To Be Transformed by God and Others

The mission statement of the St. Thomas More Catholic Newman Center in Tucson, Arizona, which is affiliated with the University of Arizona, is “To be transformed through an encounter with the Spirit of Truth and the Love of God.” Having bee … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – May 2022

A Priest’s Spiritual Obligations Question: Could you comment on the strict obligation of the Divine Office for priests (under pain of mortal sin) but no similar obligation for the offering of daily Mass? Answer: The answer to this q … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – January 2020

Infallibility and Canonization Question: Pope Francis recently canonized Pope Paul VI and Oscar Romero. Can you explain to me how canonization relates to the infallibility of the Pope? Answer: This is an important question because the … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – July 2019

Good Friday, the Cross, and Foot Washing Question:  Does Good Friday veneration of the Cross involve only a crucifix, or can a simple wooden cross be used? Is it appropriate, when reading the Gospel on Holy Thursday, for the laity, … [Read more...]

Frank Sheed on Church Teachings

We hear much discussion of late about church teaching, especially with regard to marital issues, and whether statements of the Pope violate classical norms. Cardinals issue their doubts; sixty theologians inaugurate what they call … [Read more...]

Summer Reading for June 2016

David L. Schindler and Nicholas J. Healy Jr. Freedom, Truth, and Human Dignity: The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Religious Freedom. A New Translation, Redaction History, and Interpretation of Dignitatis Humanae. Grand Rapids, MI: … [Read more...]

Toward a Theology of the Papacy

Reading Between the Lines of the Church Fathers

Most Catholics seem to know, whether they accept it or not, what the job of the pope is. He sort of runs the Church from a central location; he is infallible (protected from error) in his serious public pronouncements on the subject of … [Read more...]

Papal Infallibility: A Symbolic, Yet Problematic, Term

Although papal infallibility is commonly found in popular conversation, how well the term is understood is another matter. As Danny Garland, Jr., pointed out in his recent article on “The Development of the Dogma of Papal I … [Read more...]

Confronting the Claim of Eastern Orthodoxy to be the True Church

Understanding the conflicting claims of Catholicism versus Eastern Orthodoxy Among the lapsed from the Catholic Church in the turbulent post-conciliar period are those Catholics who became so disenchanted with the liturgical disarray and … [Read more...]