Although we may not be aware of rituals, they weave themselves into the fabric of our days in one way that defines who we are as individuals. A definition of ritual can be a regular pattern of words or actions. The way we answer the phone … [Read more...]
Articles
A Sure Way to Save the Church
Developing the Doctrine on the Eucharist
January 28, 2019 by Fr. Regis Scanlon, OFMCap
Part I – Jesus Christ Seems to Be Just a Memory It’s been centuries since there has been such open opposition between cardinals and bishops as there is today over Pope Francis’s perplexing Amoris Laetitia, which has spawned so much discord … [Read more...]
Aquinas as Biblical Exegete
His Interpretation of Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh”
January 28, 2019 by Lawrence B. Porter, STL, PhD
No doubt Thomas Aquinas is most famous as a systematic theologian who made great use of philosophical sources such as Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Nevertheless, when Aquinas first taught at the University of Paris, he held the title of Magister … [Read more...]
Conscience
The Echo of God's Voice
January 28, 2019 by Brent Withers
Conscience is the voice of God, whereas it is fashionable on all hands now to consider it in one way or another a creation of man.[1. John Henry Newman, in The Genius of John Henry Newman: Selections from his Writings, ed. Ian Ker (Oxford: … [Read more...]
Words of Life for Cutting Words
A Catholic Response to Teens on Social Media Writing Sites
January 28, 2019 by Mark C. McCann
With more and more young people reaching out to one another through social media, there has been an increased call for new forms of ministry to teens within these virtual worlds. With the advent of public writing sites that allow for the … [Read more...]
The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Series
A Review Essay
January 28, 2019 by Marcus Benedict Peter
The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS) series is structured with the intention of meeting the need of the universal Church in studying Sacred Scripture in a manner that is both informative and insightful, while staying faithful … [Read more...]
The Screening, Protection, and Crisis Education of Seminarians
January 17, 2019 by Dr. Richard P. Fitzgibbons, MD
Fr. D. Paul Sullins, PhD, is a married Catholic priest. He was formerly an Episcopal minister and has been blessed with a marriage of 30 years and three children. Fr. Sullins recently retired as a Professor of Sociology at the Catholic … [Read more...]
Patience a Spiritual Sign
Pope Francis and Tertullian on Patience
January 17, 2019 by Fr. Brendan Lupton
Pope Francis set forth the vision for his pontificate in his first apostolic exhortation Evangellii gaudium, a clarion call for evangelization through joy in the modern world. A fitting diptych to this first document is his most recent … [Read more...]
The Bible as Official History
January 17, 2019 by Michael Warner
A person who holds a Bible handles something that is both utterly unique and so common as to seem ubiquitous. Millions of copies in hundreds of translations have appeared since Herr Gutenberg invented his famous press. Individual books of … [Read more...]
The Eucharistic Christology of Pope Benedict XVI
In Commemorationem Christi
January 17, 2019 by Marcus Benedict Peter
Christ is truly present among us in the Eucharist. His presence is not static. It is a dynamic presence that grasps us, to make us his own, to make us assimilate him. Christ draws us to himself, he makes us come out of ourselves to make us … [Read more...]
Teaching Humanae Vitae in the “Front Trenches” — Where It Ultimately Counts
January 17, 2019 by John S. Hamlon
Tumult Late July, 1968; large-tiered classroom at a Jesuit university. New Testament scholar Max Zerwick, SJ, is expounding upon the prologue to John’s Gospel, word by word, pericope by pericope. We graduate theology students, 150 s … [Read more...]
A God with Skin
Recapturing the Incarnational Nature of the Sacraments
January 1, 2019 by Mark C. McCann
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1:14) Since her beginning, the Catholic Church has been an incarnational institution, a B … [Read more...]
Believing and Praying
The Power of Homilies
January 1, 2019 by Dr. Ralph Martin, STD
It’s often been said that by reflecting on what we have received in the tradition of liturgical prayer we can discover what we believe; prayer as a source of doctrine. The reverse is also true. What we believe determines what we pray — or wh … [Read more...]
A Surprising Beatitude
Dashing the Little Ones upon the Rock
January 1, 2019 by Kevin M. Clarke
In a 2007 class on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesuit Fr. James Swetnam passed along to us two words of wisdom from German Biblical scholar Joachim Jeremias. The first word: read a chapter of New Testament Greek every day. Indeed, very wise … [Read more...]
The Noonday Devil
January 1, 2019 by Fr. William P. Clark, OMI
The ninety-first psalm speaks of “the scourge that wreaks havoc at high noon.” It also expresses confidence in God’s protection from that scourge, as well as other evils. Based on that psalm some spiritual writers speak of the “Noonday Devil … [Read more...]
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