Revelation as Dialogical

Dei Verbum as a Hermeneutic for Praying with Theology

Understanding Divine Revelation in its first instance as the desire of the Father to communicate himself in love to human persons serves as an opportunity for more deeply integrating one’s intellectual life with one’s spiritual life. The mov … [Read more...]

Theology of Suffering and the New Evangelization

In August of 2022, Bishop Robert Barron took part in an interview with the actor Shia LaBeouf to discuss his conversion to the Catholic faith. LaBeouf’s conversion was influenced in part by his being cast to portray Padre Pio in a movie by A … [Read more...]

Is the Universal Call to Holiness a New Teaching?

It is not uncommon to find the opinion that the Church has introduced a new understanding of what it means to be holy and who is called to it through Lumen Gentium’s teaching on the universal call to holiness. Oftentimes, this claim of n … [Read more...]

The Importance of the Value of Reputation, Part II

Go to Part I As the Church was the sign and sacrament to the world, there was a direct link between the reputation of the Church’s ministers and the mission of the Church itself.[1. Liguori cites the “rigorous discipline” of the early Chu … [Read more...]

Love for Liturgy, Love for the Church: An Ongoing Dialogue

Editor’s Note: Due to the high interest and lively discussion prompted by Fr. Robert McTeigue’s recent article, “What Many Priests No Longer Believe,” the following two responses have been published to offer additional viewpoints on the chal … [Read more...]

Response to Peter Kwasniewski

On the solemnity of Corpus Christi this year (June 19), the U.S. bishops launched the “Eucharistic Revival,” a three-year endeavor aimed at rekindling Eucharistic faith and devotion among Catholics. Almost simultaneously, on June 29, Pope Fr … [Read more...]

Overview of Desiderio Desideravi

On the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 2022, Pope Francis promulgated the Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi.[1. Francis, Desiderio Desideravi (Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2022), … [Read more...]

Whose Rite? A Response to E. Tyler Graham

Recently, E. Tyler Graham wrote an article for this publication[1. E. Tyler Graham, “Shepherding the Flock Out of the 1962 Missal,” Homiletic and Pastoral Review, November 2021, www … [Read more...]

Shepherding the Flock Out of the 1962 Missal

The time has come, says God to Moses. You must lead my people out of Egypt, out of captivity, toward the Promised Land.[1. Ex 3:10.] Unfortunately for the eager travelers, the journey lasts 40 years,[2. Deut 1:3.] and along the way the … [Read more...]

The Death Penalty Is a Failed Sacrifice

The final abolition of the death penalty in the 2018 revision of the Catechism[1. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2267.] and follow-up confirmation in the latest Pope Francis encyclical, Fratelli tutti,[2. Pope Francis, Fratelli … [Read more...]

Doing Ministry for the Sake of the Apostolate

In the fifty-plus years since the close of the Second Vatican Council, the Church has witnessed a rapid growth of lay ecclesial ministry, of members of the lay faithful participating in a wide variety of ministerial functions and roles in … [Read more...]

The True Meaning of Vatican II

The Church today is divided, and very likely to divide even more. Throughout Church history there have been disputes; that’s not so unusual. What’s odd about this situation is that the two disputing groups, the “liberals” and the “conser … [Read more...]

Vatican II’s “Religious Liberty” Revisited

Today, threats to religious liberty in the United States are very much in the news. The most striking example is the Supreme Court’s recent decision in June 2020 that the LGBT community must be granted civil rights status in employment m … [Read more...]

The Form of the Liturgy

It is to be regretted that the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the form of the Latin Mass promulgated after the Second Vatican Council in 1970, has become a symbol of near-complete rejection of the Latin Catholic liturgical tradition. This … [Read more...]

The Novus Ordo at 50: Loss or Gain?

A Reply to Prof. Mary Healy

The recent half-century of Pope Paul VI’s reformed (“Ordinary Form,” or OF) Mass, which came shortly after the twelfth anniversary of the liberalization of the previous (“Extraordinary Form,” or EF) form of Mass, should stimulate us to engag … [Read more...]