Book Reviews – February 2021

The Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward. By Ralph Martin. Reviewed by Eduardo Echeverria. (skip to review) Sex and the Spiritual Life: Reclaiming Integrity, Wholeness, and Intimacy. By Patricia Cooney Hathaway, ed. Reviewed by Christopher … [Read more...]

Marriage and the Juridical Relevance of Pastoral Language

The revised Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983 (CIC-83) brought with it a definition of the consensual incapacity for marriage. This formula is a kind of juridical innovation given that it did not exist prior to the CIC-83 and literally … [Read more...]

On the Truth that Heals the Crisis of Marriage

Part II: On Christ’s Love of the Sinner[1. This is now a part of the book, The Family on Pilgrimage: God Leads Through Dead Ends, (Chapter 4: Part I: enroutebooksandmedia.com/familyonpilgrimage/)] Do we believe that God can act in our l … [Read more...]

Briefly Revisiting Pre-1983 Canonical Practice for a Better Response to Marriage Issues

The juridical significance of mental illness and psychic anomalies in marriage has shifted over centuries from a description of an illicit act to one of invalid consent. Early pronouncements on insane individuals who contracted marriage … [Read more...]

Streamlining Annulments

This headline greeted the announcement that Pope Francis was establishing a commission to make suggestions for altering the annulment process in the Catholic Church. The word “streamlining” is, perhaps, not the Vatican’s word, but it does ca … [Read more...]

Past and Present Conceptions of Tradition: Looking at the Synod on the Family

“Tradition” is one of the most important concepts in Christianity, and yet, it is a term very often misunderstood among Catholics, let alone other Christians. I propose that this is precisely why the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, which … [Read more...]

‘Til Death Do Thee Part

The necessary manifestations of love, to include self-sacrifice and self-giving, and an ongoing readiness to forgive, could only continue to be present in a marriage fueled by God’s graces. By the basic principles of neurology, we know t … [Read more...]

Legislation creating ”same-sex” marriage: What’s at stake?

Bishop's Corner

Marriage comes to us from nature ... neither Church nor State invented marriage, and neither can change its nature.  At the beginning of the New Year, 2013, a law is being proposed in the General Assembly to change the legal definition … [Read more...]