During my first semester of graduate school in theology, the required class on the Trinity nearly “ate my lunch”. To put it simply, I could never study enough to understand the subject more, nor could I seem to improve my papers enough to el … [Read more...]
Articles
My Jesus, Where Do You Live?
John 1:38 and the Trinitarian Intimacy of Christian Discipleship
October 29, 2018 by Fr. Brice Higginbotham
Introduction In John 1:38, Andrew and another disciple pose the following question to Jesus: “Rabbi, where do you live [Gk. méno]?” What do they mean? Certainly, on one level, they want to indicate their desire to come under the tutelage of … [Read more...]
The Inseparable Unitive and Procreative Purposes of Marriage — and Appropriate NFP Use
October 29, 2018 by Anne Cherney
In 1946, theologian Fr. Mathias Scheeben’s The Mysteries of Christianity appeared and therein he wrote of married couples, “They can rightfully unite with each other in matrimony only for the end which Christ pursues in His union with the Ch … [Read more...]
The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the New Evangelization
October 29, 2018 by Deacon Peter Trahan, MATh
Is the New Evangelization still relevant? The assured answer is a resounding Yes! However, it has fallen out of favor as a pastoral movement, fallen under the weight of its own branding. Given its origins as the overarching thesis of the … [Read more...]
Is There Such a Thing as Episcopally Sanctioned Adultery?
The Attack on Marriage, Morality, and the Eucharist
October 29, 2018 by Jeffrey Tranzillo
Prior to the publication of Amoris Laetitia (hereafter AL) in March 2016, certain influential German bishops had a direct hand in persuading a willing Pope Francis to incorporate a subjectivistic view of conscience and discernment into the … [Read more...]
The Doctors of Ravenna
Peter Chrysologus and Peter Damien
October 29, 2018 by Fr. Benjamin Roberts
The city of Ravenna boasts two Doctors of the Church named Peter: the fifth-century bishop of Ravenna, Peter Chrysologus, and the eleventh-century cardinal bishop from Ravenna, Peter Damian. The earlier Chrysologus is honored each year in … [Read more...]
Alexis de Tocqueville, Subsidiarity, and Clericalism
October 29, 2018 by Fr. Charles Klamut
One of my proudest accomplishments in college was reading Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1830s masterpiece on what really made “democracy” work here, after so many near-misses or never-starts in history. The book was assigned … [Read more...]
Love’s Oblation
October 2, 2018 by Carolyn Humphreys, OCDS
William L. Stidger told about a young lad he had baptized as a baby. The boy grew up, and when World War II began, he joined the Navy. One night his ship came into Boston, and the lad visited his former pastor and friend. During their visit … [Read more...]
Renewal and the Penitential Life
October 2, 2018 by Monsignor Jeffrey A. Ingham
Wherever we may look for solutions to the present tension and confusion, we must realize that the solution will begin with the Eucharist, return to the Eucharist, and be formed by the Eucharist. Whatever secular processes may be deemed … [Read more...]
Integrating Pope Francis
October 2, 2018 by E. Tyler Graham
Introduction The Pontificate of Pope Francis has been full of surprises.[1. This essay was written over the summer as an exercise in synthetic theology with a goal of better understanding and interpreting the Mind of the Magisterium. Only … [Read more...]
Marriage and the Juridical Relevance of Pastoral Language
October 2, 2018 by Catherine Godfrey Howell, JCD
The revised Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983 (CIC-83) brought with it a definition of the consensual incapacity for marriage. This formula is a kind of juridical innovation given that it did not exist prior to the CIC-83 and literally … [Read more...]
“To Jesus through Mary” Is Not Enough
October 2, 2018 by Keith Berube
St. Louis de Montfort’s “To Jesus through Mary” is a common refrain amongst lovers of Mary, and rightly so. To be sure, she is the way to Jesus — Jesus does not come to us via any other way. Nor is anyone transformed into Christ but through … [Read more...]
On Prayer
October 2, 2018 by Rev. William J. Nessel, OSFS
Let me share some reflections by Baroness Catherine de Hueck Doherty and St. Francis de Sales, including inspirations in prayer, liberty of spirit, prayer and solitude, dryness and prayer, prayer and mystical theology, methods of prayer, … [Read more...]
The Words Men Need to Hear
A Priest Speaks to College Seminarians
September 18, 2018 by Fr. Timothy Shea Valentine
Speak only the words men need to hear, the things that really help them . . . (Ephesians 4:29) Introduction The effects of language—for good or ill—first occurred to me when I was five, during the summer before kindergarten. As my broth … [Read more...]
Intensive or Extensive Religious Education?
September 18, 2018 by Dr. Michael Brummond
Why do parish religious education programs so often seem to be one-size-fits-all? Whether a parish’s program is dubbed religious education, faith formation, or good ol’ CCD, parish-based catechesis of children tends to be rather coo … [Read more...]
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