Book Reviews – October 2024

Exegetical Journeys in Biblical Greek: 90 Days of Guided Reading. By Benjamin L. Merkle. Reviewed by D. Malachi Walker. (skip to review) He Gave Us So Much: A Tribute to Benedict XVI. By Robert Cardinal Sarah. Reviewed by Dr. Brandon … [Read more...]

“I am the Truth”: Brief Catholic Ponderings on Truth

In a well-known passage, Jesus proclaims, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (Jn 14:6a) As with all the seven “I am” sayings recorded in John’s Gospel, Jesus here is making a claim regarding His divinity. Indeed, three individual c … [Read more...]

Just a Click Away: Morality for Gen Z

Offering Formation of Good Conscience

Generation Z, or the Zoomers, are those who were born between 1996 – 2010. Their parents are mostly Generation X. Although many developed countries are struggling with aging populations and declining birth rates, Generation Z (hereafter: G … [Read more...]

Aristotelianism in Eucharistic Theology

Father Thomas Reese and Transubstantiation

This article has been reworked from a paper entitled “They Must Fall into Being: The Son’s Power as Quasi-Subject of the Accidents of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament of the Eucharist” which I delivered on Feb. 4, 2023, at The Holiness of God … [Read more...]

Guarino’s Prolegomena of a Systematic Theology

Orthodox Christian belief must always be the standard against which any philosophy is measured. Fully integrating postmodernity into theology — with its rejection of metaphysics, its reduction of truth to practical reason, and its r … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – November 2022

Faith of Our Fathers: A History of True England. By Joseph Pearce. Reviewed by K.E. Colombini. (skip to review) The WillPower Advantage: Building Habits For Lasting Happiness. By Tom Peterson and Ryan Hanning. Reviewed by Mary R. … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – January 2022

When Breath Becomes Air. By Paul Kalanithi. Reviewed by Richard J. Janet. (skip to review) St. Clare of Assisi: Light From the Cloister. By Bret Thoman. Reviewed by Lawrence Montz. (skip to review) America on Trial: A Defense of the … [Read more...]

How Metaphysical Certitudes Anchor Proofs for God

This brief essay is not intended to be a complete presentation of the classical proofs for God’s existence as proposed by St. Thomas Aquinas and his disciples. Even partially full treatment of these arguments would require book-length a … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – September 2021

Intinction With Unconsecrated Hosts? Question: Is it an egregious (sin) matter, if a priest does intinction of unconsecrated hosts with consecrated Precious Blood while distributing Holy Communion? Answer: Presumably this reflects a … [Read more...]

Liberating Catholic Adolescents

Freedom is a prominent theme of the Second Vatican Council and the teachings of the Church in the modern world; it thus plays a significant role in the contemporary Church’s reflection on education. The Church does not merely wish to r … [Read more...]

Questions Answered – August 2021

The Knowledge of the Incarnate God Question: If Jesus is both human and divine, why didn’t he know everything God would know from the moment of birth or soon after? How could Jesus not know the second coming if God the Father knew and they … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – July 2021

Real Philosophy for Real People: Tools for Truthful Living. By Fr. Robert McTeigue. Reviewed by T.S. Barbarossa. (skip to review) Catholic Parishes of the 21st Century. By Charles E. Zech, Mary L. Gautier, Mark M. Gray, Jonathon L. … [Read more...]

Quod Scripsi, Scripsi: The Life and Legacy of Marvin R. O’Connell

At the end of his recently published posthumous memoir, Father Marvin O’Connell quotes the words of Pontius Pilate from Scriptures. “Even though I too can write Quod scripsi, scripsi, my trouble is not the same as Pilate’s. My trouble has to … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – March 2021

  Mary and Bioethics: An Exploration. By Francis Etheredge. Reviewed by Fr. Aidan Nichols. (skip to review) A Year with the Mystics. By Kathryn Lopez. Reviewed by Lawrence Montz. (skip to review) Wisdom from the Psalms. By … [Read more...]

Toward a Causal Account of Priestly Formation

A Reading of Pastores Dabo Vobis

Pope St. John Paul II published Pastores dabo vobis on March 25, 1992, when the Church celebrates the Annunciation, the initial moment of the Incarnation. No doubt he chose this date deliberately — and fittingly so. For when a man enters s … [Read more...]