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All Catholic commentary from February 2019
Appealing to the better angels of pastors
Years ago, a priest friend of mine was assigned as a parochial vicar to a very liberal dissident parish. A parishioner threatened to reduce his contributions in response to his orthodox preaching. The priest pointed to the air conditioning unit and said, “Before the electrical bill is paid,...
How do we really know Jesus Christ rose from the dead?
Or audio track only: Your browser does not support the web audio player. In the first of a potential series answering key questions about Catholic faith and life,...
Episode 28: An Introduction to Maritain’s Poetic Philosophy—Samuel Hazo
This episode is not to be missed! There is an ongoing and much-needed revival of Jacques Maritain’s philosophy of art. Accomplished poet Samuel Hazo makes a most valuable contribution to that revival with The World Within the World:...
Should pro-abortion Catholic politicians be excommunicated?
When Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York spearheaded the successful change to the State Constitution in January, guaranteeing abortion up to and even beyond the moment of birth, many wondered why he was not immediately excommunicated. Admittedly, the same question has been raised for years, but this...
Swimming the Tiber from Teheran
Sometimes a good, long look in the mirror can set the stage for evangelization. When I look in the mirror I see a mortal man: a man who will die. But I don’t want to die. How can I escape that fate? When I look in the mirror I see a sinful man: a man who has done things of which he is...
Not all religions are part of God’s plan
Yesterday we celebrated the feast of St. Paul Miki, who, in the last moments before he died for the faith, said to the audience at his execution: The pluralism and the diversity of religions… are willed by God in his wisdom, through which He created human beings. Oh, wait; my mistake....
McCarrick may be sanctioned, but the cover-up continues
According to multiple reliable sources in Rome, former cardinal Theodore McCarrick will soon be laicized—defrocked—in punishment for multiple instances of sexual misconduct. The Vatican will announce the penalty, apparently, just before the long-awaited meeting of the sex-abuse...
In the interests of transparency...
The Vatican has released new statutes governing the office of its Auditor General. Which would be nice, if the Vatican had an Auditor General. Sure, there’s an office of the Auditor General, and Vatican officials evidently considered it important to define the rights and responsibilities...
The “minor” prophets: Highly relevant today
The twelve so-called “minor prophets” under the Old Covenant are traditionally grouped at the end of the prophetic books, even though they range chronologically from the 8th to the 4th century before Christ. This is probably because they are short, anywhere from one to fourteen...
What is missing in the Church today? What we brag about most: Mercy
Writing about the minor prophets on Tuesday, I mentioned this famous passage from Hosea: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings” (Hos 6:6). Now I am wondering why mercy is so conspicuously absent in the Church today. This may astound my...
Cardinal Farrell as camerlengo: an astonishingly ill-timed announcement
The selection of Cardinal Kevin Farrell as camerlengo was noteworthy—not because the cardinal will have new influence at the Vatican, but because the appointment confirms the influence that he already enjoys. However, the timing of the appointment was absolutely stunning. The role of the...
Outraged Catholic laity forced action on McCarrick. But that’s just a first step.
The Natonal Catholic Register report on the laicization of Theodore McCarrick, by Edward Pentin, is excellent: thorough, balanced, and accurate. I strongly suggest that you read the entire piece. (Be sure to scroll down past the fundraising appeal.) Have you done that? Good. Now let me call...
Anatomy of the healing process
Healing—more than repentance—is on the mind of bishops everywhere. Reporting the recent laicization of former Cardinal McCarrick, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the present of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement: “No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the...
The Church and ourselves: Changes for a more effective mission
The year of Our Lord 2019 promises to be momentous for the Catholic Church. My goal is to make it also the most effective year yet for CatholicCulture.org’s mission of fostering authentic Catholic renewal. What do I mean by both of these statements? 1. The Church I am under no...
Episode 29—Catholic Feminism: Should We?—Abigail Rine Favale
Today there is more pressure than ever before on both women and men to embrace feminism. In her outstanding memoir, Into the Deep, Abigail Rine Favale gives a resonant account of her journey from an evangelical childhood to a Christian...
“(Gimme Some of That) Ol’ Atonal Music”
I’ve been playing piano with a country band off and on for the past year and a half, so I enjoyed this spoof in which the country singer “Merle Hazard” remembers the good ol’ days of his father, an atonal composer. A great, pointed send-up of the movement which, by the...
A Vatican meeting programmed for failure
Brace yourself. Tomorrow the Vatican begins a public-relations offensive in response to the sex-abuse scandal. Unless I am much mistaken, unfortunately, a public-relations effort is all that we can expect. If the long-awaited meeting on The Protection of Minors in the Church adheres to the...
This day in history—a windfall for the Saint Gallen Mafia
On this date—February 21, the feast of St. Peter Damian—18 years ago, at a Vatican consistory, Pope John Paul II raised 38 prelates to the College of Cardinals. Among the men who received red hats that day are the following, who are very much in the news this week, amid the discussion...
The Bishops and their Confessions
Confession is good for the soul. A good Confession identifies every mortal sin (nature and number) to the best of one’s ability. The priest usually does not need to hear the details, unless certain circumstances are necessary for purposes of clarification. A penitent should provide...
The Orchestra Analogy: One Divine symphony, no restarts
That great twentieth-century evangelist, Bishop Fulton Sheen, had a brilliant ability to come up with examples and analogies to make Catholic teaching easier to understand. One example is the analogy of the orchestra that he used to explain Original Sin. We all understand that the sins of Adam and...
Episode 30—What Tolkien’s Visual Art Tells Us About His Creative Mind—John McQuillen and Holly Ordway
While Tolkien’s brilliance as a world-builder and storyteller is well-established, fewer people are aware of just how unique (and obsessive) his creative process was, or that he was a gifted visual artist. That is changing thanks to an...
The preposterous case against Cardinal Pell
Cardinal Pell has been convicted of molesting two young men. One of those alleged victims, who is now deceased, denied having been molested. Think about that for a moment: the cardinal stands convicted of a crime that, according to the supposed victim, did not occur. There’s another...
A failed Vatican ‘summit’ only postpones the final reckoning
As I predicted a week ago, the ballyhooed Vatican “summit” on sexual abuse has produced little more than strong statements: statements of the sort that the Catholic laity have come to expect… and to mistrust. The bishops who gathered in Rome last week did nothing to address...
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