quiet town, and my parents were rarely away. “Mom?” I called out. Nothing. I began to feel anxious. It occurred to me that my parents may have been “raptured,” taken up suddenly into the heavens by Jesus. Was I “left behind?” But I knew that my urgent prayer to Jesus at the age of 5 had saved me once and for all. If my parents were raptured, the Tribulation was now beginning, and seven years of horrific trials would follow, and I was all alone and — “Carl? Is that you?” My mother came through the door. She had been visiting the neighbor. My anxiety about the Rapture evaporated. For a while. A turning point came in my second year of Bible college. One day...
Cuban Dictatorship Fines EWTN Correspondent and Threatens Him During Interrogation…
‘He told me that he was officially warning me that I could be criminally prosecuted if I continue to publish,’ the journalist said. HAVANA — On Friday, the police of the dictatorship in Cuba interrogated Adrián Martínez Cádiz, EWTN correspondent in Havana, and later fined him 3,000 Cuban pesos (about $125) for having criticized the regime on social media. The Territorial Control Office of the Cuban Ministry of Communications issued an official document in which it determined that the journalist violated Decree Law 370 by “disseminating, through public data transmission networks, information contrary to the interests of society, morals, good customs, and people’s safety.” Therefore, continues the Oct. 21 document, “the competent authority proceeded to impose a fine for a value o...
At Jesuit University, Member of Pontifical Academy for Life Defends ‘Legal Abortion Prior to Pain’ Threshold…
LOS ANGELES — Roberto Dell’Oro, a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, publicly urged support for legal abortion prior to the possibility of fetal pain during a recent panel discussion sponsored this month by Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. During an Oct.12 panel discussion, entitled “Confronting the Dobbs Decision: A Conversation About the Legality of Abortion,” Dell’Oro, a bioethicist and theologian at the university, and two other LMU panelists criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Organization, the 2022 landmark decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. In prepared remarks, Dell’Oro attacked the Dobbs ruling for failing to uphold democracy, which “maximizes rather than restricts a space of personal freedom...
Blessed Karl of Austria continues to inspire young Catholics…
An interview with Princess Maria-Anna Galitzine, the granddaughter of Blessed Karl of Austria and his wife, Servant of God Empress Zita. Blessed Karl of Austria died in 1922. He was the last Emperor of Austria and the last Apostolic King of Hungary. One would not think that this man would have much in common with young Catholics in the U.S. However, since his beatification in 2004, it has precisely been young U.S. Catholics who have fueled his cause for canonization. The various feast day Masses and symposia that occur around the U.S. (and the world) are packed with young people. Not only are devotees young, but they are dedicated to traditional Catholicism and pious practice. The Traditional Latin Mass, the Byzantine Divine Liturgy and various devotions are celebrated in conjunction with ...
You’re probably praying like a Pharisee without even realizing it. Here’s what you need to do to fix that…..
Jesus is God, and he has been listening to us pray all our lives. And after all he has heard, he wants to tell us how it sounds from his perspective on the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C. He asks us a question he already knows the answer to: Are our prayers — yours and mine — more like the proud petitioner who thinks he is doing pretty great in his spiritual life, or are they more like the sad sinner who knows he isn’t doing very well at all? It’s statistically very likely that you and I are more like the proud guy than the humble one. St. Luke begins by saying “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness.” If you asked those who know us, the chances are that they would put us in that group. Nearly 90% of respondents thought Christians were judg...
For Second Time, Vatican Renews Agreement With China on Appointment of Bishops; Terms of Deal Remain Secret…
After the China deal was signed in 2018, state officials in different regions of China removed crosses and demolished church buildings, and underground Catholics and clergy have reported harassment and detention. The Vatican announced Saturday it has renewed its 2018 deal with China on the appointment of Catholic bishops for an additional two years. “After appropriate consultation and assessment, the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China have agreed to extend for another two years the Provisional Agreement regarding the appointment of Bishops,” the Vatican said in an Oct. 22 press release. “The Vatican Party,” it continued, “is committed to continuing a respectful and constructive dialogue with the Chinese Party for a productive implementation of the Accord and further development of...
