___________ “[Christianity allows mankind to] grasp at the skirts of the Infinite. Since Christ the dead world has woken up from sleep. Since him we have lived.” — Oscar Wilde ____________ Introduction: Idyll or Idol? Memories of Subur … [Read more...]
Articles
Understanding the Four Aspects of Dogma According to Bernard Lonergan in The Way to Nicea
Introduction As a professor of theology, and as academic dean of a seminary, I feel it’s important to lay a solid foundation for the student who is beginning his study of theology. In my introductory seminar in fundamental theology, t … [Read more...]
Humanae Vitae and the New Evangelization
Introduction This year sees the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Humanae Vitae. Over the years, the encyclical has received quite a mixed response across the Church. Even now, we still have theologians, bishops, and others s … [Read more...]
Is the Holy Family a Realistic Model for Ordinary Families?
In this time of troubled marriages and beleaguered families, a renewed focus on the Holy Family, and what it teaches us, can act as a bracing support. Dr. Mary Shivanandan’s new book, The Holy Family, Model Not Exception, provides just such … [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...]
A Church Without Borders
In a recently published book-length interview with Pope Francis, French sociologist, Dominique Wolton, questions the Holy Father about his repeated references to the borders of nations, wall-building, the plight of refugees, and the … [Read more...]
Renewing or Imperiling our Understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage?
In a recent essay, the canonist Fr. John Alesandro makes the bold claim that for hundreds of years “the Catholic church has simplistically “canonized” marriage, stripping down its sacred character as a covenant and likening it to a secular c … [Read more...]
Artificial Birth Control, the Sexual Revolution, and the Modern Collapse of Morality
Artificial Birth Control, the Sexual Revolution, and the Modern Collapse of Morality A generation ago, Blessed Pope Paul VI (the great) projected out of the infallible, bountiful treasure of God’s truths—that is, the formal Catholic tea … [Read more...]
On Coming to the Sacrament of Marriage
A Personal Pilgrimage
Part I of 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/).] In the context of the widespread d … [Read more...]
Lessons from a Patristic Homily
In learning how to craft homilies, it is worth studying past master homilists; from these masters, we can learn masterful techniques. Reading those who wrote in one’s own native tongue is, of course, a necessary thing: Newman would probably … [Read more...]
An Analysis of the Motherhood of the Church as Expounded by Henri Cardinal De Lubac
“Hear, O daughter, consider, and incline your ear; Forget your people and your father’s house; And the king will desire your beauty.” Psalm 45:10 This quote from the Psalms refers analogously to the nuptials of Christ and his Church; a be … [Read more...]
On the World’s Most Beautiful Sermon
I. A sermon is an essay or a treatise that is spoken. Classical sermons of Newman, or some of the great French preachers, could last for hours. Great Protestant divines were known for long and powerfully delivered sermons. We live in a … [Read more...]
The Philosopher’s Reflections on the Rosary
“I Don’t Know How You’ll Help Me, But I Know You Will” Why would a philosopher go to bat for the Rosary? I’d better ‘fess up right off. I’ve never been able to convince myself that I’m a philosopher, even though I own a Ph.D. in that disc … [Read more...]
Kazakhstan Bishop Schneider Broadcasts Seeds of Faith Around the World
His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider, O.R.C, has been referred to in the National Catholic Register as “one of the leading voices of fidelity, continuity, and tradition in the Church today.”[1. Pentin, Edward. “How Bishop Athanasius Sc … [Read more...]
God and the Nuclear Threat
In his inaugural address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stressed to the people of the United States, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Nothing to fear! Really! We were facing lengthy wars in Europe and in the Pacific. There … [Read more...]
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