In this article for the National Catholic Register Cardinal Burke sets out exactly what the pope’s exhortation is, what it attempts to do and how it should be received. He says clearly that those who set themselves up as critics of the Holy Father and the exhortation are wrong and are causing scandal. The behavior of the Catholic fundamentalists over the weekend has been scandalous. Some who believe themselves to be such good Catholics have used vile and obscene language about... Read more

My latest article for CRUX explores the “Benedict Option” Is it time to head for the hills? That’s what St Benedict did. By the end of the fifth century the great Roman Empire had completely collapsed. The center of government had moved to Constantinople. The Vandals and Goths had sacked Rome, and the church and people had drifted into decadence and despair. As a young man Benedict went to study in Rome, but soon gave up and retreated to Subiaco... Read more

The symptoms of the Marriage Mess are sexual confusion, the breakdown of the family unit, lack of social cohesion, breakdown of traditional morality and subsequent sexual anarchy and chaos. Read more

In the wake of yesterday’s publication of Amoris Laetitia allow me to weigh in with a parish priest’s perspective. In the midst of a busy day in the parish I didn’t actually have time to read the exhortation. Neither did I have time last night or this morning. However, I have read some of the online commentary, and I have read the paragraphs deemed controversial and I will read the whole thing over the weekend. Am I allowed, therefore, to be just... Read more

Here is an excerpt from my book The Quest for the Creed about the resurrection of the Body…      Any school child that thinks about the resurrection of the body soon starts asking delightfully gruesome questions. After all, if they’ve ever seen a cat hit by a car, then been to a funeral and seen Uncle Mitch in the casket, and watched the coffin being lowered into the ground they have a pretty good idea what happens. It doesn’t take long to... Read more

Our separated brothers and sisters often wonder why we Catholics venerate Mary as we do. They protest that the Marian Dogmas are not found in Scripture. But they are. We simply have to read the Scriptures with Catholic eyes and understand the  Jewish context of the Scriptures to see how the Catholic beliefs about Mary are all contained in the Scriptures. The problem is, they are not stated explicitly. Instead they are locked in the Scriptures to be understood and... Read more

I’ve always thought it a special grace to think that the doubting disciple is featured as a key player in the gospel for the Sunday after Easter. It is as if the whole church is saying, “See Thomas? It is okay to doubt.” But let me qualify that. It is okay to have difficulties. Bl John Henry Newman said, “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” What he meant by this was that there was a difference between a... Read more

Yesterday here in Greenville, South Carolina we had a mini-pilgrimage for Divine Mercy Sunday. About 300 Catholics met to walk along Greenville’s Swamp Rabbit trail from County Hall to St Mary’s Church where our local Jubilee Holy Door is located. About another 200 people were gathered at the church. Here’s a picture of the procession. When we got to the church we set up the image and waited until everyone got there. I then gave some instructions for going through... Read more