One of the most significant themes is the doctrine of merit. This long-forgotten element of Catholic teaching has made a remarkably ostensible reappearance in the new translation. It seems that the implementation of the new translation … [Read more...]
Articles
The Culture of Honor—A Brief Essay
What is needed to walk in our true identity, and to carry out the mission of bringing heaven to earth, is the culture of honor. God the Father wants nothing less than heaven on earth. This is why he gave us his Son, and his many … [Read more...]
Prior to Adult Faith Formation, One Thing Is Necessary
I stress a simple but essential prerequisite (for adult formation) ... without which all the formal education in the faith will remain merely on the surface of the person. In a recent article in HPR, I stressed the need in the Church for … [Read more...]
Credible Communion: The Witness of Apostolic Religious Life
When the Church has been humiliated and vilified by public scandal ... I suggest we need to shift our focus to Christ. Introduction “How can you write anything credible about the witness of religious life today?” I was asked by a disil … [Read more...]
Philosophy and the Immortality of the Human Soul: A Tool for the New Evangelization
Problem: There is a need today for the argument for the immortality of the human soul based on reason alone for both believers and non-believers. The first pages of Scripture allude to the nature of the human soul when the inspired … [Read more...]
Transformative Preachers: Hildegard of Bingen and Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney
Hildegard and Vianney were transformative preachers, catalysts for change—Hildegard by her presence in what was ... a "man's world;" Vianney by living his life as a "sermon of humility" in the Age of Enlightenment, when humanity cast asi … [Read more...]
Biblical Foundations and the Thread of History
Current trends, that have existed in biblical scholarship for quite some time, reveal a distinct blindness about the essence of Sacred Scripture. At a recent conference in Cleveland, Ohio, the well-known Catholic author and speaker, … [Read more...]
Gender: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?
Some Thoughts on Femininity
We Americans face a state of affairs relating to marriage and family ... (where we) must now attempt to show why the divinely-instituted laws of marriage and family are binding not only for Christians, but hold true for … [Read more...]
The Vital Need for a Pastoral Administration Course at the Seminary Level
We are doing a disservice to our seminarians when we fail to teach them about the practical aspects of running a parish. The “Program for Priestly Formation” is currently the document which guides seminary rectors, administrators, and fa … [Read more...]
St. Thomas Aquinas on the Prayer of Christ as Manifest in the Prayers of the Mass
The Angelic Doctor’s overarching concern in treating of Christ’s prayer is to show that Jesus’ primary purpose in praying was to draw us to imitate him. St. Thomas Aquinas begins his exposition on prayer in the Summa theologiae by expla … [Read more...]
The Catholic Identity of a Retirement Community
Because a retirement community has a more or less captive audience, it has to strike a delicate balance between the duty to witness explicitly and fully to Christ; and the respect for the freedom, autonomy, and self-determination of the … [Read more...]
The Homosexually Oriented Person and the Church
Holding that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God, the Church most certainly does not condemn homosexual persons ... (but) condemns using human sexuality for purposes contrary to that for which it is divinely intended … [Read more...]
A “Sharing between Friends”: The Art of Mental Prayer
Mental prayer is simply spending time in the presence of God, talking with him about absolutely anything, even about our lack of knowing exactly what to say. It is dealing with our Lord as a close, intimate friend. When speaking to the … [Read more...]
The Pastoral Mandate, Politicians and Religious Liberty
Is this threat to religious liberty a political problem, or is it a pastoral problem? ... With the 2012 election nearing, it is a time ... to have a serious discussion about the relationship between the bishops’ pastoral practices and the po … [Read more...]















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