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A correspondent writes: I am wondering, how do Catholics regard textual criticism? What is the Catholic position on the canonicity of various New Testament passages like the Pericope Adulterae, the Comma Johanneum, and the Longer Ending of Mark, for example? What Textual Criticism Is For those who may be unfamiliar with the term, textual criticism involves the study of how texts change over time—how bits get added, deleted, or altered. Some variation in texts was inevitable before the invention of the printing press, since all texts were hand-copied and scribes sometimes made mistakes. Accidental textual variations even occur now that we have the printing press, though not as much. Also, some textual variations are intentional. This happens on both the smaller level—as when a scribe or a p...

The sordid life of Jeffrey Epstein serves to highlight the decadence of the deplorable epoch in which we find ourselves, as do the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. The web of vice and viciousness that he had spun was widespread, serving to entrap not only underage girls but also the rich and famous who preyed upon them. Using the allure of underage sex to lure his wealthy associates into his web, Epstein secretly filmed them in the act of sexually abusing minors, thereby turning his “associates” into his blackmail victims. Epstein seems to have believed that the powerful people whom he’d entrapped in his “insurance policy” would have a vested interest in keeping him safe from the law, a strategy which worked for a while. In 2008, Epstein was convicted in Florida of sexually ...

By Phil Lawler ( bio – articles – email ) | Feb 04, 2020 In case you missed the announcement, despite Brexit the Catholic bishops of the United Kingdom will continue to participate in COMECE. COMECE, in case you’ve forgotten (or never knew) is the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union. So the bishops of the UK—which is not a member of the EU—will remain active in an umbrella organization for bishops of countries in the EU. There are precedents for this, actually. For example, the bishops of Northern Ireland are members of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, although Northern Ireland is politically separate from Ireland. This odd sort of arrangement usually reflects a tacit belief among Catholics (or at least among Catholic bishops) that the political boundarie...

A terrible thing happened recently.  A young priest, almost certainly reacting badly to medication, committed suicide.  Fr. Evan Harkins, of the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph, had been on medication for an ailment.  It seems to have affected him in a profoundly negative way. I know I can count on you readers to pray for him and for his family and friends. There is a lesson that comes from this.   Medications can do really strange things to your mind. In the wake of Fr. Harkins’ death, the Abbess of Gower – you will remember the great consecration of the Abbey and Abbess – sent out a letter which described the bad experience of some of the sisters who had some medication.  HERE  She writes about how medications for other things induced in her sisters...

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Jan 28, 2020 The ways of God in the formation of saints are indeed mysterious. This was impressed upon me again by an article on Rose Hawthorne by Patricia Snow in the January issue of First Things. Under the title Hawthorne’s Daughter, Snow explores what she calls the “shadow” hanging over Rose Hawthorne’s cause for canonization. That shadow is the set of circumstances under which she left her husband, George, who had converted to Catholicism with Rose in 1891. (Perhaps most readers already know that Rose was the daughter of the great American novelist, Nathaniel Hawthorne.) In time, Rose felt a strong call to serve the poor who were suffering from cancer. Her only child had died at the age of five and, after a period of depressio...

Here is a ZENIT translation of the address Pope Francis gave today, before and after praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square. * * * Before the Angelus:  Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, when the newborn Jesus was presented in the Temple by the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. Observed on this date also is the World Day of Consecrated Life, which recalls the treasure in the Church of those that follow the Lord closely, professing the evangelical counsels. The Gospel (Cf. Luke 2:22-40) recounts that forty days after His birth, Jesus’ parents took Him to Jerusalem to consecrate Him to God, as prescribed by the Jewish Law. And, while describing a rite provided by the tradition, this episode cal...

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Jan 31, 2020 Not long ago Pope Francis expressed concern that, in praying the Our Father, people should not think that God ever leads them into temptation, so another translation would be better. Actually, however, God does in some sense lead us into temptation. When we look at this from the mindset of the ancient Jews, we can see very clearly how this is true. It is bound up in the reality of Providence. In general, the Old Testament texts do not distinguish what we would now call God’s permissive will from his active will. This can create confusion when we read things like, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”. If that is so, how can Pharaoh be blamed for his response to Moses? Why is it Pharaoh’s chariots and charioteers that are dest...

It happens from time to time that a feast of the Lord falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time and, since such a feast ranks high among the liturgical days, it replaces even the Sunday celebration. Such is the case on Sunday, February 2, 2020. On this day, rather than observing the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Roman Rite will celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. And there is much to dig out about this day. For many non-observant Catholics, though, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (also called the Feast of the Purification of Our Lady, the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, and Candlemas) is overshadowed by Punxsutawney Phil. On Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil ceremoniously emerges from his lair in west-central Pennsylvania from which the eponymous rodent received ...

From a reader… QUAERITUR: Father, in the Philippines a bishop told people to stop receiving Communion on the tongue and receive only in the hand because of Coronavirus and don’t have the chalice too. What say you? We have seen this movie before, with the outbreak of various strains of influenza and viruses. Here are a few commonsense observations. Firstly, it is not allowed to distribute Communion in the hand during the Traditional Latin Mass or when using the Rite for Distribution of Communion outside of Mass, or during sick calls with the older Rituale Romanum.  Also, in the older Rite, Communion is not distributed under both kinds.  That takes care of that. I don’t see a way around that.  Distribution of Communion in the hand would be a serious liturgical abuse, prec...

This is so beautiful! Kobe Bryant was the father to four young girls, which ignited amazingly pro-life posts dedicated to dads of girls this past week. The posts came in response to ESPN anchor Elle Duncan’s powerful testimony regarding Kobe Bryant as a “girl dad.” Bryant loved being a ‘girl dad’ so much that he told Duncan he would have five more girls if given the chance. First, listen to her testimony below: [embedded content]Click here if you cannot see the post above. We’ve gathered some popular posts on behalf of this recent #GirlDad trend. In the midst of this culture of death, this is a beautiful pro-life witness trending throughout the social media world. Here’s some #GirlDad posts below: Responding to Elle Duncan’s tweet of thanksgiving for the “outpouring of support behind” her ...

We have a truly unusual situation this Sunday.  Under normal circumstances, it would be the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, but it just so happens that this year, the Feast of the Presentation (pegged to Feb. 2) falls on the Sunday and “outranks” the regular Lord’s Day obligation.  The result is that many persons who do not regularly attend daily mass will have the rare experience of celebrating the full liturgy for the Feast of the Presentation.  The Readings for this Feast Day focus on the theme of the priesthood of Christ, seeing a kind of sacerdotal significance to this first entrance of the Messiah into the Temple.  These Readings prompt us to meditate firstly on how Jesus has served and continues to serve as our great High Priest, but also how his priesthood is li...