Articles

The Eucharist as Source and Summit of Evangelization in the Recent Magisterium

“Yes, if only I am lifted up from the earth, I will attract all men to myself.”[1. Jn 12:32. All Scriptural quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the Knox Translation of the Bible.] In recent decades, the Church’s Magisterium has rep … [Read more...]

Understanding the Vatican’s Document on Gender Theory and Education

I’ve been trying to keep up with the diverse array of responses to the release of “Man and Woman He Created Them,” the Vatican’s new document addressing gender theory and education. Predictably, liberal Catholic news outlets have criticized … [Read more...]

Boredom, Ordinary Time, and God’s Gift of Himself

It is routine to hear people good-heartedly mock the reasonableness of the Church’s liturgical calendar “celebrating” “Ordinary Time.” To celebrate ordinariness is a true curiosity within Western culture, because its members routinely seek e … [Read more...]

Suicide Prevention in Youth

The severity of the mental health crisis in American youth has been clearly documented again by the shocking research reported in the Wall Street Journal that over the ten year period 2007 to 2017 the suicide rate among people ages 10 to 24 … [Read more...]

Review: Pope Francis: The Legacy of Vatican II

Pope Francis: The Legacy of Vatican II (Revised and Expanded Edition) by Dr. Eduardo J. Echeverria (Hobe Sound, FL: Lectio Publishers, 2019) 456 pages No one who has paid even the least amount of attention could fail to conclude that, … [Read more...]

No-Fault Divorce, Standing for Justice

Parish Priests and Divorce If a devastated woman approaches her pastor because she learned her husband committed adultery, the pastor might advise that she should hire a good divorce lawyer. When a faithful husband with four children tells … [Read more...]

Canon Law, Civil Law, and the Current Crisis in the Church

Reflections of a Civil Lawyer Studying Canon Law in Rome

Last fall I left my job as a corporate lawyer and began studying canon law in Rome. Explaining my rationale to my colleagues wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined. Whether they were practicing Catholics, fallen-away Catholics, not-yet C … [Read more...]

Human and Divine Fatherhood in The Violent Bear It Away and Gilead

The Violent Bear It Away and Gilead show the role of prophet as a preacher of the Lord as a genetic vocation growing out of ‘blood’ and family bonds, but responded to in varying degrees and manifestations. While Marilynne Robinson paints a p … [Read more...]

John of the Cross and Exercising Charisms for Evangelization

A Response to Elizabeth Salas

Once in a while I run into statements like: “Catholics shouldn’t seek to exercise the charisms of the Spirit because St. John of the Cross cautioned against them.” Such concerns come in different forms and are usually raised by people who si … [Read more...]

Review: The Devil’s Redemption

McClymond, Michael J. The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018. This is a very important book. In two large and carefully documented volumes Dr. McClymond, a p … [Read more...]

The “Female Diaconate” after the Amazon Synod

The Mystery of Human Sexuality in the Woman at the Well and the Vital Sacrament of Apostolic Succession

In light of the recent Amazon Synod, the question of the female diaconate has once again been raised. It is more than obvious that novelty and change are today’s signs of progress. In the twentieth century, for example, scientific a … [Read more...]

The Whale in the Bath

Is mass communication like a background noise that is just loud enough to catch our attention and make it difficult for us to concentrate on what we are doing and yet not loud enough so that we can hear clearly what is going on? Are … [Read more...]

The Moral Theology of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

St. Thérèse of Lisieux was born in 1873 in France, the youngest of the nine children given to Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin. Zelie Martin died while Thérèse was very young, so Thérèse adopted her older sister Pauline as her surrogate mother. T … [Read more...]

A Method of Homily Preparation

St. Francis de Sales in his excellent book, On the Preacher and Preaching, declares emphatically: “We must adhere to method in all things; there is nothing more helpful to a preacher, makes his preaching more profitable, and is so pleasing t … [Read more...]

The Theological Anthropology of Karol Wojtyla (Pope St. John Paul II)

Every so often, there appears in history a person who has an effect on the world, that the whole world is changed for the better as a result of their being there. A person of recent memory is Father Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope St. John … [Read more...]