In a relatively recent children’s animated movie sequel, “Sing 2” (yes, the sequel to Sing!), the producers succeeded in getting the famous lead singer “Bono” (from the band U2) to be the voice for the main hero of the movie. Bono is voice-o … [Read more...]
Before and After the First Papal Tweet
How Benedict XVI Promoted “Communio” in a World of Social Communications
Originally presented at a conference on “Catholicity as Gift and Task” on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Communio, at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry (Rochester, NY) on October 2, 2022. The historic date was 12/12 … [Read more...]
How Appealing to “Inclusivity” Is Detrimental
September 30, 2022 by Abbot Austin Murphy
On February 7, 2022, Brantly Millegan was fired as the director of operations for Ethereum Name Services (ENS). The cause for his termination was a Tweet that he posted in 2016 that expressed Catholic moral teachings in blunt form. It read: … [Read more...]
Can We Be Recognized As Christians?
Practicing Love in Contentious Times
September 30, 2022 by S. E. Greydanus
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Christ thus established love as the essential identifying mark of those who belong to Him. Love reveals the Christian; conversely, if we do … [Read more...]
It’s All Just a Mathematical Equation
August 30, 2022 by Karen Eriksson-Lee
The devil wants to divide us. It’s as simple as that. As simple as a mathematical equation, but one that has devastating consequences. As Catholic Christians, who have been taught that evil spirits flee “in the name of Jesus,” we should k … [Read more...]
Questions Answered – June 2022
May 27, 2022 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Can Holy Water Be Mixed? Question: Can you replenish holy water that you have for personal use by adding to it with regular water when it gets low? Answer: First it is important to discuss just what holy water is and what it signifies. … [Read more...]
Flannery Was Right
The Problem of Nihilism Within the Catholic Church
February 26, 2022 by Fr. Damian J. Ference
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...]
Anger Reconsidered
January 27, 2022 by Julia Hejduk
Note: This essay first appeared on the Christ-Animated Learning Blog with Christian Scholar’s Review. The Prince of Peace said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mt 10:34). Amid the ubiquitous anger of present America, espec … [Read more...]
Reconsidering Religious Liberty
How to Read Dignitatis Humanae
September 24, 2021 by Dr. Joshua Madden
Two years ago Pope Francis made a visit to the United Arab Emirates where he spoke at an interreligious meeting, offering several comments on fraternity, peacemaking, and religious liberty. At the outset of his message, he spoke of the need … [Read more...]
Large Catholic Families as Prophetic Signs
August 30, 2021 by Bob Filoramo
The American fertility rate in 2018 was 1.7. The birth rate was 11.96. The American fertility rate in 2019 was, again, 1.7; the birth rate rose slightly to 11.99. “Fertility rate” is the average number of children born to a woman during her … [Read more...]
Discovering the Pearl of Great Price
Ratzinger on Relativism in the West
July 15, 2021 by Fr. Matthew Gonzalez
In the wake of a progressively globalized society, namely, the integration of the various cultures, markets, and political convictions, the world faces the question of determining a principle constituent of unification.[1. Joseph Ratzinger, … [Read more...]
The Death Penalty Is a Failed Sacrifice
June 3, 2021 by E. Tyler Graham
The final abolition of the death penalty in the 2018 revision of the Catechism[1. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2267.] and follow-up confirmation in the latest Pope Francis encyclical, Fratelli tutti,[2. Pope Francis, Fratelli … [Read more...]
Finding God in Our Secular Age: Ignatian Insights
June 3, 2021 by Deacon Edward McCormack, PhD
Ministry in Our Secular Age Any person who preaches regularly, and who is engaged in pastoral ministry in the Western world, does so under the invisible but all-pervasive influence of our secular age. The secular age is the … [Read more...]
Book Reviews – May 2021
May 20, 2021 by Book Reviews
Under Siege: No Finer Time to be a Faithful Catholic. By Austin Ruse. Reviewed by Matthew Kappadakunnel. (skip to review) Retrieving Augustine’s Doctrine of Creation. By Gavin Ortlund. Reviewed by Fr. Stephen Rocker. (skip to r … [Read more...]
John Henry Newman: A Saint for Times of Trial, Conflict, and Crisis
May 7, 2021 by Dr. Peter Kahn
On October 13, 2019, the Church canonized John Henry Newman, the great nineteenth-century convert from Anglicanism to the Catholic Church. Newman’s canonization is a gift from God to a Church that is in need of the wisdom contained in his w … [Read more...]
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