Twenty-five Years After the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

How an Ecumenical Achievement Offers Catechetical and Pastoral Opportunities

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ). The declaration, first signed on October 31, 1999 by representatives of the Catholic Church[1. The Catholic signatories were … [Read more...]

Flannery Was Right

The Problem of Nihilism Within the Catholic Church

In a letter to Betty Hester dated August 28, 1955, Flannery O’Connor wrote: “If you live today you breathe in nihilism. In or out of the Church, it’s the gas you breathe.”[1. Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being, hereafter HB (New York: Far … [Read more...]

Thomas Merton’s Spiritual Mother

“What, the great Thomas Merton had a spiritual mother? I never heard of such a thing!” True, in all the literature about Merton there is no mention of his ever having had a spiritual mother. I believe, therefore, that the topic of this art … [Read more...]