Go to Part I Now that we have traced the nature and the theological implications of obedience and ecclesial authority, let us now look at authority and obedience as complementary responsibilities. Church documents emphasize that … [Read more...]
Priestly Obedience in a Post-McCarrick Church, Part I
October 27, 2022 by Rev. Philip Smith
Introduction to Part I “I will do whatever my bishop asks me to do.” During my time in seminary, most seminarians did not anticipate huge struggles living the promise of obedience. Seasoned priests told us: “Everyone thinks celibacy is t … [Read more...]
Questions Answered – June 2019
June 18, 2019 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Attending a Greek Orthodox Wedding Question: Is it permissible for a Catholic to attend either the ceremony or reception of a Catholic marrying a Greek Orthodox at a Greek Orthodox Mass without a Catholic priest present? Answer: The … [Read more...]
The Noonday Devil
January 1, 2019 by Fr. William P. Clark, OMI
The ninety-first psalm speaks of “the scourge that wreaks havoc at high noon.” It also expresses confidence in God’s protection from that scourge, as well as other evils. Based on that psalm some spiritual writers speak of the “Noonday Devil … [Read more...]
Corrupt Pastoral Practice Means Corrupt Doctrine
Amoris Laetitia’s Dirty Little Secret
March 30, 2018 by Jeffrey Tranzillo
When Amoris Laetitia (hereafter AL) was first published in March 2016, Pope Francis’s episcopal cheerleaders insisted that the document has introduced no changes to Church doctrine: it merely explores how we are to understand the “pastoral a … [Read more...]
Questions Answered
October 13, 2014 by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP
Is it true that Vatican II was a complete break with the past? Is authority in society optional? Is it primarily a matter of the intellect or the will? Question: This year the Church is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the … [Read more...]
Competing Theories of Christ’s Atonement: Penal Substitution, Economic Transaction, or Obediential Love?
July 26, 2014 by Book Reviews
The Passion is understood as an act of a personal God atoning for the personal offense of sin. The personalist understanding of the atonement is deeply linked to the framework of the relationship between Christ and the members of his … [Read more...]
Believing in the Justice of the Cross: Jesus Christ as the Alpha and Omega of Faith
June 11, 2014 by Fr. Lorenzo Rossetti
Adhering with love to the Lord, Victim and Priest, Obedient and Merciful, we embrace him in the real and veiled presence of the broken Bread, and we celebrate the victory against evil, sin, and death. This essay focuses on the … [Read more...]
Observations on “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” and Its Fitful Implementation
February 5, 2014 by Dr. Eric Cunningham, PhD
Ex Corde was promulgated in 1990, and its purpose was to lay out the general place and function of Catholic universities in the modern Church ... {providing} a useful starting point for dialogues on Catholic identity. I suppose the … [Read more...]
“I Haven’t Killed Anyone!” What Serious Sins Will Exclude Us From the Kingdom of God?
November 21, 2013 by Dr. Ralph Martin, STD
Why aren’t we more concerned about how even many of our fellow Catholics are engaging in behaviors (“lifestyles”), or accepting, or even approving them, in others, that scripture says will exclude them from the kingdom? Right after Va … [Read more...]
Credible Communion: The Witness of Apostolic Religious Life
December 3, 2012 by Gill K. Goulding, CJ
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...]
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