Vatican II’s “Religious Liberty” Revisited

Today, threats to religious liberty in the United States are very much in the news. The most striking example is the Supreme Court’s recent decision in June 2020 that the LGBT community must be granted civil rights status in employment m … [Read more...]

Transubstantiation and the Real Presence

A PEW survey made public in August 2019 reported that only 63% of Catholics who attend Mass weekly believe that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ and only 58% know the Church’s teaching on t … [Read more...]

The Form of the Liturgy

It is to be regretted that the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the form of the Latin Mass promulgated after the Second Vatican Council in 1970, has become a symbol of near-complete rejection of the Latin Catholic liturgical tradition. This … [Read more...]

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...]

Questions Answered – March 2019

What Is the Institutional Church? Question: I hear a lot about the “institutional church.” It seems to be a phrase trotted out by people who want to see the moral law changed or to question authority. What is the “institutional churc … [Read more...]

Marriage and the Juridical Relevance of Pastoral Language

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...]

Late Summer Reading

Liturgy and Personality: The Healing Power of Formal Prayer, by Dietrich von Hildebrand; with a new foreword by Bishop Robert Barron (Sophia Institute Press [1943] 2018) $29.00. Reviewed by Fr. Ryan Rojo, S.T.L. The Porn Myth: Exposing … [Read more...]

Questions Answered

Question: Jesus says: “Judge not.” (Mt. 7:1) When are we allowed to judge? Answer: The issue of judgement is an important moral problem. Judgement is an act of the virtue of justice. Since justice involves establishing equity between one … [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...]

Proselytism, Evangelization, and “Ecumenism of Return”

In a 2016 interview that was arranged by Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., the editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, prior to the trip to Sweden for an ecumenical gathering anticipating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Pope Francis expressed … [Read more...]

A Layman’s Look at Television Commercials

In 1979, the Justice Department filed suit against the National Association of Broadcasters claiming that it was illegal for the members of that trade group to agree to restrict media advertising. The rules of the association would limit … [Read more...]

Lumen Fidei and the Revelation of God’s Love as the Foundation of Our Faith

Introduction In his encyclical letter, Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis greatly emphasizes the importance of believing in God’s love for us. The prominence of this theme is indicated by the title of the encyclical’s first chapter, "We Have Bel … [Read more...]

The Dialectic of Mutual Glorification

In the past century or so, dialectic has become a tool for analyzing many areas of life and thought: we might consider the dialectic between “being-for-itself” (l’être-pour-soi), and “being-for-others” (l’être-pour-autrui) in the philosophy … [Read more...]

Questions Answered

Question: On the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II, what are the positive and negative results of this Council? Answer: The Second Vatican Council is the watershed event of the Catholic Church in the 20th Century. Though 50 years have … [Read more...]