So I’m, like, blissfully unaware of how the complexities of the Vatican work as it maintain relationships with the various countries in which the Church exists. For example, I just learned this yesterday when a reader wrote: OK. This is weird. I did not know that local ordinaries have no authority over a Cardinal. This article quotes a canon lawyer saying that Cardinals answer only to the Pope or his representative, the Nuncio. Apparently, local bishops have no control over... Read more
Here is all we actually, documentably know. A man with a huge grudge against Francis and various others in the heirarchy accuses the one guy who actually got rid of McCarrick of being The Villain and the Usual Suspects instantly start screaming “RESIGN!” Me: I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around the concept that the guy who, by his own confession, knew McCarrick was an abuser and did not call the cops, but did celebrate a dinner honoring him as a... Read more
Back in 2016, I wrote a series of pieces on Catholic Social Teaching for the National Catholic Register. Recently, one of my readers suggested I should make that series available again since there is growing interest in that Best Kept Secret of Catholic teaching. So, la voila!: The Dignity of the Human Person, The Common Good (Part 1), The Common Good (Part 2), Subsidiarity (Part 1), Subsidiarity (Part 2) Solidarity (Part1) and Solidarity (Part 2). My general disclaimer to American readers is this:... Read more
John Allen is usually a pretty good guy to turn to for sorting wheat from chaff. Here’s his take on The Story So Far: Here’s my bottom line response: Take it seriously, but with a large grain of salt. One certainly can’t dismiss the charge out of hand, if for no other reason than never before has a former papal ambassador accused a sitting pope of complicity in what would amount, if true, to a criminal cover-up. To be clear,... Read more
…is up over at The Catholic Weekly: Last time, in this space we talked about the simplicity of the First Cause Argument for the existence of God. This very simple insight is so simple that a lot of people who dislike it have spent a lot of time trying to come up with ways to avoid it. Some people think they can escape the logic of it by supposing that our universe is just one bubble in an infinite foam of... Read more
So the other day I posted this on the Book of Face: “I didn’t come to the church for the bishops, so I won’t leave because of them. Much of this is very understandable lashing out in rage, but there are a lot of people who really have lost faith because of it. I wish I knew what to say to them. My faith was never in men, so men can disgust me and let me down, but they can’t... Read more
…made timely again by the various calls from various sectors for us to do penance and pray for the Church in this hour of monstrous scandal: Doing Penance for Others A reader asks: My question is, and I am asking you in email because I just am not sure how to word it to pick-up the right stuff through site searches, how are we as Catholics (or Christians in general if that is a more correct way to put it)... Read more
over at The Catholic Weekly is up: Babies come from mommies and daddies, cars come from builders, and trees come from acorns. And though adults may simply rest content with that explanation, little children inevitably ask, “Where do the parents, builders, and acorns come from?” And so we find that everything participates in a ‘Great Chain of Being’ which takes us further and further into the past until we get to the Big Bang itself. In the normal course of... Read more
For a documented period of time spanning 70 years, priests ranging from lowly parish priests to Cardinals raped and sexually assaulted boys and girls, men and women and bishops covered it up and protected themselves from punishment for doing it. The blame for this has been placed on laypeople for disregarding Humanae Vitae abortion contraception homosexuals all gay priests the media for reporting it liberals feminists infiltrating the Church a plot by Communists Fr. James Martin Vatican II bad liturgy... Read more
You can go here to add your signature. God has shown the strength of God’s arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. God has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. (Lk 1:51-52) Statement of Catholic Theologians, Educators, Parishioners, and Lay Leaders On Clergy Sexual Abuse in the United States On Tuesday, August 14, 2018, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a comprehensive grand jury report documenting the sexual abuse of over... Read more
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